i VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -----***----- TRẦN THỊ THANH HUYỀN A STUDY ON ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE CROSS- CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN TABLE SEATING ARRANGEMENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO TIẾP GIAO VĂN HÓA ANH – VIỆT TRONG CÁC CÁCH SẮP XẾP CHỖ NGỒI) Minor thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ii VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES -----***----- TRẦN THỊ THANH HUYỀN A STUDY ON ENGLISH – VIETNAMESE CROSS- CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN TABLE SEATING ARRANGEMENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU GIAO TIẾP GIAO VĂN HÓA ANH – VIỆT TRONG CÁC CÁCH SẮP XẾP CHỖ NGỒI) Minor thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 15 Supervisor: Prof. Nguyễn Quang, Ph. HANOI - 2010 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vii Table of contents CERTIFICATE OF the ORIGINALITY OF STUDY PROJECT REPORT. v Lists of tables and figures.
vi Table of contents. vii Part i: introduction. Aims of the study. Scope of the study.
Description of the questionnaire. Description of the informants. Design of the study. 5 Part II: Development.
6 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKROUND. What non-verbal communication?. What table seating arrangement?. 8 CHAPTER 2: SEATING ARRANGEMENT AS NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION10 2.
Table seating positions. Competitive – Defensive position.19 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Circle or semi-circle.29 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Use of table shapes.
Use of table seating positions. Frequency of using seating arrangements. Major similarities and differences .38 PART III: CONCLUSION. Suggestions for further study.
I LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com vi Lists of tables and figures Figure 1 – Nguyen Quang’s diagram of communication components (2008). 7 Figure 2 – Square table. 11 Figure 3 – Round table. 13 Figure 4 – Positioning at a rectangular table.
15 Figure 5 – Seating positions. 17 Table 1-1: Use of table shapes in the office in Vietnam and English-speaking countries. 30 Table 2-1: Use of seating positions in different settings. 31 Table 2-2: Use of seating positions in different situations by Vietnamese informants.
34 Table 2-3: Use of seating positions in different situations by Anglophone informants. 35 Table 3-1: Frequency of seating arrangements used in class in Vietnam. 37 Table 3-2: Frequency of seating arrangements used in class in English-speaking countries. 38 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 1 Part i: introduction 1.
Rationale Language is the basic form of communication between human beings and in a society. As it is the basic form, it is also the most developed. We cannot communicate in any real sense without language, other than through gestures. However, we do communicate through some non-verbal forms called non-verbal communication including gestures, postures, facial expressions, touching behavior, etc.
Non-verbal communication occupies up to 90 percent of our message and therefore plays an important role in our life. But it is observed that there are non-verbal differences across cultures that may be the source of confusion for foreigners. Thus, it is essential that the study of non-verbal communication be paid more attention to. It is clear that where people seat others or where they sit on their own can affect the outcome of a communication encounter.
There is a "seating" language. People can create the illusion of power or equality in their relationship-building efforts by where they sit and where they seat others at meetings, conferences and after-hours events. Also, aspects of people‟s attitude towards others can be revealed in the position they take in relation to each other. Indeed, the environment may have an effect on the position chosen.
Apparently, seating positions in the public bar of a hotel can vary from the seating positions taken in a high-class restaurant and different seating behaviors can be observed. For instance, intimate couples prefer to sit side-by-side wherever possible, but in a crowded restaurant where the tables are close together, this is not possible and the couples are forced to sit opposite each other in what is normally a defensive position. Hence, everyone should be aware of the meaning of different positions to act in a proper way. Moreover, the way teachers organize tables and seats in their class also has influence on the effectiveness of the lesson, especially in language classroom.
It is necessary for native language teachers as well as Vietnamese ones to be well aware of that so as to take the best advantage of class seating arrangements. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 2 For the above reasons, ‘A Study on English – Vietnamese Cross-Cultural Communication in Table Seating Arrangements’ is worth considering. With an effort to raise the awareness of people in general and of teachers in particular of „something around the table‟, this area of non-verbal communication is chosen as the topic of the author‟s study. Aims of the study The research is conducted: To study different types table shapes; To identify the meanings of basic table seating positions; To investigate suitable seating arrangements used in classroom; To compare and contrast the use of different types of seating positions in various situations of the two cultures for the discovery of the similarities and differences in the ways English and Vietnamese people seat others and sit themselves.
Scope of the study In this study, three basic types of table shapes which are square, round and rectangular are mentioned, but the survey will be narrowed down to table shapes in the office setting only. Four kinds of seating positions including corner, cooperative, competitive-defensive and independent are identified in this study. As the findings will be limited if attention is paid only to academic and office settings, public setting is thus included in this part. Seating arrangements vary greatly in the classroom.
That is the reason why the author only focuses on the statistics of how teachers seat their students and tables in learning environment. As age and gender of the informants do not contribute significantly in the data analysis, the author decides to ignore them and focuses only on the informants‟ nationality and occupation. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Methodology In order to achieve the aims set above, the major method to be employed is quantitative.
In addition, contrastive analysis is also used. All the considerations, comments and conclusions in the thesis are largely based on the following methods: Reference to publications Survey questionnaires Statistics, descriptions and analysis of data Consultations with supervisor Personal observations Discussions with Vietnamese and foreign colleagues 5. Description of the questionnaire The survey questionnaire consists of 4 questions in which the informants are requested to tick (√) to the table shapes, seating positions and seating arrangements they think appropriate. The 4 questions cover three aspects of the study: question 1 - table shapes, questions 2 and 3 - seating positions and question 4 - seating arrangements.
The questionnaire has two versions, one in English for the English native informants and the other in Vietnamese for the Vietnamese informants. In the first question, the informants are asked to tick (√) to the type(s) of table that is/are the most commonly used in the office. Among the four most common seating positions including corner, cooperative, competitive – defensive and independent positions, the informants are asked to tick (√) to the most widely used in different settings (academic setting, office setting and public setting). They are also requested to choose appropriate seating positions in different situations.
The situations are as follows: LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 4 Situation 1: When you interview Lee Situation 2: When you persuade Lee Situation 3: When you discuss with Lee Situation 4: When you shout at Lee Situation 5: When Lee is your boss and you are presenting to him Situation 6: When you confide in Lee Situation 7: When you do not know Lee Situation 8: When you do not wish to contact with Lee Situation 9: When Lee is angry with you and you want to make it up with him Situation 10: When you want to get acquainted with Lee (Supposing that Lee is the person you are talking with and he is taking a permanent seat) In the last question, the informants are asked about the frequency of seating arrangements used in class in their countries. Types of seating arrangements consist of desk- row, clusters, circle/ semi-circle, table-row, pairs and activity zones. Because of its limitations, the thesis should only be regarded as a preliminary study and the result is believed to be tentative and suggestive. Description of the informants In this study, the survey questionnaires are administered to two groups of informants.
The first group is the Vietnamese who are living in Hanoi, Vietnam. 60 questionnaires are delivered to them and 50 of the completed questionnaires are chosen for analysis. The second LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 5 group is English native speakers who are living and working in Vietnam as well as some English-speaking countries such as the US, Australia, England and Canada. 50 questionnaires are delivered to them directly or via e-mails, and then 50 completed ones are received.
Only teachers, students and staff officers are chosen as informants because the study mostly confines itself to academic and office settings. Design of the study This study consists of three main parts: PART I: INTRODUCTION All the academic routines required for an M.A thesis are presented. PART II: DEVELOPMENT This is the focus of the study and is composed of three chapters. Chapter 1: Theoretical background Chapter 2: Seating arrangement as non-verbal communication Chapter 3: Findings and discussion PART III: CONCLUSION LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 6 Part II: Development CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKROUND 1.
What communication? There have been a great number of studies on communication in which scholars hold different points of view. They have given various conceptualisations of this term. The definitions therefore have different emphases and factors. With emphasis on both the speaker and the hearer, Alder & Rodman (1998) believe that „communication refers to the process of man being responding to the face-to-face symbolic behavior of other persons’.
In Levine and Andelman‟s words (1982), communication is considered as „the process of sharing meaning through verbal and non-verbal behavior’. According to Saville-Troike (1986), „communication is also considered the process of sharing or exchanging information between people both verbally and non-verbally’. In this definition, the author much more focuses on the message conveyed.Verderber (1993) holds similar view when defining communication as „the transactional process of creating meaning’ and he explains that ‘a transactional process is one in which those persons communicating are mutually responsible for what occurs’. However, Hybels and Weaver (1992) have a different identification of communication.
They believe that ‘communication is any process in which people share information, ideas and feelings that involve not only the spoken and written words but also body language, personal mannerisms and style, the surrounding and things that add meaning to a message’. This definition is perhaps the most comprehensive as it includes not only co-interactants involved, but also information, ideas, feelings conveyed, and channels, codes used. LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com 7 Nguyen Quang (2008) suggests the following components of verbal and non-verbal communication: COMMUNICATION VERBAL COMMUNICATION NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION Intralanguage Paralanguage Extralanguage - Vocal characteristics - Lexicon + Pitch - Rules of grammar + Volume - Rules of phonetics + Rate - Rules of language use - Types of vocal quality and interaction skills - Vocal interferences - Silence - .