Make a name for yourself: exploring the interculturality of naming and addressing practices among transnational teachers of Chinese as a foreign language

ABSTRACT

Naming practices are inextricably linked to cultural values and social norms. Among Chinese English language learners, naming practices have been the focus of studies in both domestic and transnational contexts; however, teachers of Chinese as a foreign language have been largely overlooked. This case study seeks to address this gap by investigating the naming and addressing practices of two transnational Chinese teachers working in the U.S. to further understanding of interculturality and transculturality as constructs affecting pragmatic decisions related to upholding or circumventing normative practices in formal online instruction.

命名实践与文化价值观和社会规范有着千丝万缕的联系。在学习英语的中国人中，命名实践一直是国内和跨国环境下研究的重点。然而，将汉语作为外语教授的教师群体却往往被研究者大幅忽略。本案例研究旨在通过调查在美国工作的两名跨国汉语教师对命名所采取的处理方式来弥补研究的空白，并以此进一步理解文化间和跨文化作为两个建构如何影响教师在正式网络教学环境中坚持或规避命名实践的实用性决定。

KEYWORDS:

• Naming practices
• identity
• Chinese foreign language teachers
• transnationalism
• multilingualism
• interculturality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Rebekah R. Gordon is a doctoral student in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She has taught ESL/EFL in South Korea, Ethiopia, China, and the U.S. Her current research focuses on the lived experiences of transnational language teachers and how they negotiate and work across linguistic, cultural, and political systems.

Sandro R. Barros is an assistant professor in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education program at Michigan State University. He studies and teaches about intercultural communication, multilingualism, and the politics of language learning, with an emphasis on languages othered by English. He has published articles, chapters, and personal stories situated in the intersection of the humanities and social-sciences fields. He is the author of Competing Truths in Latin America: Narrating Otherness and Marginality (Floricanto Press, 2010) and Reinaldo Arenas: Pedagogy and Dissidence (University of Florida Press, forthcoming).

Jiahang Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at Michigan State University and associate director at the Confucius Institute at Michigan State University. His research interests include educational technology, social media, online language teaching and learning and foreign language teacher education. He has published many book chapters and journal articles and serves as an editorial board member and a reviewer for many peer-reviewed journals, including Computers & Education, Educational Researcher, and Foreign Language Annals.