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Chinese for Business and
Professionals in the Workplace
This volume presents a series of the most up-to-date studies on Chinese for
Specific Purposes (CSP), an area that has been underrepresented in Language
for Specific Purposes (LSP). Drawing from the insights and trends in mainstream
theoretical and methodological LSP research, chapters in this volume explore
novelties that CSP has developed to prepare Chinese for professional learners for
the global economy. These encompass:
• needs analysis of less-surveyed high school Business Chinese or CSP academic

writing classes
• developments on internationally oriented engineering and internship programs
in China
• innovations in Chinese for business or legal materials development and review
on textbook pragmatics
• studies on language arts and Chinese language use in specific or business
settings
• technology-driven, project-based learning – or discipline-specific curriculum
design.
Robustly supported by studies and analysis on the global scale, this volume
comprises contributions by professionals from universities across Asia and the
United States, each with decades of expertise in LSP. These chapters offer critical
insights necessary to help LSP researchers and educators rethink curricula and
develop new initiatives for LSP. They may also serve as transferable operations
that enhance the practice of LSP as a crucial component of second language
education.
Haidan Wang is Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa,

Hawai‘i, USA.
Christine Uber Grosse is Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages, Thunderbird

School of Global Management, Arizona State University, USA.
“Chinese for Business and Professionals in the Workplace: Reaching Across Dis-
ciplines . . . finally, finally we see a well-crafted academic approach that responds
to one of our greatest needs in language learning: the acquisition of language
for professional purposes. There is no question that Chinese language learning
presents unique challenges. This collection not only brings together those most
expert in Chinese language learning, but each of the topics responds to these chal-
lenges with practical advice, sound academic knowledge, and level-appropriate
examples. This comprehensive compilation will serve as a crucial foundation in
the pedagogy of Chinese for Business for years to come.”
Orlando R. Kelm, Director, Portuguese Flagship,
University of Texas at Austin, USA
“With contributions of scholars active in the research and practices of Chinese

for Specific Purpose (CSP), the editors provided an excellent and a well-rounded
body of CSP scholarship both from theoretical as well as pedagogical perspec-
tives. Scholars, practitioners and business executives would greatly benefit from
learning about the scope of research, instructional innovations and how learn-
ers’ language skills transform into their professional success. In addition, this is
a timely contribution to language learning models with service and experiential
learning components.”
Wei Hong, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of
Chinese and Linguistics, Purdue University, USA
“I am very pleased to see how this text approaches the Needs Analysis (NA) in
such a detailed and comprehensive manner. The NA has finally found a great
home.”
John J. Staczek, Emeritus Professor,
The Arizona State University, USA
Chinese for Business
and Professionals in the
Workplace
Reaching across Disciplines
Edited by Haidan Wang

and Christine Uber Grosse
Cover image: Getty Images
First published 2023

by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Haidan Wang and Christine Uber
Grosse; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse to be identified as
the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-85736-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-85734-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-01469-0 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690
Typeset in Times New Roman

by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
List of contributors viii
Introduction: preparing learners for the workplace: Chinese

for business and professionals 1
H A I D A N WA N G AND CHRI S T I NE UBE R GROS S E
PART I
Overview and rationale 9
1 Insights and innovation from languages for specific purposes 11

C H R I S T I N E U BE R GROS S E
2 Why should we seriously consider teaching Chinese for specific

purposes? 25
J A M E S D E A N BROWN
PART II
Learning needs, curriculum design, and course development 37
3 Course design of Business Chinese in Marketing – teaching the

case of Chun Shui Tang 39
H S I N - H S I N C I N DY L E E AND L I - YU CHE N
4 A Business Chinese program with an internship component: an

application of goal-setting theory 61
Z H O N G Q I S H I , QI AOS I YUAN, AND S HUAI L I
5 The Chinese International Engineering Program: history,

development, and curriculum refinement 73
S I G R I D B E R K A AND YU ( JOYCE ) WU
vi Contents
6 Needs analysis of Business Chinese course for a high school
dual enrollment program 91
LI XIANG
7 Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum design 107

YING LIU
PART III
Transformative approaches to Business Chinese 125
8 Comprehensive analysis of pragmatic information in Business

Chinese conversational textbooks 127
H A I D A N WA NG
9 Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class 145

LIU LI
10 Becoming professionals: ecological role-play 162

R O B I N C A S E L L I , JI N DONG, JAME S NOKE S , MICH A ELA N U ESSER,
J O S E P H R I T CH, S HUAI TANG, AND DONGP I NG ZH EN G
11 New directions in Business Chinese instructional materials

development 182
JANE KUO
12 A study of psychomotor learning modules for Business Chinese

speaking fluency and accuracy 194
C H I N - C H I N T S E NG AND MAN F ONG L AM
13 Business Chinese from the learner’s perspective 209

R O B E RT G R O S S E
PART IV
Other perspectives on Chinese for specific purposes 221
14 Language arts and Chinese for specific purposes 223

C H U - R E N H UANG AND YANL I N L I
15 Workplace simulations: test-driving life in professional contexts 238

N A I Y I X I E F I NCHAM, JUL I O C. RODRI GUE Z , A N D STEPH EN L. TSCH U D I
Contents vii
16 A case study in conceptualizing, drafting, and implementing
course materials for Chinese for Legal Purposes: the China
Law Reader 256
L AWR E N C E C . F OS T E R
17 Discipline-specific Chinese language teaching in higher

education: a case study in Hong Kong 270
WA I - M U N L E U NG
18 A study of the languages used on official websites

of international economic and business organizations 285
L I Z H A N G A N D FANGFANG L I ANG
19 Incorporating Project-Based Language Learning into

Chinese language training for specific purposes 298
SONG JIANG
Index 314
Contributors
Sigrid Berka is Professor of German and Executive Director of the International

Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island. She is Co-Editor of
the Journal of International Engineering Education and organizes the Annual
Colloquium on International Engineering Education. She published on Inter-
cultural Competence Development, Study Abroad and German Literature.
James Dean (“JD”) Brown is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Second
Language Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He has spoken and
taught courses in places ranging from Albuquerque to Zagreb and has pub-
lished numerous articles and books on language testing, curriculum design,
research methods, and connected speech.
Robin Caselli is a PhD student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Second
Language Studies Department and received her MA from the same program
in 2019. Her research interests include ecolinguistics, technology-integrated
language learning, project-based language learning, self-regulated language
learning, and materials design for adult language learners with ADHD.
Li-Yu Chen is a Professor of Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan
Normal University. She has been publishing extensively in teaching and learn-
ing Chinese for Specific Purposes. Dr. Chen is the corresponding author of
Chapter 3 and can be reached via email: liyu@ntnu.edu.tw.
Jin Dong is a PhD candidate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Lit-
eratures at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She received her Master degree
in Second Language Acquisition from Beijing Language and Culture Univer-
sity. Her research interests include (trans)languaging, distributed language,
ecolinguistics, virtual world/reality, and game-assisted language learning.
Naiyi Xie Fincham (PhD, Michigan State University) is Assistant Faculty Spe-
cialist at the Center for Language & Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at
Mānoa. Her works primarily focus on task-based language teaching in online
and blended language courses, design of multimodal language learning envi-
ronments, and project-based language learning.
Lawrence Foster’s career began as a Chinese language professor. He then went
on to practice law in Hawai’i in the 1980s. Later, he returned to academia as a
Contributors ix
law professor for over 30 years. Along the way, he practiced and taught law in
China for a few years.
Christine Uber Grosse is Professor Emeritus at Thunderbird School of Global
Management, Arizona State University. She has written extensively on business
languages, cultural literacy, and macro trends in language curriculum design.
Recently she published The Global Manager’s Guide to Cultural Literacy. Her
current research interest is AI and the future of global business communication.
Robert Grosse is Professor of International Business at Thunderbird School of
Global Management, Arizona State University. Professor Grosse is a leading
author on international business and business in emerging markets. He co-edited
the Oxford Handbook on Management in Emerging Markets (Oxford, 2019).
He was President of the Academy of International Business during 2012–14.
Chu-Ren Huang (PhD Cornell, Honorary Doctorate Aix-Marseille) is Chair Pro-
fessor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He is fascinated by what
language can tell us about human cognition and our collective reactions to
natural and social environments. He applies his expertise in Chinese linguis-
tics, corpus linguistics, language technology, and ontology to explore language
and knowledge as complex systems.
Song Jiang is Associate Professor and the Director of the Chinese Language Flag-
ship Center at the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Uni-
versity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research interests lie in Chinese linguistics,
lexical semantics, cognitive linguistics, pedagogy, and technology in language
teaching. He is the author of a monograph and around 20 research papers.
Jane Kuo is the former Director of the Chinese language program at the Univer-
sity of California, San Diego, and Professor Emeritus of Thunderbird School
of Global Management, Arizona State University. Kuo is widely recognized
as a pioneer in Business Chinese instruction and has authored many Business
Chinese textbooks.
Man Fong Lam is Assistant Professor of the School of Education and Languages
at Hong Kong Metropolitan University. She received her PhD in Linguistics at
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her training is in phonetics
and Chinese dialectology. Recent research focuses on Chinese language educa-
tion and second language acquisition.
Hsin-Hsin Cindy Lee is Associate Professor in the Department of International
Business at National Taipei University of Business and specializes in applied
language studies, intercultural communication, and business communications.
Dr. Lee is also an author and a host of several textbooks and television pro-
grams for language learning. (Email: cindylee@ntub.edu.tw)
Wai-Mun Leung is Associate Professor in the Department of Chinese and Bilin-
gual Studies at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research centers on
Chinese language education, sociolinguistics and Cantonese studies, recently
focusing on the teaching of Chinese to non-Chinese speaking students. She
x Contributors
is the first author of the monograph Biliteracy and Trilingualism: Language
Education Policy Research in Hong Kong (2020).
Liu Li is currently Associate Professor of Chinese at Ball State University. She
received her PhD in Second Language Acquisition from Carnegie Mellon Uni-
versity. Her research interests include literacy development of Chinese as a
second language, computer-assisted language learning, Business Chinese ped-
agogy, bilingualism, and psycholinguistics.
Shuai Li is Associate Professor of Chinese and Chinese Program Coordinator
in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Georgia State Univer-
sity. His research interests include acquisition of L2 Chinese and interlanguage
pragmatics. He has published in Language Assessment Quarterly, Language
Learning, and The Modern Language Journal, among others.
Yanlin Li (MEd, George Mason University; Doctor of Applied Language Sci-
ences in progress, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) is Research Asso-
ciate at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her research interests have
been on second language acquisition, language technology, corpus linguistics,
building cross-linguistic lexical knowledge base for teaching and learning
purposes.
Fangfang Liang received her Master’s degree in Teaching Chinese to Speak-
ers of Other Languages from the Beijing Language and Culture University
(BLCU). She also holds two Bachelor’s degrees, one from BLCU and another
from Konstanz University of Applied Sciences. Liang works as a Project Sup-
port Senior Specialist at King & Wood Mallesons, China.
Ying Liu is Associate Professor in the College of Media and International Stud-
ies at Zhejiang University, where she teaches Chinese Pedagogy courses. She
received her PhD in Chinese pedagogy from the Ohio State University. Her
primary research interests include second language writing and teaching Chi-
nese as a second language.
James Nokes holds an MA in Second Language Studies from the University of
Hawai’i at Mānoa and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of
Montana. His research interests include technology in language education, sto-
rytelling and gaming, curriculum and materials design, and the sociolinguistics
of the supernatural.
Michaela Nuesser is a PhD student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s
Second Language Studies Department. In 2019, she received a Master of
Education in German and English from RWTH Aachen University and MA
in German from the University of Alabama. Her interests are ecolinguistics,
psycholinguistics, and virtual reality.
Joseph Ritch is Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Tajikistan. He received
an MA from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in Second Language Studies.
His interests are less commonly taught languages, language documentation
Contributors xi
and revitalization, technology-integrated language learning and teaching, criti-
cal pedagogy, and online language learning.
Julio C. Rodriguez (PhD, Iowa State University) is Director of the Center for
Language & Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Within the
broad area of instructional technology, he is primarily focused on faculty
development programs, project-based learning, simulated experiences for
world languages, and online course design.
Zhongqi Shi is Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the Chinese program
at Columbia University. He directed Columbia’s Business Chinese and Intern-
ship Program from 2008–16. He authored several textbooks that are widely
used in the USA and China. His research interests include motivation in second
language learning, instructional technology, and teaching Chinese for special
purposes.
Shuai Tang is a language educator and a lifelong language learner. She received
her MA in Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.
Her research interests include ecolinguistics, technology-integrated language
learning and teaching, critical pedagogy, and language teacher education.
Stephen L. Tschudi (MA, University of Hawai‘i), faculty specialist at the Center
for Language & Technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, is a co-
author of the Yale UP Chinese textbook series Encounters. His research inter-
ests center around project-based language learning and instructional design for
blended and remote learning.
Chin-Chin Tseng is Professor of Chinese as a Second Language at National Tai-
wan Normal University. She received her PhD in Linguistics at the Univer-
sity of Hawai’i, with training in phonetics, interlanguage, and L2 acquisition.
Tseng’s recent research focuses on human-robot interaction, domain-specific
knowledge, and their applications to L2 language teaching/learning.
Haidan Wang is Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She
has published research on Chinese pedagogy, curriculum design, and program
evaluation in international journals and Routledge handbooks. Her interests
also include pragmatics, language proficiency assessment, multimodal interac-
tions at workplaces, and technology-assisted Chinese learning for business or
other professional purposes.
Yu (Joyce) Wu is Associate Professor and Chinese Section Head at the University
of Rhode Island. Her research interests include second language acquisition
and pedagogy, proficiency-based assessment, learner factors in cognitive lan-
guage development, computer-assisted language learning, and linguistic and
intercultural development in both at home and study abroad contexts.
Li Xiang is Faculty Specialist of Chinese in the Department of World Lan-
guages and Literatures at Western Michigan University. Her research interests
include Chinese language pedagogy, curriculum design, and Chinese language
xii Contributors
teachers’ professional development. Dr. Xiang’s publications include text-
books, book chapters, journal articles, dictionaries, etc.
Qiaosi Yuan is a Chinese language Instructor at Harvard University. She holds
a master’s degree in Bilingual/Bicultural Education from Teachers College,
Columbia University. Before joining Harvard Furman, she taught Chinese of
different levels at various post-secondary institutions, including Columbia
University, Queens College, and Furman University. Her research interests
include Chinese pedagogy, second language acquisition, and teaching Chinese
for specific purposes.
Li Zhang is Professor of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics and is currently
Director of the Chinese Education Institute and Business Chinese Institutes at
Beijing Language and Culture University. He has published numerous books
and journal articles on Chinese as a second language, Business Chinese and
education, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, marketing management.
Dongping Zheng is Associate Professor in the Department of Second Language
Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Her research interests include
distributed language, (trans)languaging, ecolinguistics, virtual world/reality,
and mobile-assisted place-based language learning. She designs distributed
language learning environments to contextualize being and becoming with
ecological niches.
Introduction
Preparing learners for the workplace:
Chinese for business and professionals
Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse
Language for specific purposes (LSP) has advanced to play an important role in
second language education in the interconnected world economies as it implements
specialized curricula that prepare students to engage in a culturally and linguistically
diverse workplace. Numerous publications of research or pedagogy in LSP have
been dominated by English or a few popular European languages (e.g., Spanish,
German, and French) for the past few decades. Much of the Chinese as a second lan-
guage research and publications have covered a very limited aspect of Chinese for
specific purposes (CSP), a continuously growing field that deserves more visibility
and prominence due to the prosperous Chinese economy and its enormous global
trade volume. A recent survey of foreign language demand among 1,200 upper-
level managers and human resources professionals with knowledge of their orga-
nization’s foreign language needs (ACTFL, 2019, see Wang, this volume, for the
reference detail) has demonstrated that Chinese, ahead of French and Japanese or
German, is the second most sought-after language among U.S. employers, only next
to Spanish. With the high demand, employees with Chinese proficiency are in great-
est shortage and also the most difficult to recruit both domestically and by interna-
tional enterprises or companies. This becomes incumbent upon CSP educators to
utilize materials and innovative approaches and help learners of Chinese become
competent communicators at workplaces.
This volume presents such an endeavor with the most up-to-date research and
practice in CSP from scholars in Asia and the U.S. It exchanges ideas and exhibits
insights gained from mainstream second language education, and contributes to
LSP research from the less-covered CSP perspectives. Chapters in the volume
contain research and practice in program development, curriculum design, and
pedagogical approaches in Chinese for business, academic, and other professions
from the perspectives of researchers and practitioners. About two-thirds of the
chapters are expanded from the keynote speeches and presentations of participants
from the conference Beyond a Limited Scope: Chinese for Specific, Academic, and
Professional Purposes, the 6th Business Chinese Workshop in Conjunction with
the 2nd International Conference on Business Chinese Education which convened
in March 30–31, 2018 at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. The remaining third
of the chapters are from selectively invited scholars who are experts in this field.
Quite a few chapters of this volume are authored by well-versed scholars with
DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-1
2 Haidan Wang and Christine Uber Grosse
decades of expertise, whereas some others are by authors who are fledging in
the field. However, this volume stands out by encompassing innovative advance-
ments in CSP research, concerned with helping learners to meet their immediate
Chinese linguistic needs in professional contexts.
We categorize these 19 chapters into four interconnected thematic units, led
by two chapters in Part I as an overview of LSP as well as why CSP is impor-
tant. Part II contains five chapters that address learning needs, curriculum design,
and course development for language programs meeting professional purposes.
Six chapters in Part III present a variety of perspectives in which CSP practitio-
ners address Business Chinese, the most widely taught area in CSP. Another six
chapters in Part IV highlight Chinese use or education in various settings, and
explore the effects of professional training from perspectives beyond the scope
of business.
The first chapter by Christine Uber Grosse discusses recent insights and innova-
tions that have emerged from the field of languages for the professions and academic
purposes, also known as LSP. Globalization has impacted higher education and led
to rising demand for proficiency in languages, cultural understanding, and country
knowledge. The chapter also explores the innovations that LSP brings to profes-
sional schools and modern language departments. These include an interdisciplin-
ary approach, emphasis on cultural literacy, reliance on digital materials, increased
use of AI and technology, and greater exposure to international experiences such as
study travel, service learning, and internships. In conclusion, faculty who teach LSP
are finding new inspiration in opportunities for professional development, research,
travel, networking, and mentoring. For their contribution to internationalizing pro-
fessional schools and the university, they deserve support and recognition from their
institutions of higher education and government agencies.
In his chapter, James Dean Brown crafts a powerful and convincing essay on
the value of teaching Chinese for specific purposes for both students and faculty.
The writing is based on his memorable and rousing keynote speech from the 2nd
International Conference on Business Chinese Education which took place in
March 2018 at the University of Hawai‘i. Given his long experience and extensive
knowledge of teaching English in China, Brown is a credible source for the analy-
sis of the reasons why students pursue the arduous challenge of learning Business
Chinese. He further probes what should be included in the curriculum and weighs
the comparative advantage of CSP for students, faculty, and employers. Brown
makes a seriously compelling argument why we should consider teaching CSP.
This book would be incomplete without Brown’s eloquent voice setting the tone,
and a high bar for the rest of the volume.
As the number of advanced learners in Chinese gradually increases, teaching
and learning CSP has become more popular worldwide. Lee and Chen propose to
adopt the case of a famous original bubble milk teahouse – the Chun Shui Tang
of Taiwan as an example to design a course for teaching and learning Business
Chinese in Marketing. They demonstrate how to use a Content-Based Instruction
(CBI) approach to integrate both language study and the learning of business con-
tent. The rationale for the teaching design is detailed, mapping out a five-session
Introduction 3
course, which includes a Do-It-Yourself experience in the actual workplace. The
course design aims to endorse purposeful language study that combines industry
information and Marketing concepts. This combination of theory and practice will
be a helpful reference for the design of the Marketing Chinese curriculum.
Overseas Business Chinese internship programs attract a large number of
American students for their rich language and cultural environment and useful
preparation for job search and career development. Despite the increase in the
number of Business Chinese internship programs over the past two decades, criti-
cal questions regarding program goals, means of assessment, content, and teach-
ing methods remain to be addressed. Shi, Yuan, and Li discuss how to design an
internship-oriented language immersion program drawing on the experience of
running a joint program with Columbia University and Shanghai Jiaotong Uni-
versity (CIS). Goal-setting theory was applied as a guiding principle for the CIS
program design, and a three-step approach was proposed, namely setting goals,
determining evidence, and selecting the right content and teaching methods. The
application of this approach is demonstrated by CIS’s real practices.
The chapter by Berka and Wu describes the history and development of a unique
educational model, the Chinese International Engineering Program (CIEP) at the
University of Rhode Island. It discusses the necessary cornerstones of how to get
a program off the ground which creates a bridge between STEM and Humani-
ties disciplines, while providing an integrated year of study and an internship in
China. The authors also detail the expansion of the CIEP to other institutions and
other disciplines (e.g., through the Chinese Language Flagship Program). Special
focus is placed on the creation of a corporate network of internship hosts and a
Chinese internship course which creates interventions to move learners along in
their language proficiency and cultural competency development. Several career
success stories and strategies for program adjustments during the Covid-19 pan-
demic are provided.
Li Xiang uses needs analysis to explore the linguistic and cultural needs of
a group of high school dual enrollment students in the business context of a
Mandarin Immersion Program. The purpose of the study is to explain and describe
which areas of Business Chinese the dual enrollment students are interested in,
and how students’ needs can inform curriculum design and instruction. Xiang’s
research focuses on the feasibility of integrating Business Chinese curriculum
into a high school Mandarin immersion program. In addition, this study inves-
tigates students’ needs-based curriculum design, choice of topics, and the chal-
lenges of implementing Business Chinese with high school Mandarin learning
students. The increasingly interconnected world needs global-ready graduates,
who can interact effectively with people from diverse linguistic and cultural
backgrounds. To help students better prepare for their future careers, it is impor-
tant to integrate Business Chinese into the regular language curriculum based on
students’ needs.
Ying Liu explores the importance of needs analysis and genre analysis, and
their application in developing a relevant curriculum design for CSP courses. Liu
advocates a shift from proficiency to expertise in a CSP writing curriculum. The
primary goal of designers of Chinese for specific purposes (CSP) curricula is to
understand the learners’ needs and incorporate relevant content to fulfill these
unique requirements. This chapter provides an analysis of the results of a survey
of 51 Chinese L2 learners working or performing academic research in China
during the summer of 2012 or before. In this study, typical professional and aca-
demic writing tasks in China were identified, as well as how the concept of genre
might be utilized to design a four-level CSP writing curriculum. By shifting the
focus from “proficiency” to “expertise”, a CSP writing curriculum will equip stu-
dents with useful strategies to analyze genres and sustain lifelong learning in their
respective domains.
In her research, Haidan Wang surveys 31 Business Chinese textbooks, orga-
nized around the teaching of conversational Business Chinese in order to expli-
cate problems evident in their conveyance of pragmatic information. The analysis
is based on a rubric assessing three major perspectives regarding their overall
organization of communicative functions, qualities of conversation modeling, and
related pedagogical treatments. The discussion focuses on the qualitative analy-
sis of the surveyed pragmatic information with reference to quantitative results.
The findings demonstrate scant information on pragmatic input, especially in its
lack of adequate contextual information and pragmatics-driven task design. Fur-
ther, the application of suggested research results to Business Chinese curriculum
development would potentially help learners acquire transferable skills as profes-
sionals to communicate effectively in various workplaces.
In this study, Liu Li discusses how WeChat was utilized in a Business Chi-
nese class to analyze its effectiveness and implications for teaching. The data
collected for analysis included the results of students’ surveys and language
achievement tests from two classes: an experimental group using WeChat and
a control group that didn’t use WeChat. Based on the data, this study made
comparisons in three aspects of language learning: 1) language achievement
as measured with a pretest and a posttest; 2) students’ opinions of the course
measured by course evaluations; and 3) students’ learning activities as analyzed
by both the time and types of activities used to learn Chinese after class. The
results indicate that the experimental group had significantly higher scores in
the posttest. The students’ attitudes towards using WeChat as the pedagogical
platform were positive in general. The students in the experimental group were
also found to spend more time learning Chinese and interacting with classmates
and native speakers after class.
The chapter on “ecological role-play” was composed by the RIDLLE (Research
on Integrating Distributed Language Learning Environments) Group, consisting of
Caselli, Dong, Nokes, Nuesser, Ritch, Tang, and Zheng. Together the group devel-
oped the theory of ecological role-play (ERP). The authors’ theory-driven approach
to teaching Business Chinese is based on perspectives rooted in cognition and
communication. They discuss ways to help prepare learners for their professions
through classroom role-play that incorporates technology in “an integrated ecologi-
cal system”. The authors discuss the fundamental tenets of ERP, an example, as well
as a toolkit, classroom set-up recommendations, and an evaluation rubric.
Introduction 5
Since Business Chinese curriculum was implemented in the 1990s in the United
States, the development of instructional materials in Business Chinese has been
on the rise. Some educators are concerned whether these materials are arbitrary in
topic, random in content, or even suitable for real-world business settings. These
concerns deserve to be reviewed more vigorously. The chapter by Jane Kuo pro-
vides insights into the development of new instructional materials for Business
Chinese. It considers the efficacy of instruction employing established the theory
and practice for LSP and Content-Based Instruction. It also explores the prin-
ciples and rationale for materials development, emphasizing learners’ needs, level
appropriateness, content logic, and topic relevance.
In their chapter, Tseng and Lam propose psychomotor learning modules that
are designed to help L2 learners of Business Chinese improve their speaking
fluency and accuracy. The authors empirically investigate the effectiveness of a
platform named MyCT toward students’ psychomotor performance development.
MyCT is a commercial computer-assisted speaking training platform designed
by L Labs on which content providers can create training courses. After triangu-
lating data gathered from experiments and self-completed questionnaires, some
useful insights were obtained. The authors found that the MyCT platform offered
promising outcomes. The module gradually enhanced students’ knowledge, skills,
confidence level, and psychomotor performance, which enabled them to adapt
their articulators for L2 pronunciation and increase their speaking fluency. This
positive indication, although in the early stage of research, has pedagogical impli-
cations for higher education students, lecturers, and business schools.
Robert Grosse’s chapter offers an interesting and unique view from a U.S. stu-
dent of Mandarin Chinese who is also a banker and business professor. It discusses
some of the instructional techniques used in classes for learning to speak using
pinyin and learning to read the Hanzi characters. The author questions the goals of
teaching and learning business Mandarin based on his own experience with several
languages. Assuming that only a small percentage of students will become fluent
enough to use the Mandarin language at a professional level, in conversation or in
reading, teachers should recognize this reality. They should focus more attention
on the attainable goals of encouraging their business and professional students to
appreciate Chinese culture and history, and helping them to see the value in being
flexible enough to make the attempt to learn another language.
The chapter by Huang and Li introduces Chinese language arts in the context
of CSP as effective linguistic devices in the context of theoretical issues involved.
The discussion starts with word play on Chinese characters, followed by the
concept of regular polysemy, when a word form carries more than one meaning,
with the emphasis on regular polysemy as a signature of language for specific
purposes. Puns and euphemisms then are introduced at different linguistic lev-
els from character to code switching, and their use in different specific domains.
Lastly, other linguistic devices are discussed in the context of how they can also
be involved in language arts for specific purposes including, but not limited to, the
choice of function words, calque (translation-transliteration), 缩写 suōxiě (abbre-
viation), haplology (words with omission of repeated syllable), and alphabetic
words. It is hoped that by increasing awareness of linguistic devices for language
arts, new perspectives and insights can be introduced to the study of Chinese for
specific purposes.
Fincham, Rodriguez, and Tschudi discuss how simulations, widely used for
instruction in performative contexts such as medicine and aerospace, allow learners
to try high-stakes tasks in a low-risk environment. Simulations invigorate class-
room instruction with authenticity and significance while allowing learners to
measure themselves against the parameters of a real-world experience. In the
context of professional language acquisition, simulations can be used to develop
professional language, intercultural communication, and 21st-century skills. This
chapter highlights the affordances and outlines the key design elements of a work-
place simulation experience created for learners of Chinese language at the global
professional level. The simulation challenges learners to apply for and secure a
job in a fictitious multinational consulting firm, engage in onboarding training on
workplace communication and interpersonal skills, and then work collaboratively
with learners across disciplines and institutions to develop solutions for the clients
of the simulated consultancy.
The China Law Reader introduced by Lawrence C. Foster is unique. The text is
not intended as a textbook for spoken Chinese, but rather as a textbook for students
interested in reading and understanding Chinese legal documents. Chinese legal
documents are typically written in what is called Chinese for Legal Purposes. Chinese
for Legal Purposes is characterized by the use of classical Chinese, specialized legal
vocabulary, common grammatical patterns, and complex sentences. The China
Law Reader exposes the student to a wide variety of legal writings such as statutes
and regulations from a range of legal topics, attorney work product, and law firm
internal email. The China Law Reader includes extensive vocabulary for each read-
ing. Moreover, it includes Law Practice Tips to further enhance the user’s under-
standing of the reading and Chinese law in general. Each reading is preceded by a
short introduction to that area of law written by a Chinese lawyer.
Wai-Mun Leung discusses how Chinese language teaching for specific purposes
provides an important criterion for measuring the continuity and sustainability of
language education. As the relationship between the Hong Kong Special Admini-
strative Region and mainland China gets closer both economically and politically,
there is a need to actively promote the development of discipline-specific Chinese
(DSC) to meet the diverse needs of local Chinese students. The key contents of
this case study consist of the definition of DSC, the theoretical framework, core
principles, needs analysis, syllabus, textbook compilation, and teacher training.
Leung finds that close collaboration between the different academic departments
and the Chinese language teachers is crucial for ensuring that the subjects reflect
the DSC language needs and use.
Zhang and Liang report on the result of research that they conducted on the
choice of languages on the official websites of 29 international economic and
business organizations (IEBOs). Specifically, they studied organizations in which
the Chinese government or non-governmental groups play an important role.
These organizations included global, regional, and industrial entities. The authors
Introduction 7
focused on the status of languages used on the 29 official websites and docu-
ments. They compared similarities and differences in the use of Chinese by the
various types of IEBOs. In addition, they investigated the factors that influenced
the use of languages on the websites. Finally, the authors discussed the implica-
tions of the study results for the teaching of Chinese for business purposes. They
concluded that the use of Chinese on the websites of many of the IEBOs in their
study did not reflect the true importance and status of China’s global economic
power and influence.
Song Jiang advocates the incorporation of a project-based approach in Chinese
language training for specific purposes. Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL)
is a collaborative and communicative instructional approach in which language
educators and informants from the community work alongside language learn-
ers to create meaningful learning opportunities with real-world applications. This
chapter reports on a PBLL initiative focused on enhancing language proficiency,
culture awareness, and analytical skills for government and military personnel
through studying, analyzing, and solving the issues of the floating population
in Honolulu Chinatown. It explores the methods and strategies of implementing
PBLL into a language training program for special purposes and examines the
effectiveness of this approach in building target language proficiency and success
skills. The author concludes that PBLL projects centered around real-world issues
in the community are effective in building learners’ professional language profi-
ciency. Additionally, PBLL projects facilitate learners’ growth as they explore,
analyze, and respond to similar texts and concerns they may encounter in their
future professional target environments.
In conclusion, we encourage scholars to build on and expand the research pre-
sented in this volume. For example, we recommend the study of learner attri-
butes that contribute to successful language learning in Chinese for Business and
Professionals. This important topic has been widely researched in other educa-
tional fields, but less so in business and professional Chinese. Further research
into learner attributes would provide valuable insight into factors that contribute
to individual learner success and the development of effective communication
skills. We hope that this collection of studies will inspire colleagues to actively
pursue research in this and other areas to expand the knowledge base for Chinese
for Business and Professionals.
As the summaries have demonstrated, this volume is robustly supported by
studies and analysis in observations on a global scale in programs that are created
for this purpose. Inspiration shared in these chapters may encourage researchers
and educators to rethink curriculum and develop new initiatives for language for
specific purposes. We hope they may also serve as transferrable operations that
enhance the practice of LSP as a highly valued part of second language education.
We would like to acknowledge the generous sponsorships of the aforemen-
tioned conference and this book project by the National Resource Center: East
Asia, the National Foreign Language Resource Center, and the Dean’s Office of
the former College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature – all at the University
of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Part I
Overview and rationale

1 Insights and innovation from
languages for specific purposes
Christine Uber Grosse
Introduction
This chapter examines recent insights and innovations that have emerged from the
field of languages for specific purposes (LSP), which includes languages for the
professions and academic purposes. Globalization has impacted higher education
and led to rising demand for proficiency in languages, cultural understanding,
and country knowledge. Global accrediting bodies for professional schools such
as business, engineering, medicine, and law encourage member institutions to
internationalize their curriculum through coursework, content, and international
experiences. Universities recognize the value of instruction in language for aca-
demic purposes to help students succeed in their degree programs.
Thirty-six years ago, the first national survey of Spanish for business in the foreign
language curriculum was published (Grosse, 1982). Other national studies soon fol-
lowed with a broader scope that surveyed languages for the professions including
Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian (Grosse, 1985; Grosse &
Voght, 1990; Long and Uscinski, 2012). Additionally, Li, Wang, and Wang (2013)
published a preliminary study of Business Chinese instruction in the US.
Languages for the professions gradually integrated into the foreign language
curriculum over the next three decades and became an important part of modern
language departments in higher education. Global economic and social changes
provided impetus to the field’s growth in the 21st century. Widespread recogni-
tion of the need for more international and interdisciplinary studies accelerated its
growth as universities realized that they had a responsibility to prepare students
for the global economy. In addition, professional organizations called for member
colleges and universities to develop more internationally oriented programs that
combined professional content, international studies, cultural learning, and com-
munication skills.
Over time, LSP went mainstream and gained greater acceptance as an integral
part of world language and culture programs.
Languages for the professions take many forms in the curriculum. They can be
affiliated with language departments or professional schools. In form, they appear
as interdisciplinary courses, minors, majors, and dual degree programs that are
designed specifically for students who are interested in careers in business, criminal
justice, engineering, health care, journalism, law, social work, or tourism.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-3
12 Christine Uber Grosse
The author explores the innovations that LSP brings to professional schools
and modern language departments. These include an interdisciplinary approach,
emphasis on cultural literacy, reliance on digital materials, increased use of AI and
technology, and international experiences such as study travel, service learning,
and internships.
Insights
Empirical research, studies of methods, materials, curriculum, technology, second
language acquisition, and applied linguistics form a solid knowledge base for LSP.
Overviews of the field appear in professional handbooks, anthologies and journals
dedicated to second language acquisition, language learning, and applied linguis-
tics (Belcher, Johns, & Paltridge, 2011; Davies & Elder, 2004; Ke, 2018; Trace,
Hudson, & Brown, 2015; Hyland, 2011). The Modern Language Journal devoted its
2012 focus issue to languages for the professions (Grosse & Voght, 2012).
Research about Chinese for the professions has appeared in a variety of aca-
demic journals and texts. Guan and Fei (2010) wrote about task types in Busi-
ness Chinese class, while Christensen and Bourgerie (2015) discussed how to
use individualized instruction in Chinese for Specific Purposes (CSP) as a bridge
to overseas direct enrollment. Wang (2011) published her research on workplace
needs and Business Chinese textbooks, and strategies to grow enrollment in a
Business Chinese program (2013). Wang and Jiang (2019) recently developed and
published a broader perspective on CSP.
For almost 20 years, the Center of International Business Education and
Research (CIBER) of Purdue University sponsored the publication of Global
Business Languages (GBL), a refereed volume of articles on LSP. Over the years,
through its editors Christiane Keck and Allen Wood and its contributors, GBL
made a significant contribution to the LSP literature.
Currently, the following journals are potential outlets for publishing studies
concerning LSP: Applied Linguistics, Foreign Language Annals, Hispania, Inter-
national Chinese Language Education, Journal of Chinese Language Teachers’
Association, Journal of Technology and Chinese Language Teaching, Language
Learning and Technology, Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies, Overseas
Chinese Education, Teaching Chinese as a Second Language, and The Modern
Language Journal.
Decline in foreign language enrollments

National studies conducted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
(2016), the Commission on Language Learning (2016), the Modern Language
Association (Looney & Lusin, 2016; Flaherty, 2015), and the National Councils
on International Education (2017) have reported a decline in foreign language
enrollments across the US. Jaschik (2018) also found that enrollment in most
foreign languages in higher education declined from 2013 to 2016. Only Korean
and Japanese experienced an increase in enrollment.
Insights and innovation from LSP 13
Change comes to foreign language education
Over a decade ago, the Modern Language Association (MLA) called upon world
language departments to reform and update their curriculum in its report titled
New Structures for a Changed World (MLA’s Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Lan-
guages, 2007). In this report, the MLA committee urged foreign language depart-
ments to embrace change and diversify their curriculum through the development
of new courses and programs with interdisciplinary content, and collaboration
with professional schools.
A debate recently raged in The Modern Language Journal concerning the
path forward to effect much-needed reform in language departments. Bigelow
(2017) argues that it is necessary to lead and collaborate to cause change in lan-
guage education programs. Provoking thought and discussion, Martel (2017)
asks whether “the field of foreign language education is disposed to change”
(p. 431). Gelhar (2009) reassures colleagues that “of course they want us at the
curriculum internationalization table” (p. 616). Miñana (2017) suggests that
foreign language departments need a new mission statement that concentrates
on making change happen, while Paesani (2017) proposes a strategy to “think
globally, act locally” as “an alternative proposal for effecting change in lan-
guage education” (p. 433).
As the steady decline in foreign language enrollments shows, departments have
been slow to change. The enrollment data of the past few years underscores the
need for language departments to reform and diversify their curriculum. Many
faculty do see LSP courses and programs as value added to the department’s offer-
ings, and view them as a meaningful way to serve students and collaborate with
colleagues in other schools. They recognize the opportunity to innovate, reform,
and develop professionally.
Faculty and departments that embrace change through LSP have the oppor-
tunity to grow in interesting, new ways that help students develop their cultural
understanding, language proficiency, and global experience.
Demand from professional organizations and employers

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is a profes-
sional organization that accredits business schools around the world. For over 20
years their mission has included a mandate to globalize the business school cur-
riculum. In addition, they encourage the development of international and inter-
disciplinary programs to better prepare students for employment in the global
economy in the 21st century.
Insights from languages for the professions

Many US colleges and universities now offer LSP, and related programs in
English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The following examples illustrate how
these programs serve their students, university, and community.
English for academic purposes
EAP, commonly offered in English Language Programs and academic units across
the country, addresses the need to prepare international students for academic
success in the US education system. Its primary goal is to help students acquire
the language, cultural knowledge, and academic skills necessary for successful
completion of their studies in US higher education. One example is the University
of Delaware’s English Language Institute.
Delaware’s English Language Institute divides its EAP program into language
skills and academic skills. The language skills component consists of listening com-
prehension, fluency development, oral intelligibility, reading, grammar, writing, and
vocabulary development. The academic skills program includes test taking and note
taking skills, academic vocabulary, critical reading and writing, understanding aca-
demic lectures, research and library skills, and composition and research papers.
In addition to academic and language skills, EAP programs sometimes offer
a cultural component to teach English Language Learners (ELLs) about culture-
related aspects of studying at a US university. For example, international students
receive instruction about a university’s policy toward cheating and plagiarism.
Languages for specific purposes

Many examples of courses and programs in LSP can be found easily with an
internet search. Typically, they provide language and cultural instruction tailored
to the needs of one or more the following professions: business, criminal justice,
engineering, health professions, law, tourism, and social work.
Rationale for languages for the professions

What rationale do language departments and professional schools use to justify pro-
grams in languages for the professions? The University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV)
provides an example of a rationale with global and local components that explains
why they developed a Bachelors in Spanish for the Professions degree. The global
component emphasizes the roles played by globalization, international trade, cultural
diversity, and technology in its decision to offer languages for the professions.
According to the UNLV website,
the world has become more interrelated. New alliances are being formed
among many different countries, and emerging nations are displaying
new economic and cultural strengths. In the United States, businesses are
expanding their international scope and ethnic diversity is increasing. On an
individual level, advances in electronic technology and ease of travel expedite
communication among the citizens of the world. These developments have
intensified the need to understand other cultures and to become proficient in
another language.
(UNLV, 2018)
Additionally, UNLV provides the following local rationale on its website.
This international dimension has also affected Las Vegas. The city has
experienced a growth in visitors from a wide range of cultures. Among the
minorities, Hispanics make up the largest group, with estimates placing their
number at fifteen percent of the population of Southern Nevada. Working
with Hispanics has become a reality for many different professionals – for
those in the hotel industry, in business, in the medical profession, in the legal
field, and in a wide range of social services. The need to connect with clients,
customers, and patients of another culture is met not merely by acquiring
language skills but also by gaining knowledge of that culture’s traditions,
values, and practices.
(UNLV, 2018)
UNLV’s rationale for LSP emphasizes the community’s need for graduates with
cultural knowledge and understanding in addition to language competence. Its
philosophy reflects the growing trend for colleges and universities to care about
the teaching of culture, in some cases more than they care about the teaching of
languages.
UNLV offers a variety of courses in Spanish for the professions to complement
its degree program, including Introduction to Translation, Interpretation, Business
Spanish I and II, Spanish for Social Services, Spanish for Tourism Industry, Span-
ish for the Legal Profession, and Spanish for the Medical Profession.
Disruptors of language education

Major social and economic changes have had a profound effect on LSP in particu-
lar, and language education in general. The principal disruptors of modern lan-
guage education include globalization, technology, and curriculum reform driven
by trending emphasis on interdisciplinary education, cultural knowledge, commu-
nication skills, and LSP. Interdisciplinary programs and LSP offer alternatives for
students to pursue language study, and importantly, the prospect of employment
in fields other than language teaching.
Globalization drives emerging market economies and the growing interdepen-
dence of nations. As regionalism grows in strength, so does the demand for global
managers who can work across cultures, with markets, customers, products, and
supply chains from around the world. Globalization fuels the demand for gradu-
ates with cultural knowledge, communication skills, and experience interacting
with people from diverse cultures.
Trends in higher education have disrupted language education and caused a
decline in enrollments. With online and blended learning programs on the rise,
asynchronous learning is available on or off campus 24/7. For example, Wang
(2014) describes the design and practice of a hybrid Business Chinese course.
A growing preference for culture learning in professional programs and study
travel tours also has affected enrollment in foreign languages. Experiential travel
programs tend to be shorter now in length with an emphasis on cultural and local
experiences rather than language immersion. Illustrating this trend, Lee (2015)
writes about developing a course in Mandarin Chinese with internships in a study
abroad program.
Technology continues to transform language learning, and more researchers are
focusing on the process. For example, Li, Fukada, and Hong (2012) published a
study on online Business Chinese speaking instruction, while Jiang, Wang, and
Tschudi (2014) shared their reflections on a web-based platform for intercultural
learning.
Some major publishers are switching over to digital materials and online edu-
cation, including Cambridge University Press (CUP). CUP offers self-directed
language study on its proprietary Learning Management Systems for its series
Mindset for IELTS (2017). The online self-directed study materials provide learn-
ers with instant feedback and knowledge of results. Mindset provides interesting
activities and engaging content that offer a viable alternative to teacher-directed
study.
Some publishers actively seek to develop software that gives feedback on writ-
ing assignments. Some call this the “holy grail” because, if achieved, it will save
writing teachers significant amounts of time that they normally spend reading
and grading students’ written work. Of course, this type of software also has the
potential to move into the realm of self-directed online learning, where it could
reduce or eliminate the need for a writing instructor.
Artificial intelligence (AI) already assists translation and interpretation through
Google Translate, and Apple’s assistant Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. AI has the potential
to disrupt translation and interpretation, and diminish the need for live translators and
interpreters in the not-too-distant future. Speak into your iPhone and ask Siri to say
a phrase or two in Chinese, and Siri will respond instantly. In fact, Cisco’s Webex
is a videoconferencing product that “provides real-time translation of your meet-
ings into 100+ languages including: English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin,
Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Dutch, Japanese.”
With Google Translate, you can cut and paste a sentence, paragraph, or entire
document in English and request a Chinese translation. At the click of a mouse,
the document is translated into Chinese. At the same time, you can listen to a
native speaker read the document aloud in Chinese. Although Google Translate
is not perfect or completely accurate yet, AI’s capability to translate and interpret
has improved dramatically in recent years (The Economist, 2017). Facebook and
LinkedIn also have the capability to translate your or others’ messages, posts, and
articles into other languages.
As for virtual reality (VR), imagine putting on a VR headset and immersing
yourself in the experience of walking on a Beijing street or having conch chowder
at Monty’s in Miami. It is possible now. How soon will VR experiential learning
come to our language and culture classes? Several years ago, Grant and Huang
(2010) wrote about the integration of an online 3D virtual learning environment
in a Chinese language and culture class.
On a final note, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, one of the
world’s premier institutions for teaching languages, uses strictly digital materi-
als and online resources in its classes, with an emphasis on communicating with
native speakers.
How soon then, and to what extent, will artificial intelligence-using Siri, Alexa,
Google Translate, Facebook, LinkedIn and Webex and many others affect lan-
guage study and teaching? The possibilities are exciting, and will have a profound
impact on language teaching.
Continuity
With so much change, what has stayed the same in LSP? Where is the continuity?
A national park ranger giving a tour of the Florida Everglades once said, “the only
constant here is change.” The same will be true of language education. Will the
changes be positive or detrimental to the various stakeholders? The answer may
lie in a quote from Hamlet (Shakespeare, 1998), “there is nothing either good or
bad, but thinking makes it so” (p. 109).
How will educators deal with change? Will they view it as opportunity or
threat? How will they adapt? Some things may remain the same such as the dedi-
cation and motivation of teachers to educate their students, and students’ motiva-
tion to learn. What will happen to the speed of second language acquisition, and
the attainment of various proficiency levels?
Change drivers
In recent speeches, three CEOs of Global Fortune 500 companies gave interesting
insights into issues that currently drive change in education. Jack Ma, founder
and former CEO of Alibaba, talked about technology’s impact on society. Doug
MacMillan, CEO of Walmart, discussed the effect of globalization. Finally, Indra
Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, commented on the need for curriculum reform
in business schools.
Jack Ma started his legendary career as an English teacher. He went on to cre-
ate Alibaba, one of China’s largest and most influential internet companies. In a
speech he gave at a tech conference, he spoke about the three major technological
revolutions that changed our world. The first revolution in technology caused
World War I, and the second brought about World War II. After a brief pause, he
pointed out that we were in the midst of the third tech revolution. Jack Ma then
asked the audience, “how will we use this third revolution in technology? Will we
work together to solve the world’s greatest problems of poverty and pollution?”
He made his point as he let the second half of the question go unanswered. It hung
in the air (Ma, 2018).
Doug MacMillan, CEO of Walmart, made interesting comments about global-
ization and culture in an interview with Stanford Executive Education. He spoke
about his former job as director of Walmart International, where he traveled
extensively around the world visiting Walmart stores. During his travels, he saw
that people were much more similar than they were different. He realized then
that he and his employees needed to focus on people’s similarities rather than on
their differences.
MacMillan explained that all people have many things in common. We all want
shelter, need to feed our families, and need to make a decent living. He told a story
about how once he visited a Walmart store in Costa Rica, and asked employees
to bring him something from the store that was exclusively Costa Rican, other
than local produce. Someone brought him a bottle of salsa. When he looked at
the bottle closely, he saw that it was a product of Unilever and not unique to
Costa Rica after all. MacMillan said that it was getting harder and harder to find
a product that was exclusively local in any store, other than homegrown produce
(MacMillan, 2015).
Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, advocated for curriculum reform in
business schools in her speech at an annual conference of the Academy of Inter-
national Business. She directly challenged business school deans in the audience
to break down the silos in their business schools, and make the curriculum more
interdisciplinary. She criticized the business school curriculum as being too nar-
rowly focused on traditional business subjects. In her view, today’s managers
needed a broader, more global focus than most business schools provided. So
she encouraged deans to train the managers that global companies need by devel-
oping more interdisciplinary content that includes engineering, environmental
studies, intercultural communication, law, sustainability, and computer science
(Nooyi, 2017).
In their own distinct ways, corporate leaders Ma, MacMillan, and Nooyi high-
lighted the key drivers of change in language education: technology, globaliza-
tion, and interdisciplinary curriculum reform.
Innovation in LSP
What’s new in the field of LSP? Baylor University, College of William and Mary,
University of Colorado at Denver, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
and University of Rhode Island provide examples of innovation in LSP.
Baylor University’s Spanish for the Professions program illustrates the trend
of offering courses for diverse professions. Baylor, a private Baptist university
located in Waco, Texas, offers Intermediate Spanish for Business, Intermediate
Spanish for the Medical Professions, as well as Spanish for Christian Ministry.
Karol Hardin (2012), an associate professor at Baylor, describes a course and
teaching materials that she developed for Spanish for the Medical Professions.
Hardin (2015) also compiled an overview on medical Spanish curricula in the
US. With respect to Chinese for medical purposes instruction, Wei Lai (2015)
published a study on Mandarin for nursing students.
Students can take a class in Spanish for Lawyers at the Law School at the
College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. It was taught and
developed by Denise Koch, Adjunct Professor of Law.
The University of Colorado at Denver offers a double major in International
Language and Culture and the Professions. The track within the French major
takes two years to complete. The major requires 33 credit hours in French and 15
credit hours in Business.
Students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can minor in Span-
ish for the Professions. The program is intended for students who plan to have
careers where they interact with Hispanic communities in the US or abroad.
Career options include Spanish language and culture for Business, Medical and
other Health Professions, Media and Journalism, and Law. The program con-
cludes with a capstone course that involves experiential learning through field
work and/or public service.
For aspiring global engineers, the University of Rhode Island (URI) offers a
five-year International Engineering Program. It includes a strong engineering
program, immersion in a world language and culture, and a year of study abroad.
Students earn two degrees simultaneously: a BS in an engineering discipline and
a BA in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, or Japanese (minor). Dr. John
Grandin, professor emeritus at URI, founded the program originally for German
students. Berka and Yu describe the URI program and its Chinese component in
another chapter in this volume.
Another popular trend in MBA programs is the incorporation of travel
and cultural experiences as degree requirements or electives. These experi-
ences typically involve a week or two of travel and study abroad between
semesters. They focus on experiential and cultural learning rather than language
immersion. Stanford, for example, ranked the #1 Global MBA program by the
Financial Times, offers Global Experiences to its graduate business students.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, ranked #3, also offers
several programs including Global Immersion, Lauder Culture Quests, and
language immersion. Another top-ranked school at #16, the Tuck Business
School at Dartmouth University offers global experiences and Global Insight
Expeditions for MBA students.
Several authors have published studies on intercultural communication and
ways to approach the teaching of Chinese culture for the professions, including
Gao and Prime (2010), Zhang (2011), Zhu (2013), and Zhou (2014). Grosse
(2011) published a study on global manager’s perceptions of cultural competence
that may be used to inform curriculum development in this area.
Challenges
Faculty who teach and conduct research in LSP face several important challenges,
including the use of evolving technologies as well as departmental resistance to
change. At times, junior faculty specializing in LSP have encountered obstacles
to promotion and tenure. They may receive less recognition for their research and
teaching than colleagues who specialize in more traditional language fields. Other
faculty in LSP have faced limited access to resources, professional development
opportunities, and support networks.
Technology can be a major obstacle for faculty who struggle to keep up with new
developments in hardware and software, social media, and new apps. Some have
difficulty learning new technologies that seem to come naturally to their students or
younger colleagues. A technology gap exists between some faculty and students, as
instructors work to keep up with their students’ level of technological expertise.
Other LSP faculty face resistance to any change in the curriculum that includes
LSP and interdisciplinary courses. Some colleagues may feel threatened by
change, fear losing students, or even their jobs. They may oppose having to retrain
to teach professional students, develop culture-centered courses, learn new tech-
nologies, or teach online. Colleagues sometimes fear that curricular change would
erode their enrollment numbers or status. To address these challenges, junior
faculty can work to build a strong network of support within their department,
school, and university as well as externally in the local community.
Opportunity
What opportunities are available for faculty in LSP in terms of professional devel-
opment and leadership? How can they access limited resources, find professional
development opportunities, and create support networks?
Several strategies can help them to access these opportunities. One way is
for faculty to actively participate in and seek leadership roles on committees at
departmental, school, and university levels. Service on committees brings atten-
tion, respect, and appreciation from colleagues and administrators. Those who
do committee work gain visibility, which helps colleagues get to know them,
their teaching, service, and research. Committee work also can give faculty direct
access to information about opportunities for professional development, awards,
and grants.
Another strategy for faculty in LSP is to become more active professionally.
They can offer workshops internally and externally, participate in conferences,
and volunteer for leadership roles in professional organizations. In these ways,
faculty can build their network, professional knowledge, and academic reputa-
tion. Participation in social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook can also help
faculty to be visible and gain professional recognition. Another strategy involves
applying for teaching and research awards and grants.
In terms of service to the department, faculty can offer to teach online LSP
courses, develop new materials, mentor colleagues, take an internship, start an
advisory council, and build a network with colleagues in other departments and
professional schools.
Educational agencies supported by the US and Chinese governments provide
faculty with information about how to access resources, support, and professional
development opportunities. For example, there may be a local center funded
by the US Department of Education International and Foreign Languages pro-
grams. These include 16 Language Resource Centers, 100 National Resource
Centers, 17 Centers for International Business Education, and 31 colleges and
universities with Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language
Education programs. In 2014, these programs received over $63.3 million from
the government to strengthen global competitiveness through International Stud-
ies and World Language Training at institutions of higher education in the US.
In addition, the Language Flagship community, a network of programs funded
by the US Department of Defense, promotes language education and profici-
ency in critical languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Urdu, Korean,
Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Swahili, and Turkish. This network consists of 22
institutions of higher education and ten overseas Flagship Centers. There are 11
Chinese Flagship programs in the US and two in China. Samuel Eisen, director of
the Language Flagship program, described his program in a special issue (2012)
of the Journal of Chinese Teaching and Research in the U.S.
The National Security Agency sponsors StarTalk, a program that promotes the
study and teaching of critical need foreign languages. It offers summer language
study experiences for K-16 students and language teachers. The University of
Maryland’s National Foreign Language Center administers the program.
With respect to support from the government of China, the Ministry of Edu-
cation of the People’s Republic of China sponsors a network of 480 Confucius
Institutes on six continents. Their mission is to promote Chinese language, cul-
ture, and exchanges. About 100 Confucius Institutes are located in the US, housed
primarily at universities.
Reflections
For over 30 years, the field of languages for specific purposes has made a differ-
ence in the education of students who pursue careers in business, engineering,
health, law, tourism, and other professions. LSP has brought much needed innova-
tion and reform to the curriculum of world language departments and professional
schools, and contributed an invaluable interdisciplinary approach to higher educa-
tion in the 21st century.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank to Dr. Haidan Wang and the National Foreign Language
Resource Center at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa for supporting this project.
Dr. Wang was Coordinator of Chinese for Business and Professional Program at
the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. I presented an earlier version of this chapter
at The 6th Business Chinese Workshop in Conjunction with the 2nd International
Conference on Business Chinese Education at the University of Hawaii on March 31,
2018. The conference was co-chaired by Dr. Haidan Wang.
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2 Why should we seriously consider
teaching Chinese for specific
purposes?
James Dean Brown
Introduction
My interest in specific purposes language teaching began at UCLA in 1980 with
a group of teachers preparing to go to China and set up three English for specific
purposes (ESP) programs – two in Beijing and one in Guangzhou. For two years,
I worked at Zhongshan Daxue (Sun Yat-sen University), where UCLA helped
establish the Guangzhou English Language Center (GELC). Our mission was to
provide 30 weeks of specific purposes English for science and technology (EST)
for 225 Chinese scientists and engineers at a time to prepare them for going abroad
to do post-graduate work in English-speaking countries.
Later, I taught for three years at Florida State University (FSU), where we
ran an MA program for English teachers working in ARAMCO (the national oil
company in Saudi Arabia). Naturally, ARAMCO was interested in petroleum
English (PE), another variant of ESP. Then, I was hired by the University of
Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) and became the director of the English Language
Institute (ELI) at UHM, which I helped shape into a well-organized English for
academic purposes (EAP) program over a period of about five years (Brown,
1995). More recently, I co-directed two summer institutes with Thom Hudson
for post-secondary teachers of languages for specific purposes (LSP), which
resulted in a collection of papers describing LSP projects in a variety of different
languages (including a number on Chinese for specific purposes, or CSP; see
Trace, Hudson, & Brown, 2015).
Also, in recent years, I have developed an interest in World Englishes (WEs),
English as an international language (EIL), as well as English as a lingua franca
(ELF) (e.g., Brown, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020). WEs, EIL, and
ELF can all be directly connected to ESP (Brown, 2012).
All in all, you can see that I have actively engaged with a veritable vegetable
soup of specific purposes acronyms including ESP and LSP programs over the
years beginning with ESP in the GELC EST program set up by UCLA, then the
PE in the FSU MA program at ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia, then EAP in the ELI
at UHM, followed by LSP of various types in several languages (including CSP)
in two summer institutes at UHM, all of which has been colored by an interest in
WEs, EIL, and ELF.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003014690-4
26 James Dean Brown
The importance of Chinese for specific purposes
One question that several people have considered in English teaching is the status
of the native speaker (NS) (see, e.g., McKay & Brown, 2015). I will discuss some
of the issues related to NS-ism here but frame them in terms of Chinese, and the
“impossible dream” of being a native speaker of Chinese. I will do so by asking
how, what, how long, why, and who.
How? How can we define what a native speaker of Chinese is? Is s/he only an
educated speaker of Mandarin? Which dialect? Can you point to a single example
of an exemplary Chinese NS? Can an illiterate be a NS? How would you define
NS in this context? What about the speakers of the so-called Chinese dialects who
have been educated in Han? Are they NSs?
As you can see from all these questions, in many respects, the notion of NS of
Chinese is at best difficult to define, but at worst impossible. And even if we knew
how to clearly define NS of Chinese, how many second language (L2) students
ever attain anything even close to NS ability in Chinese?
What? So maybe we cannot define NS, but what then is Chinese language pro-
ficiency (CLP)? Is CLP defined in terms of NSs? Does it mean NS CLP in reading,
writing, listening, speaking, pragmatics, interactional competence, etc.? Also, we
need to seriously consider which learners, if any, really need NS CLP? And again,
how many students ever attain anything even close to NS CLP?
How long? More to the point how long does it take to become a NS? Think
about mastering anything. Some people estimate that it takes 10,000 hours of
practice to master a musical instrument, sport, or other skill. If so, it might be rea-
sonable to expect it to take 10,000 hours of practice to master Chinese at the NS
level. At 45 hours of class per semester and presupposing 45 hours of homework
for that same class, 10,000 hours of practice in Chinese would take more than
111 semesters of classes for students to master Chinese (i.e., become native-like).
How many semesters of Chinese practice do your students get?
Why? And, why do students learn Chinese? To pass a language requirement?
To be able to talk to family members? To read Chinese literature? To do post-
secondary training in Chinese? And, what percentage need Chinese for reading
literature or post-secondary training? More to the point, let me ask again, how
many students actually achieve anything even close to the CLP necessary to read
and understand the Chinese in literature or post-secondary training?
Who?Who will the students use Chinese with in various parts of China? And,
who will the students use Chinese with elsewhere? In terms of World Englishes,
Levis (2005) described how learners of English might interact with each other in
1) the inner circle (or IC, countries where English is the dominant language like
the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia), 2) outer circle (or OC, usually
former colonies where English is one official language, which is used in certain edu-
cated groups, like India, Singapore, Nigeria, etc.), and 3) expanding circle (or EC,
other L2 EFL learners, like those in China, Germany, Japan, etc.) In Levis (2005,
p. 373, Figure 2), he shows how these three groups might interact with each other.
Reframing his idea a bit, IC speakers/writers might be involved in IC-IC, IC-OC,
or IC-EC interactions with listeners/readers; OC speakers/writers might experience
Why should we consider teaching CSP? 27
Table 2.1 Speaker/Writer and Listener/Reader Matrix Varieties of Chinese
Mandarin NS Chinese Heritage Heritage NNS (Char-Based NNS (Alpha-
Listener/Reader “Dialect” NS Mandarin “Dialect” lang.) Based lang.)
Listener/Reader Listener/Reader Listener/Reader Listener/Reader Listener/Reader
Mandarin NS
X X X X X X
Speaker/Writer
Chinese “Dialect”
NS X
Speaker/Writer
Heritage
Mandarin X
Speaker/Writer
Heritage
“Dialect” X
Speaker/Writer
NNS (Char-Based
lang.) X
Speaker/Writer
NNS (Alpha-
Based lang.) X
Speaker/Writer
OC-IC, OC-OC, or OC interactions with listeners/readers; and EC speakers/writers

might participate in EC-IC, EC-OC, or EC-EC interactions with listeners/readers.
Notice that of those nine possible interactions of speakers/writers with listeners/
readers, only two (IC-EC and EC-IC, i.e., the ones in italics in the previous sentence)
require L2 learners to interact in writing or orally with NSs.
Taking a broader view of the varieties of Chinese, the picture is even more
complicated because speakers and writers (as indicated in the first column of
Table 2.1) can come from various backgrounds (Mandarin NS, Chinese “Dia-
lect” NS, Heritage “Dialect”, NNs of other character-based languages NNS
or alphabet-based languages, etc.), while listeners and readers (as indicated in
the first row of Table 2.1) can also come from those same diverse backgrounds
(again, Mandarin NS, Chinese “Dialect” NS, Heritage “Dialect”, NNs with other
character-based language backgrounds, or NNs with alphabet-based language
backgrounds). What is most remarkable in Table 2.1 is that Mandarin NSs are
only involved in 11 of 36 possible combinations of speakers/writers and listeners/
readers.
Thus, in terms of how difficult it is to define the NS of Chinese, or what that
means in terms of what Chinese language proficiency is, or how long it takes to
master Chinese, or why students want to learn Chinese, or who the students are
likely to listen, speak, read, and write with the so-called NS Chinese standard sets
most students up for failure. Why do we do that to them when focusing on the nar-
rower goals of Chinese for specific purposes would be attainable because it does
not rely on the notion of NS, or general Chinese language proficiency, or becom-
ing a NS, and it focuses specifically on why the students want to learn Chinese
and who they need to communicate with.
Setting narrower, more realistic goals for CSP

In this section, I will compare the basic assumptions of traditional CLP-based
teaching with those for CSP with the goal of showing how CSP can be used to
set narrower, more realistic and attainable goals for student learning than can
28 James Dean Brown
traditional CLP-based teaching. Table 2.2 contains three columns: one dealing
with various curriculum design questions, another with the assumptions of tradi-
tional CLP-based teaching, and a third with the assumptions of CSP. The ques-
tions in the first column will serve as headings for the next seven sections.
Table 2.2 Comparing the Basic Assumptions of Traditional CLP Versus CSP Assumptions
Curriculum Traditional CLP CSP Assumptions

Design Question Assumptions
What Should Mandarin Chinese is the Focus on the language students’

the Target standard and Mandarin purposes; Mandarin and/or
Language and NSs are the model; dialects as appropriate; NS or
Culture Be? big C and small c culture bilingual speaker models and
of Zhōngguó; grammar standard; international cultures
rules, grammar/ of Taiwan, Singapore, etc.; local
translation, and cultures of teaching and learning
characters are taught. included; communicative/
task-based methods dominant,
focusing on meanings students
will need to communicate;
organized around tasks they will
need to perform.
Why Do Students Global reasons like: Local (in China and other
Learn 1. Chinese is an countries) reasons like to:
Chinese? important means of 1. Communicate for specific
communicating globally purposes in the Chinese lingua
2. Chinese helps foster franca in China
internationalism 2. Communicate for specific
3. Chinese is important purposes locally with foreign
for entry into higher people who speak Chinese
education in Sino- 3. Gain advantage over other local
oriented countries people in dealings with foreign
4. Chinese is an important people who speak Chinese
language in Sino- 4. Speak with friends/family who
oriented countries for speak Chinese
access to entertainment, 5. Gain the prestige locally of
information, etc. speaking a foreign language
How Are the Teacher/textbook knows Needs analysis is essential for CSP:
Purposes best: CNOP especially CAP or COP
Delimited?
Who Should Be Literature-trained NSs 1. The curriculum is based on
Included in the of Mandarin have information about needs
Curriculum controlled the curriculum for Chinese language from
Development by writing textbooks or local students, teachers,
Process? guiding/controlling local administrators, and students’
curriculum development. future professors, employers,
The views of local colleagues, etc.
students and teachers 2. Bilingual language teachers
ignored or downgraded (who are especially qualified to
in importance by those understand the viewpoints of all
literature-trained people. of these stakeholders) are involved

What Other Curriculum developers In their needs analyses, curriculum

Situational have ignored the many developers can address any
Factors situational, stakeholder, situational, stakeholder, and
Should Be and theoretical theoretical constraints
Considered? constraints on teaching
and learning
What Basic Units To date, primarily 1. Syllabuses are adopted from the
of Analysis phonological, structural, ever-expanding list: structures;
Should Be and lexical syllabuses situations; topics; skills; functions;
Included in the notions; tasks, pragmatics,
Curriculum? discourse units, and genres, etc.
2. CSP will probably focus on
purposes, functions, notions,
tasks, and genres
What Should Be Promotes language and 1. Includes successful bilinguals
Selected From cultural (typically, as CSP language and
Among the those of China pedagogic models
Basic Units of and Sino-oriented 2. Fosters Chinese language and
Analysis? countries) knowledge cultural behaviors that will
and the ability to use help students communicate
that knowledge to effectively in specific situations
communicate in the and have friendly dealings with
target country. all Chinese speakers
3. Helps students achieve
intelligibility when they are
among other CSP speakers
4. Enhances students’ access to
and capacity to contribute to
the international body of CSP
information
5. Supports learning CSP
efficiently and effectively, and
helps students feel better about
their Chinese
6. Provides students with
awareness of linguistic and
cultural differences in the
various contexts in which CSP
is used, and furnishes them
with strategies for handling
differences
7. Helps learners be “both global
and local speakers of Chinese”
who can function in CSP at
home and internationally
8. Provides CSP curriculum that
respects the local culture of
learning and promotes a sense
(Continued)
30 James Dean Brown
Table 2.2 (Continued)

of ownership and confidence in

the local varieties of CSP
9. Includes materials and
activities based on local and
international situations that
are applicable to the students’
everyday lives, including
NS-NNS interactions, and
NNS-NNS interactions
10. Includes models of Mandarin,
“dialect” users, and NNS of
Chinese so students realize
that Chinese does not belong
exclusively to Mandarin NSs
What should the target language and culture be?

One of the most basic questions in language curriculum design is what the target
language and culture should be. In traditional CLP teaching, it is assumed that
Mandarin Chinese will serve as the standard language to be taught and that (edu-
cated) NSs of Mandarin will serve as the models for that language. In terms of
culture, big-C culture is most often included (things like Chinese opera, Chinese
literature, classical Chinese art, etc.) and sometimes the everyday small-c culture
of Zhōngguó is included (things like food, clothing, customs, etc.). Grammar is
taught explicitly in terms of grammar rules, grammar/translation exercises, and
learning characters is considered very important.
In CSP curriculum design and teaching, the assumptions are quite different. The
focus is on the specific language that students will need for their own purposes,
whatever those purposes may be (e.g., Chinese for occupational purposes like busi-
ness, tourism, etc. or Chinese for academic purposes like Chinese for economics,
science, and technology, etc.). The language of focus will be Mandarin and/or dia-
lects that are appropriate for the students in various proportions, and the models
that will be used may be NSs or bilingual speakers of Mandarin or of appropriate
dialects. Big-C culture is not likely to be considered very important. Any small-c
culture that is included will be related to the specific purpose involved and may
be from a variety of regions of China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc., as
appropriate. The local cultures of teaching and learning that exist where the CSP
is being taught can and should be included, or even be dominant. CSP is most
often taught using communicative and task-based teaching methods that focus on
meanings students will need to communicate for their specific purposes, and CSP
will likely be organized around tasks the students will need to perform in situa-
tions they will face in real-world CSP use.
Why do students learn Chinese?
Students no doubt learn Chinese for many institutional and personal reasons, or
what Brown (2012, pp. 149–150) labeled in two broad categories: global rea-
sons and local reasons. In traditional CLP-based teaching, it is assumed that stu-
dents learn Chinese for global reasons. That is, they learn Chinese because it is
an important means of communicating globally, it helps foster internationalism,
it is important for entry into higher education in Sino-oriented countries, and it
is essential in Sino-oriented countries for accessing entertainment, information,
international travel, publishing, science, diplomacy, etc.
In CSP, teachers and curriculum designers are more likely to assume that
students learn Chinese for local reasons, that is because: 1) Chinese is needed
for its specific purpose as the lingua franca in China; 2) it is used for the spe-
cific purpose of communicating locally with foreign people who speak Chinese;
3) elsewhere it is used as a lingua franca for communicating with local people
who speak other mother tongues; 4) it can be used for the purpose of gaining
advantage over other local people in dealings with foreign people who speak
Chinese; 5) it is sometimes needed for the purpose of speaking with friends/
family who speak Chinese; and 6) knowing Chinese will bestow prestige locally
for speaking a foreign language.
How are the purposes delimited?

Traditional CLP-based teaching assumes that the teachers and textbooks know
best what the students need to learn. Unfortunately, teachers often do not know
what students need to learn because almost by definition teachers are old and
students are young. As a result, teachers tend to teach what and how they were
taught and give undeserved control of curriculum to textbook publishers who
are motivated by profits (i.e., selling the most books to the widest possible audi-
ence), which means that the curriculum has no connection with any specific group
of students or their actual needs. These traditional strategies typically lead to
teaching Chinese for no obvious purpose (CNOP).
In CSP, by definition, the teaching is directly related to the Chinese that
matches students’ language needs for use in specific situations for specific
purposes – generally based on a thorough needs analysis (Brown, 2016). This
does not mean that CSP leaves the teachers out of the loop or that the curricu-
lum is based only on what the students want. While the focus of needs analy-
sis for CSP is on the students’ needs, information is gathered from students,
yes, but also from teachers, future employers, the literature, etc., with a view
to understanding what Chinese the students will need in order to accomplish
their specific purposes. Such needs analyses are usually conducted within well-
established frameworks for Chinese for academic purposes (CAP, e.g., Chinese
for engineering, Chinese for studying at Beida, etc.) or Chinese for occupa-
tional purposes (COP, e.g., Chinese for business, Chinese for tourism, Chi-
nese for beer making, etc.). That information is then used to select and specify
32 James Dean Brown
defensible curriculum including student learning outcomes, materials, class-
room activities, classroom tests, etc. for the CSP in question as it is needed by
the specific group of learners involved.
Who should be included in the curriculum development process?

In traditional CLP teaching, literature-trained NSs of Mandarin have often con-
trolled the curriculum either by writing textbooks or guiding and controlling insti-
tutional curriculum development (by shear dint of academic rank or age-based
“authority”), even when they know little about language curriculum development
(or about language teaching for that matter). As a result, the views of local stu-
dents and other teachers about language teaching and what students should be
learning have often been ignored or been viewed as irrelevant because the older
literature-trained teachers know better.
In CSP, one article of faith is that stakeholders like local students, teachers,
administrators, and the students’ future professors, employers, colleagues, etc.
are in the best position to provide useful information about the specific purposes
for which students will need Chinese. Indeed, rather than focusing on NSs of
Chinese, bilingual Chinese language teachers who (for 20 different reasons) are
often seen as being especially qualified to understand the viewpoints of all the
stakeholders in a CSP program (Brown, 2012).
What other situational factors should be considered?

In traditional CLP teaching, the many situational, stakeholder, and theoretical
factors that may constrain curriculum development have typically been ignored.
As explained in Brown (2016), situational constraints may be imposed by soci-
ety, politics or policy, resources (or lack of same), and the curriculum itself;
stakeholder constraints may be due to students, teachers, administrators, or other
stakeholders; and theoretical constraints may be imposed by the approaches and/
or syllabuses that are adopted in a specific setting.
In CSP, because curriculum is based on needs analysis, teachers and curricu-
lum developers are much more likely to be aware of situational, stakeholder, and
theoretical constraints like those described in the previous paragraph. As a result,
such constraints are more likely to be addressed and even overcome.
What basic units of analysis should be included in the curriculum?

Every language curriculum is organized around certain units of analysis. If such
organization is missing, students and teachers soon become uncomfortable with
the materials and teaching involved. For example, traditional CLP curricula are
typically organized around phonological units at the beginning and then structural
or sometimes lexical syllabuses thereafter. Some traditional audiolingual teaching
will be organized around situations (as chapter headings), but within and across
chapters the organization is likely to be based on structures and/or lexis. Students
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Compare: Zeltner, 105–107; Tremearne, FL 21: 499–500; Jones,
107–109; Parsons, Sea Islands, 59–61.
(1) Only Jones, Parsons and the Jamaica version (a) have the
introduction, which suggests the story (Grimm 4) of the lad who did
not know what fear was.
(2) One of three plots is employed to teach wisdom. In Jones (see

number 30c and Gerber’s Great Russian Animal Tales, 12, 16) the
rascal gives his victim a bull-dog in a bag and bids him let it out in an
open field. In Parsons, he sets on fire the deep grass in which his
victim lies sleeping. In Zeltner, Hyena and Hare catch four lion cubs;
Hare pretends to kill his two, and Hyena follows his supposed
example. In Tremearne, Hyena and Jerboa on a wedding journey
are lodged in the goat-house and the fowl-house respectively.
Jerboa proposes they have a feast, then counsels the host to count
the fowls and the goats. None of his fowl are missing, but Hyena has
eaten a goat. In Ferrand, Madagascar, 207, it is proposed to kill
mothers. One pretends to, the other thinks it real and does it. See
number 136.
In Gerber’s Great Russian Animal Tales, 13, the Fox, having placed
some chickens under her, pretends to be tearing out and eating her
own entrails. Bear tries to do the same and kills himself.
(3) The escape into a hole is very common. The usual method of
rescue is to throw dust, pepper or spit into the eyes of the watcher at
the hole. Compare: numbers 5c, 23, 27a, and Zeltner, 107; Nassau,
45, 46; Smith, 549; Harris, Uncle Remus, 52; Nights, 285; Fortier,
115; Jones, 108; JAFL 30: 178; Parsons, Andros Island, 118 and
note for references.
The “sweet” eye-water suggests such a tale as Tremearne, FL 21:

364, where Goat smears honey upon Hyena’s sinew, with which he
is doing some mending for Lion, and by giving Lion a taste of it
provokes an attack upon Hyena. [241]
[Contents]
14. New Names. [Story]
The trick to save a mother in time of famine from a mutual

agreement of sacrifice to hunger, has a great vogue in Jamaica. I got
two versions, and Pamela Smith tells it as “Parrot, Tiger and
Anancy,” 52–54.
Compare: Dayrell, 86–90; Dennett, 85; Harris, Nights, 233–236;

237–241; Fortier, 109; Parsons, Andros Island, 116–117; JAFL 30:
230–231.
Only in the Jamaica versions and in Parsons does the trick consist in
teaching a hidden name. In P. Smith, after saving his mother by
teaching her the new name, Anansi hides her in a tree and the story
follows 17 a. Dayrell, and Harris 237–241, tell the tree story. In
Dennett, she is hidden in a cave, where she is discovered by
treachery and killed. In Harris 233–236, Wolf’s mother is taken first
to market and sold, and Rabbit tricks Wolf out of horses, wagon and
provisions by the familiar device of burying the tails; but the story is
incomplete, as it does not explain how Anansi got out of the bargain.
In Fortier, the two mothers are tied, one with a rope, the other with a
cob-web, and one mother escapes. The tying trick precedes the tail-
burying in Parson’s Portuguese version, JAFL 30: 230–231.
In Chatelain, 141–145, four brothers-in-law refuse food to their

brother’s wife because she does not know their names. A bird sings
them to her as follows:
Listen, I will tell thee;

(One is) Tumba Sekundu;
(One is) Tumba Sekundu Muna;
(One is) Tumba Kaulu;
(One is) Tumba Kaulu Muna.
For the hidden name theme which forms the basis of this story, see
note to number 69.
[Contents]
15. Long Shirt. [Story]
Hendrick’s version of this good story is the only one I heard in

Jamaica. It has a European coloring in the speaking garment, which
resembles the English versions of Jack and the Bean-stalk. The
setting of the dance resembles number 4, but in this story the dance
plays no motivating part. For the horn as stump see Aesop,
Phaedrus 2: 8. The conclusion is no doubt a turn of Hendrick’s own,
as he was fond of explanatory endings and got one in whenever he
could. [242]
[Contents]
16. Shut up in the Pot. [Story]

This common African story is not popular in America in this form,
either because the idea is repulsive or because it is too simple to
make a good story. The essential feature, that of taking turns going
into the pot, is employed in number 37, and resembles the playing at
tie each other of number 1. It is used in some versions of number 98.
In Wona, 14–18, Anansi gets the animals into his pot by proposing a
weight-testing contest.
Compare: Jacottet, 12–14; Junod, 91; Dayrell, 36–37; Elmslie, FL 3:

104–105; Boas and Simango JAFL 35: 168–170.
In Dayrell’s version, Bat pretends to make soup by jumping into a pot

which he has previously prepared with food, and persuades his
companion to scald himself to death by imitating him. Yeats drew his
play of the “Pot of Lentils” from an Irish version in which a stone
serves as the magic means instead of the magician’s person.
[Contents]
17. House in the Air. [Story]
The story of obtaining entrance to a hidden food-supply “in the air”

takes two general forms in Jamaica—first, that in which a song
serves as pass-word, as in the voice-softening Rapunzel plot,
number 91; second, that of the lost pass, numbers 22 and 100. The
lost pass takes two directions; there is either a forgotten pass-word
or a destroyed “key.”
The story is popular in Jamaica. See Jekyll, 23–25, Pamela Smith,

52–54; Backus, JAFL 11: 288–289.
Compare: Dayrell, 86–90; Parsons, Andros Island, 5–7; 8–9; Sea
Islands, 36; Harris, Nights, 236–241.
Version (a). Dayrell, Harris and Pamela Smith use the episode to
complete the mother-eating story; the trickster hides his relative in a
tree in order to evade his share of the bargain.
In Bleek, 7, 9, and Theal, 190, a trickster offers to act as carrier for

the Lion’s prey, conveys it to a height, then pretends to draw the Lion
up with a rope but lets him fall when he is part way up.
Version (b). The version is so incomplete that its connections are

difficult to trace. In Chatelain, 133, when the women from Sun and
Moon who have come to draw water go back up to heaven on the
cobweb that Spider has woven, Frog goes along with them to woo
the daughter of Sun and Moon for his master. In Dennett, 74, the
Spider climbs up to the blue vault of heaven and draws up the other
animals to woo Nzambi’s daughter. [243]
Versions (c) and (d). In Parsons, Andros Island, 5–7, the trickster
visits some fat pea-fields in the air belonging to “dose speerits which
you call witch people” and gets a dash of hot water, as in number 1b.
In version (d), the trickster himself employs the hot water in the
popular John-crow peel-head episode with which the story
concludes; see number 48. Backus’s Jamaica version ends in the
same fashion.
The idea of the liver as the “key” to the house occurs in Chatelain,
113. The trickster, after trying in vain to kill a monster by cutting off
his head, gets himself swallowed and “goes to look into his hearts
(i.e. “liver” and “inner organs” generally, says the note) whether
these are the keys.”
[Contents]
18. Goat on the Hill-side. [Story]
This well-known East Indian fable is common in Jamaica. Jekyll

gives a version, 20–22.
Compare: Parsons, Andros Island, 88–89 and note for references;

also Chatelain, 189–191; Junod, 123–124; Edwards, JAFL 4: 52.
The ruse is one generally planned by the weak trickster for his strong
but dull-witted companion, as in number 23. There is a tendency to
place the incident among the monkeys, as in number 37. In
Parsons’s three versions the slaughter is made among them; in
Jekyll’s version, in a second of my own from Mandeville, and in
Jacottet’s form, it is the monkey or baboon who discovers the trick.
In Tremearne, FL 21: 209–210, a bird gives warning; in Chatelain, a
deer.
[Contents]
19. Dog and Dog-head. [Story]
This story is told everywhere in Jamaica, but I find no African version

and Mrs. Parsons says (JAFL 32: 391) that, although she heard it
“over and over again” in South Carolina, it was altogether unknown
in North Carolina; see Sea Islands, 1–5. Such a distribution argues a
fairly modern origin for the complete form of the story.
The story has two parts. (1) Two friends, who have, one a dog and
the other a dog-head, go hunting, and the owner of the dog-head
claims the spoils for his own. (2) His companion, who dares not
dispute him, recovers the spoils by pretending that the owner is
come to punish the theft. [244]
An introduction sometimes tells how the friends come by the dog and
dog-head. Each gets a present of a dog, but one is so greedy that he
eats his down, beginning at the tail, until only the head is left. When
his friend jeers at him, he makes a bet that his dog-head will catch
the prey. The business of deciding at which end to begin to eat the
dog is used as a humorous episode detached from the rest of the
story, the victim sometimes escaping in the meantime.
The trick of claiming the cow as the prey of the dog-head may be
related to such stories as that of Basset 2: 88, in which the man lays
the new-born calf beside his own bull and declares that the bull has
mothered it.
For the revenge, compare Rivière, 11; Harris, Nights, 131–132.
[Contents]
20. Tacoomah’s Corn-piece. [Story]
See number 21.
[Contents]
21. Anansi and the Tar Baby. [Story]
For the distribution of the Tar-baby story in negro folk-lore and its
relation to negro practices compare: Boas, JAFL 25: 247–250;
Tremearne, 20–24; Parsons, Andros Island, 12–13; Sea Islands, 26–
29. For Spanish see Espinosa (Cuentos populares españoles,
Stanford University 1923, Vol. I, p. 80.)
Version (a). Of all the devices to catch a thief, the tar-baby story is by
far the most popular in Jamaica. Despite its conformity to negro
practices, the uniformity of style in which the story is treated shows
that it is not here developed upon a naturalistic basis. On the other
hand, the trick of the escape into the habitat does not often occur in
Jamaica, perhaps because it is more amusing when coupled with the
figure of Rabbit, as in 59 a. For other instances of the fire-test see
notes to number 9.
Version (b). Jamaica thief stories lay emphasis upon the

unexpectedness of the thief’s identity. In version (a) and in number
50, it is the watchman himself who is robbing the garden. In (b) it is
the intimate friend. In (c) it is the father of the family. Pains are taken,
moreover, to divert suspicion. In number 20, Anansi establishes an
alibi by playing all night at a dance while his gang rob the field; in
Junod, 102, Rabbit makes his companion put him under a mortar at
night and fasten his feet, then wriggles out of the trap and returns to
it again. The device in version (b) seems to be native to Jamaica.
[245]
The escape by means of a substitute is more dramatically handled

than in Mrs. Parsons’s Bahama versions, 15–16, but as Goat is
generally a wary animal in Jamaica stories, the ending must be
derived from the “Boukee and Rabby” cycle of the Bahama and
Louisiana equivalents. For the substitute theme, compare numbers
2, 4, 5b, 10b, 58.
Version (c). Compare: Bleek, 80–82; Cronise and Ward, 101–111;

Barker, 69–72. For the detection of the father by the son, see
Cunnie-more-than-father, number 23.
[Contents]
22. Inside the Cow. [Story]
According to Mrs. Parson’s analysis in Andros Island, 2–10, the story

of the lost pass takes four forms: (1) across water, (2) inside a tree,
(3) to the sky, (4) inside the cow. To all these passages, a magic
pass is attached, and either a violated prohibition or a forgotten
pass-word traps the intruder until the master of the place appears.
In Jamaica, the story is very popular. (1) occurs in numbers 7, 39,

58, out of which, however, the pass-word has dropped; (2) is
wanting; (3) is found in number 17; (4) appears in numbers 6 and 38
and in a number of current versions which contain the episode of
cutting meat from inside the cow, but lack the other elements of the
story.
For the pattern of Parkes’s story, which falls into five parts, compare:
Tremearne, 257–260; Ellis, Yoruba, 271; Barker, 81–84; Cronise and
Ward, 231–238; Nassau, 35–37; 202–207; Fortier, 31; 111; Harris,
Uncle Remus, 166–168; Christensen, 108; Edwards, 77; Parsons,
Andros Island, 2–10; Rattray, 2: 88.
(1) The trickster discovers food in a neighbor’s possession in
Tremearne, Nassau, 203, Fortier, 31, Harris, Christensen, Edwards,
Parsons, 3, 4, 27.
(2) His impatience leads him to create a “mock sunrise.” In

Tremearne, he burns the roof; in Christensen, he sets a tree on fire;
in Ellis, he simulates the cock-crowing; in Barker, he makes the
children rattle their spoons and sweep the floor.
In Parkes’s version, Anansi wakens at the cow-boy’s bell, and the

reference to the “river-side” connects the story with the crossing
water variant. As in Cronise and Ward, after learning the trick from
his friend, he goes off alone for a supply without calling his neighbor.
In Jones, 11–14, and Harris, Friends, 6–11, the Sun promises to find
food for the hungry Hawk if he can ever catch him in bed. [246]When
Rooster finally wakes Hawk in time to catch the Sun, the angry lord
gives Hawk permission to catch chickens.
(3) In cutting the meat from inside the cow, in spite of warning he
cuts a vital organ in Nassau, Cronise and Ward, Harris, Fortier,
Parsons, 9; and numbers 17c and 17d of this collection.
In Fortier, 31 (see number 7), instead of taking one egg from each
nest as bidden, he takes all. In Ellis, he forgets the pass-word.
(4) When the owner of the dead cow comes to cut it up, the trickster
hides in some organ, which the owner’s daughter takes to the brook
to wash. He jumps out, pretends that he was in the brook bathing,
complains of the insult and gets the cow as damages. So Cronise
and Ward, Nassau, Edwards. In Tremearne, he gets a whole
elephant for himself.
(5) He carries the cow away into a lonely place in order to enjoy the
whole, and Dry-head gets it away from him; see numbers 29, 30.
The episode does not occur in other versions. In Cronise and Ward,
he gets three cows by means of the tail in the ground trick. In Harris,
he is given his companion’s head, who gets shut up with him and
upon whom he has laid the blame of killing the cow.
[Contents]
23. Cunnie-more-than-Father. [Story]
Parkes gave me the only version of this admirable story that I found
in Jamaica and I did not find it in this form in other American
collections. The essential idea is that of repeated attempts by a
parent to turn over to an enemy an adroit child, who each time
outwits his would-be captor. The plot is common in Africa. In Rattray,
Chinyanje, 133–136; Torrend, 183–185; Junod, 158–163, a woman
steals from a monster, who demands her unborn child in
compensation. After his birth, the monster comes for his prey. The
parent attempts to beguile the child into his hands by sending him to
fetch something from the place where the monster lies concealed.
Each time the child escapes. Finally the child climbs a tree and
throws down fruit (Torrend and Junod) or wood (Rattray) into the
open mouth of his enemy, thus choking and killing him.
For a similar sequence of attempts to entrap a weaker enemy,

compare the Coyote and Rabbit cycle from Mexico, Boas, JAFL 25:
205, 236, 246, and 260 referring to Preuss; and two versions of the
same story by Mechling, JAFL 25: 201–202.
Parkes’s version includes five episodes, three of which belong to the
regular cycle; the first and the last are indeterminate. [247]
(1) The child proves too clever for the parent. Barker, 24, says,
“Anansi is the Spider, and with him is generally associated his son,
Kweku Tsin.” Stories about the two bring out the superior wit of the
son and the jealousy of the father. Compare numbers 19, 21c, 24 in
this collection.
In the African stories cited above, the motive for seeking to entrap
the child is one of compensation for stolen food. In the Mexican
cycle, the dull-witted strong animal has been made to suffer
punishment for a stolen food-supply, in place of the real thief. In
Jamaica, the child’s exposure of a hidden food-supply is used as the
motive.
The story of the yam’s hidden name is universally known and

enjoyed in Jamaica. It belongs to the group of hidden-name stories
discussed under number 69. See Milne-Home, 56–57, De Affassia,
and compare Musgrave, 53–54.
(2), (3). The child first sticks a fire-stick into the pepper-bush behind
which his enemy lies in wait, then throws bags of ants into his face
as he waits under a cocoanut tree.
In the African and Mexican parallels, the trickster throws down fruit,
—prickly-pears in Mexico. In every case, two fruits are thrown
harmlessly, then the fatal fruit. Compare Parsons, Andros Island, 40.
In Georgia, Backus, JAFL 13: 22–23, pepper is the missile. In
Nassau, 25–30, bags of ants and pepper are thrown to detect the
pretended dead. This may be related to the bee trick in the Mexican
cycle. In the Jamaica episode of the “refugees in the roof,” numbers
5c and 27, after the wife and children have dropped and been
devoured, Anansi puffs dust into the pursuer’s eyes and escapes.
Dust is thrown in Parsons, Sea Islands, 54, and in other instances in
the same collection.
(4) For the episode of detecting a hidden enemy by calling upon the
place where he is hidden to speak, compare Steere, 377; Rattray,
134; Renel 2: 92, 93; Fortier, 110; Harris, Friends, 143–146; and
Boas’ Mexican cycle, JAFL 25: 208 and reference, note page 248.
(5) For the trick of changing places in the coffin and the pretended
pastures under sea, compare 107, 108.
[Contents]
24. The Duckano Tree. [Story]
Tacoomah in this tale plays the part of Cunnie-more-than-father of

the preceding as a spy to discover a hidden food-supply. It is a very
popular Jamaica story, told by Milne-Home, 120–124; Wona, 62–66;
Pamela Smith, 78. [248]
Compare Edwards, 79; Dayrell, 26–28.
The story has three parts. (1) The son by means of a trail of ashes
discovers a hidden food supply. (2) He takes all but one fruit and
charms that so that his father cannot pick it. (3) Dog picks it up and
swallows it, is pursued, discovered by his eyes in the ground, and
the stolen fruit is squeezed out of him, thus causing the “sink places”
in his two sides.
(1) For the trail of ashes compare Barker, 51–54; Arcin, 478; Dayrell,
27; Nassau, 204, 141, 155; Harris, Friends, 15–20.
(2) In Dayrell’s story of The King’s Magic Drum, the king gives
Tortoise a tree which bears foo-foo once a year and drops foo-foo
and soup once a day, but will lose the power if visited twice. The son
follows and breaks the spell. The Kaffir “Iron John” story of The Bird
that made milk (Callaway, 99–104; Theal, 29–39), is the story of a
food-producing animal trapped by the father and let loose by the son.
In Barker, Anansi, to punish men, gets the wisdom of the world

sealed up in a jar and attempts to hide it away from everyone but
himself in the top of a tall tree. His son, Kweku Tsin, follows him to
the tree where he is hiding it, and, in his anger, Anansi lets the jar fall
and break.
(3) In Theal, 158–168, a man whose greed in hiding a food-supply

from his family has been discovered and punished, calls upon his
dogs to aid him. Later his son escapes from the cannibals by slipping
into a hole.
[Contents]
25. Food and Cudgel. [Story]
The first form of this story is very common in Jamaica. It is told by

Pamela Smith, Candoo, 28–30; Wona, Do-mek-I-see, 9–18. The
introductory trick is generally told as an independent witticism.
Compare: Basset 11, 93–95; 102; Barker, 39–44; Dayrell, 20–28;

Parsons, Andros Island, 141 and note for further references. See
Grimm 36, The Wishing Table, the Gold-ass, and the Cudgell in the
Sack, discussed in Bolte u. Polívka, 2: 336–361.
[Contents]
26. The Riddle. [Story]
Hendricks called this riddle test a “Nansi story,” although another

which he told me,—that of bringing water in a basket by daubing the
basket with clay—he said was “not exactly a Nansi story.” [249]
[Contents]
27. Anansi and Brother Dead. [Story]
The story of “Brother Dead” is one of the best known of Jamaica

stories. Trowbridge, 282, says Death is looked upon as Anansi’s
brother. “Anansi fool ’em all; nobody can fool Anansi, only Bredder
Dead,” old Forbes said at the end of a trick story. Every Jamaica
collection includes a version. See Jekyll, 31–34; Milne-Home, 40–41;
Trowbridge, JAFL 9: 286–287; Pamela Smith, 69–70; Wona, 73–77.
For other references, compare Parsons, Andros Island, 117–119 and
note 2, page 117.
The story turns upon Anansi’s stealing from Death’s provision field,
as in 17b. All the versions except Wona’s version end with the
episode of “refugees in the roof,” as in number 5c; an episode
related to the fruit-dropping or dust-blinding incident as a means of
getting rid of a strong enemy who is lying in wait for a weaker; as in
numbers 13c, 23.
In Wona’s version, which has retained a European underworld

coloring, Anansi passes fields of fat cattle and comes finally to the
city of Death. He greases the hinges of the gate with the fat of the
sheep he has killed out of Death’s flocks, and when he flees, the
gate opens for him. Nevertheless, the shadow of death jumps upon
his back. He asks various friends to take it off, and finally succeeds
in throwing it to earth; later he picks and eats callalu (Jamaica
greens) from the spot where it fell. This latter part of the story is the
“Dry-head” episode of numbers 22 and 30.
In the ordinary Jamaica version, the comedy of getting the food,

bringing the wife, attempting Death’s destruction, take the place of
the underworld detail. Another Maroon version begins:
Anansi get a daughter he call Mat, an’ he go to a place where he was

hunting an’ see a man sitting down all day sharpening pegs. Anansi go an’
say “Morning, Brar Dead!” Not a ’peak, only keep on work all a time. He go
up on his lof’ have lots of dry meat, an’ he tek as much an’ carry it down
an’ bile his food. Anansi don’ walk where rope is set against de water,
walk a different pass.
After Anansi has left his daughter with Dead, the story runs:
Him daughter want water, say, “Brar Dead, want water.” Not a answer. Him
follow de pass an’ go down to whe’ de water deh; an’ him drop in Brar
Dead’s rope an’ he catch him. An’ Dead run down an’ tek him off de stick
an’ lick him.—“Brar Dead, I’m yo’ wife! yo’ wife, Brar Dead! Don’ kill me!
don’ kill me!” Don’ hear a word, not a word. Kill him an’ cut him up an’
carry him put him up in lof’, mek fire under him, dry him.
In Trowbridge, Death is a loquacious planter and the story runs like

any thieving plot. In the Maroon version the figure of [250]“Brother
Dead” corresponds with that of the “Piercer of Souls” or the
“fisherman” in American Indian stories of the trickster’s visit to the
underworld, e.g. Relation de la Nouvelle France, 1636, p. 106;
Petitot, Traditions Indiennes des Déné Dinjé, p. 33. The American
Indian fisherman is spearing or angling for fish; the Jamaica figure of
Death is trapping game. Both tricksters make their way in by
avoiding Death’s trap.
The incident of tying Death’s hair in order to burn him up

corresponds to the hair-plaiting in Callaway, 29, and Theal, 110,
where the trickster sets fire to the hut and burns up his host.
Version (b) shows a simpler handling of similar incidents.
[Contents]
28. Brother Dead and the Brindle Puppy. [Story]
The second story of “Brother Dead” is mixed up with obeah beliefs

and it is hard to tell where the pattern ends and improvisation begins.
Brother Dead, like the sorcerer, evidently sends a shadow in the
shape of a brindled pup to pursue and catch Anansi. The song,
meanwhile, plays a part in the conjuring. Words and tune are
African. The old Maroon who gave me the trap-setting picture of
“Brar Dead” quoted in the note to the last number, concluded as
follows:
“When he (Dead) ketch to a cross-path, tek him lance an’ see one little
maugre dog into a hole an’ dig him out an’ say to de puppy, ‘Ai! Brar, fo’
kitty a shall man bra!’ If he had caught Anansi, he would kill Anansi.”
I was unable to get an explanation of the sorcerer’s phrase.
Compare, for the guardian dog, the story of Sarah Wintun by Lewis,
291, and see number 72. Jamaica sorcerers send a helping spirit in
animal form to work their revenge.
[Contents]
29. The Cowitch and Mr. Foolman. [Story]
The very popular Jamaica story of the “cowitch tree” is here

combined with another equally popular story. (1) Anansi wins a bet to
fell a tree in a cowitch property without scratching himself. (2) He
loses the reward by being out-tricked by another fellow whom he has
himself hoped to dupe and who pretends that the cow has sunk into
the ground all but its tail.
The story occurs in Pamela Smith, 75–77; Milne-Home, 89–90; and

a confused version in Jekyll, 29–30. Compare also number 52.
(1) The cowitch idea seems to be late Jamaican. In P. Smith, Anansi

picks cocoa-nuts in spite of ants and wasps and gets a cow as
reward. In Milne-Home, he cuts down the tree without [251]brushing
off ants, and gets the king’s daughter. In number 52, Toad succeeds
in cutting down the tree the chips of which return magically to their
place, and wins the king’s daughter. Generally outside Jamaica, the
reward is the king’s daughter and the difficulty arises from stinging
insects or from a useless weapon.
Compare Barker, 159–161; Tremearne FL 21: 353–354; Lenz, 31–

32; Harris, Nights, 216–222 and note to 222; Jones, 17; Parsons,
Sea Islands, 3.
In Barker, the king promises an elephant to the man who can cut
down a tree with a wooden axe. Anansi conceals a steel axe and
calls the watcher’s attention to various animals at a distance while he
uses it.
In Harris, Wolf forbids his daughter to all wooers who slap at

mosquitos. Rabbit wins her by describing where his grandfather was
speckled.
In Jones, the king will give his daughter to Wolf or Rabbit, whichever
will endure the sand-fly longest without slapping it. Rabbit wins by
describing the colors on his father’s horse.
In Tremearne, the task is to remove a heap of manure without either

taking food or spitting, and Spider conceals in his quiver the means
to fulfil these needs unsuspected. The story ends as in number 44.
In Lenz, the tree is to be chopped down with a single stroke by the

one who wants to marry the daughter.
The test theme of the tree-chopping is familiar to European story. In

Grimm, 79, the boy has to hew down a tree with a blunt axe as one
of the tasks set by the Water-nix; see Bolte u. Polívka 2: 140–146. In
Grimm 193, the Drummer has to hew down the tree with an axe of
lead and wedges and mallet of tin; see Bolte u. Polívka 3: 406–417.
The idea of stinging insects or plants as a test of self-control seems
to be African and may be suggested by such ceremonial initiations
into manhood as are described by Hollis, The Nandi, 54.
In Jamaica, the reward of self-control is not a wife but a cow. This

the winner desires to eat entirely by himself. The “whole cow” theme
so popular in Jamaica, occurs in 19, 22, 30, and in 6, 7, 11, 21, 23,
24, 25, 34, 39, 132 of this collection, the story turns upon a trick to
secure the whole of a common food-supply.
The Foolman episode is told by Milne-Home, 109–113, of Anansi’s

wife and “Quanqua.”
In P. Smith, the very popular “Dry-head” episode accounts for the

loss of the cow, as in numbers 22 and 30. [252]
In Barker, Anansi intends to get the cow to himself, but he loses it by
the trick of stealing the tied animal. See Parsons, FL 28: 411–413.
For the trick of tails in the ground, compare Harris, Nights, 234–236;
247–258; Uncle Remus, 101–103; Christensen, 89–90; JAFL 26:
(Hitchiti Indians) 215–216; (General) 30: 228; (Cape Verde) 230; 31:
(Guatemala) 474; 32: (Virginia) 368; (Georgia) 403.
[Contents]
30. Dry-Head and Anansi. [Story]
The “Dry-head” episode is very popular in Jamaica. From Jekyll’s

version, 48–49, I have corrected my version 30c as Johnson gave it
and made Dry-head, not Anansi, the victim of the bag trick. Johnson
was not a reliable informant. Other Jamaica versions occur in
Pamela Smith, 75–76, as the conclusion to the “cowitch” story, and
in Wona, 44–50.
The story falls into three parts. (1) Anansi pretends that he is about
to die unless he has the whole of a fat barrow to himself. (2) He
carries it away into the woods to eat and inadvertently picks up Dry-
head, who devours the whole. (3) He invents an expedient to get rid
of Dry-head.
Compare Surinam, JAFL 30: 244–246; Madagascar, Renel 2: 1–2;

57–59; Kaffir, Theal, 158–162; Upper Congo, Weeks FL 12: 82–83;
West African, Tremearne, FL 22: 61–63; Barker, 66; Cronise and
Ward, 287–290; Rattray, 2: 106–122.

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Chinese for Business and

Professionals in the Workplace:

Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods Across

A Transdisciplinary Approach to Chinese and Japanese

Society and Law : An Exploration across Disciplines 1st

Beauty and Human Existence in Chinese Philosophy Keping

Edgar Allan Poe Across Disciplines Genres and Languages

Managing Agile Business Technology: The Business and

Applied Data Science: Data Translators Across the

Depression in Girls and Women Across the Lifespan

• needs analysis of less-surveyed high school Business Chinese or CSP academic

Haidan Wang is Associate Professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa,

Christine Uber Grosse is Professor Emeritus of Modern Languages, Thunderbird

“With contributions of scholars active in the research and practices of Chinese

Edited by Haidan Wang

First published 2023

ISBN: 978-0-367-85736-3 (hbk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

List of contributors viii

Introduction: preparing learners for the workplace: Chinese

1 Insights and innovation from languages for specific purposes 11

2 Why should we seriously consider teaching Chinese for specific

3 Course design of Business Chinese in Marketing – teaching the

4 A Business Chinese program with an internship component: an

5 The Chinese International Engineering Program: history,

7 Needs analysis for CSP writing curriculum design 107

8 Comprehensive analysis of pragmatic information in Business

9 Using WeChat in a Business Chinese class 145

10 Becoming professionals: ecological role-play 162

11 New directions in Business Chinese instructional materials

12 A study of psychomotor learning modules for Business Chinese

13 Business Chinese from the learner’s perspective 209

14 Language arts and Chinese for specific purposes 223

15 Workplace simulations: test-driving life in professional contexts 238

17 Discipline-specific Chinese language teaching in higher

18 A study of the languages used on official websites

19 Incorporating Project-Based Language Learning into

Sigrid Berka is Professor of German and Executive Director of the International

Overview and rationale

Decline in foreign language enrollments

Demand from professional organizations and employers

Insights from languages for the professions

Languages for specific purposes

Rationale for languages for the professions

Disruptors of language education

OC-IC, OC-OC, or OC interactions with listeners/readers; and EC speakers/writers

Setting narrower, more realistic goals for CSP

Curriculum Traditional CLP CSP Assumptions

What Should Mandarin Chinese is the Focus on the language students’

Curriculum Traditional CLP CSP Assumptions

What Other Curriculum developers In their needs analyses, curriculum

Curriculum Traditional CLP CSP Assumptions

of ownership and confidence in

What should the target language and culture be?

How are the purposes delimited?

Who should be included in the curriculum development process?

What other situational factors should be considered?

What basic units of analysis should be included in the curriculum?

(2) One of three plots is employed to teach wisdom. In Jones (see

The “sweet” eye-water suggests such a tale as Tremearne, FL 21:

14. New Names. [Story]

The trick to save a mother in time of famine from a mutual

Compare: Dayrell, 86–90; Dennett, 85; Harris, Nights, 233–236;