We welcome you to the SISU College of English and to the IC MA Degree Program! We are pleased to have you studying with us, and hope to help you settle well into this new direction and choose the thesis supervisor best suited to your interests.
INTRODUCING CURRENT ADVISORS AND POSSIBLE THESIS AREAS
The goal of an MA program is not just the knowledge gained in coursework or exposure to professors, but to develop academic thinking, research and writing skills toward developing a Master’s thesis. The MA thesis you write should in some way be relevant to the mission and focus of SISU (an "International Studies" university) and should thus provide some insights into an overseas culture or adopt some comparative approach in the study of some internationally recognized phenomenon.
For degrees granted by the College of English, you should read as many of the related English publications as possible on your specific topic and write in fluent, persuasive English. Under the IC direction, your study should focus on some aspect(s) of inter- or cross-cultural awareness or communication (at the interpersonal, sub-culture or broader cultural level).
Our direction encourages students to not only be committed to write a good thesis, but to take initiative to write up their work-in-progress and present it at conferences, and seek to have it published after graduation.
Please note that your thesis should focus on a topic within the realm of the interests and academic competencies of our current MA supervisors. In total we have 11 supervising faculty (each take 2):
Zhang Hongling primarily advises students on topics related to IC education, IC and FLT teaching content and training methodologies, and also has interests in computer assisted language learning (CALL), applications related to educational technology and instructional medium, as well as how IC education/training contributes to human development and human performance (IC, cultural, and communicative competence). She thus also looks at intercultural adaptation/acculturation and conflict management in different contexts. zhlinda66@126.com
Zhang Yanli primarily advises students interested in researching international exchange programs and intercultural education, IC competence, dealing with cross-cultural conflict, cultural adjustment and adaptation/acculturation processes, and teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (CEFL). zhangyanli@shisu.edu.cn
Yu Zhaohui specializes in research on national public relations, and also has experience and interests in a wide range of business and HR management issues. Her particular interest is how national image is developed/perceived and how it affects communication. yuzhaohui@shisu.edu.cn
Zhu Ye primarily is interested in developing intercultural and multicultural competence in language teaching contexts, and especially in bilingual education and bilingualism. He also advises students interested in researching the Internet and media applications of IC, whether for business development, on-line training, or web-page design. zhuye@shisu.edu.cn
David Henry advises students interested in studying intercultural business communications (with his IBC group), business training approaches, and CC management topics, with emphasis on using discourse analysis as a key to cultural communications. He is also interested in teaching/training applications to engage the affective domaindnhenry@yahoo.com (how we link thought and feelings in communication, using film and drama in teaching) as well as the social-cultural semiotic-personal linkages between language and thought (especially applications of Lev Vygotsky), and IC theory.
Zhu Ping is interested in researching intercultural aspects of foreign language teaching and training, as well as analyzing cross-cultural aspects of business communication. zhuping@shisu.edu.cn
Zheng Wei, z_wei72@hotmail.comthough located in Japan, returns to Shanghai regularly, and teaches communication theory and cultural analysis each spring. He advises students interested in globalization/ modernization, critical cultural studies, social semiotics, interpersonal and organizational communication, and training applications to international business.
Fang Yongde is interested in comparisons of core cultural aspects, especially the historical cultural philosophies, values, and other factors that affect language. Thus he advises students interested in comparative and contrastive translation studies. fangyongde11@yahoo.cn
Li Wenjuan primarily advises students interested in international education, investigating the influence of stereotypes, development of personal or social identity, and researching topics related to comparative values studies and related cultural changes. wjli65@yahoo.com.cn
Chi Ruobing’s research interests include examining the disciplinary development of intercultural communication as a field (disciplinary history and status), the application of social network analysis to studying intercultural communication issues, and guiding those interested in quantitative studies (in co-direction with Steve Kulich). ruobing_chi@163.com
Zhang Xiaojia’s research direction includes literary studies, cultural studies, and cultural anthropology, especially issues of gender, subcultures, ethnicity, religion, etc. in the context of IC. She continues studies on the influential approach of women’s experience in ethnographic research (in co-direction with Steve Kulich). echo_forget@msn.com
Zhou Yi is interested in investigating contemporary British and American Literature and Culture studies. Related to IC, her main focus is on investigating the construction of identity, its relationship to space and place, and gender, especially in the works of women writers, such as “Canadianness in Alice Munro’s Short Stories” (in co-direction with Steve Kulich). tongniya@shisu.edu.cn
Weng Liping’s research interests lie in values and dynamic culture in the context of intercultural communication. He is especially interested in understanding how emic insights may inform global values research and how value shifts may be uncovered in cultural products. He aims o develop a process model of IC in which culture is viewed as a dynamic process rather than consisting of a number of fixed traits (in co-direction with Steve Kulich). wengliping@gmail.com
Advisor Request and Selection Procedures
The IC program encouraged students to carefully consider advisors potentially related to your main interests, select your top 3 desired supervisors, then write a formal letter of application to EACH of your first, second choices and third choices. Adapt each letter to accurately reflect your interests.
This “application letter” should carefully and clearly explain your relevant background and qualifications, why working with this advisor is important, your specific interest and most likely areas for thesis research, why these topics are important to you now, and how these will be useful for your future likely areas of study or work. Please send a copy to: icmajors@126.com
Each advisor will each review the applications sent to their email box, and in consultation with the IC advisor team, select those that they consider fitting to their interests, standards and background. With 11 thesis advisors available, each advisor will most likely select only 1 or 2 advisees to accommodate the 16 students admitted to the program this year..
Again, we welcome you, and we now sincerely wish each of you the best in sorting out these initial but important decisions about advisor choice, and hope that you continue to push yourself to study hard and be an active team player, committed to developing yourself and your classmates in the challenging world of Intercultural Communication. Thanks for joining us on this academic and personal development journey.
