Investigation #3 Analyzing a Speech Event

Among all the speech events of company meeting, I choose to investigate one of the most significant event- consultation of curriculum, with reference to Hymes's SPEAKING model. Some consequences of certain 'marked' behavior and the different kinds of cultural competencies will also be covered as this investigation goes along.

As for the setting and scene, the consultation of curriculum meeting of the language centre that I am working in takes place once in a semester. It is usually held in the conference room at a designated time during weekdays when there are no students come for class. All the staff sit around the table, with the principal and panels sit closely together. This meeting is agreed to be formal but everyone is free to give opinions.

The ratified participants of this activity include the principal, panels, academic officers and senior teaching staff. Part-time tutors and customer service officers in this case are the unratified participants who are expected to be present but do not have much opportunity to speak.

The ends of this meeting vary for different participants. For the higher power ones such as the principal and panels, their purpose is to elicit more opinions for curriculum modification; but for the ones with lower power, the underlying purpose for them to come might be to show that they are participative in the company.

The meeting starts off by the panel introducing the agender and inviting everyone to give opinions and recommendation. Then, the senior teaching staff usually take the turn to express their thought. The academic officers do speak up sometimes but their speech is relatively shorter. At the end of the meeting, part-time tutors and customer service officers are invited to add opinions. Surprisingly, the principal is the last to speak in the activity rounding up the whole meeting and thanking everyone for their contribution. When I first came to this company, I thought the panel was too aggressive that she took the role of the principal to start off the meeting. My new workmates and I dared not speak up as we thought we had to let the principal talk first until we were taught that the principal only speaks up at the end of the meeting. That is because she doesn't want to interrupt the meeting and she wants everyone to throw their ideas freely. In this case, every member got to know the sequence of the acts so that they know when to speak up and express their ideas at the right time.

The key of the meeting is known to be formal, however, no one is expected to wear formal dressing and cantonese is acceptable even though it is an English language school. People who are in formal dressing and speak in a serious tone will be seen as a distant outsider. The company always encourages a casual and friendly atmosphere for meeting so that everyone will feel free to speak up.

As for instrumentalities, the knowledge of the curriculum and students’ performance are the most crucial cultural tools for this meeting to go smoothly and effectively.

The most interesting norm that I observed in the meeting is to say thank you for more than two times every time when a person takes the turn to speak. At first, I would think it was too pretentious but then people are so comfortable with this and if someone forgot to thank others, s/he will be seen as a disrespectful person.

I would say this meeting is a mixed genre of company meeting and forum. Every member can speak for themselves in a casual way but still, the unstated norms of the meeting are anticipated to be followed.

After analyzing the meeting by Hymes's SPEAKING model, it is reflected that cultural competencies are necessary for avoiding ‘marked’ behaviors and are helpful to generate more effective in-group communication.