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FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
School of Intercultural Studies
Doctor of Intercultural Studies Dissertation Approval Sheet
This dissertation entitled
LANGUAGE PROGRAM PLANNING: A CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE MODEL
written by
Matthew E Crosland
and submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF INTERCULTURAL STUDIES
has been read and approved by the following members of the
Faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary.
Sherwood Lingenfelter, Mentor
NOVEMBER 2018
ii
Abstsact
Crosland, Matthew E. 2018. “Language Program Planning: A Culturally Appropriate Model” Fuller Theological Seminary, School of Intercultural Studies. Doctor of Intercultural Studies. 194 pp.
The history of Bible translation has largely been a story of a work done for a
language community. Over the last three decades there has been a remarkable shift in that
story. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Mother Tongue Translators
who have stepped up to respond to the critical need for scriptures in their own languages.
God is working through these devoted translators to reach their people with His word.
Though there has been a significant shift in the cultural makeup of translators
there has been very little shift in the Western linear approach to translation that has been
a part of this history. This research recognizes that there are cultural and cognitive
differences in the way Western and Papua New Guinean translators approach these sorts
of tasks. It engages Papua New Guinean translators in a guided process to change how
they approach one portion of the translation process, language program planning. The
result is a Melanesian Language Program Planning course which teaches the students
how to use their own cultural frameworks to successfully plan and carry out their
language program.
Mentor: Sherwood Lingenfelter Word Count: 223
iii
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this research to all of the Papua New Guinean Translators
who have worked under a framework that is not their own. You have struggled and
succeeded despite the many adversities you have faced and I want to applaud you. I count
it as a blessing from God that he has allowed me to work with so many of you for the last
nine years. I have learned so much from you and look forward to the new things you have
yet to teach me. You have given to me in ways that I can never hope to repay. Thank you
for being the ‘nail scared hands of Christ’ to me and my family in so many ways.
I hope that in some small way this piece of research and the changes it will bring
about makes your life and work easier and that it honors you and your cultures. May God
bless you and your work and grow His kingdom through the languages of Papua New
Guinea.
iv
Acknowledgements
I first want to acknowledge the many sacrifices my wife, Tiffany Crosland, and
our children have made to allow me to pursue this research. You have been working in
the shadows for many years to allow me to complete this research. I cannot count the
number of times you have sacrificed for our Papua New Guinean brothers and sisters and
for me. I love you and am indebted to you for your sacrifices.
I would also like to acknowledge the hard working women and men of PNGBTA.
I want to thank all of you for your dedication to the work of Bible translation. I know
your struggles and your perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds and I commend
you. I know that the work you do is not to bring glory to yourselves or to receive earthly
rewards. Thank you for being such wonderful colleagues and friends. But more
importantly thank you for being mamas and papas, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters
to me and my family. Thank you for loving us in such special ways.
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of SIL-PNG to my studies.
Thank you for giving me the time and financial support necessary to carry out this
research. I appreciate your belief in me and the task I have undertaken. I pray that the
fruits of my work will bless SIL-PNG and those whom they are here to serve for many
years to come.
I would also like to recognize the tireless work of Sherwood and Judith
Lingenfelter, as my advisors. Thank you for the incredible amount of time and energy
you have invested in me and in the people of PNG. You have lived out the love of Christ
in a special way to me. It is my prayer that I take what you have given me and share it
with the people God places in my life.
v
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge my parents, Andrew and Phebe Crosland.
Thank you for encouraging me to reach for more, to follow my dreams and to think of
other. Though Phebe is no longer with us her legacy and guidance lives on in me.
Andrew, thank you for walking with me through this process and being a constant
encourager along the way.
vi
Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................... ii
Dedication ..........................................................................................................iii
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................. iv
Table of Contents ................................................................................................ vi
List of Tables ....................................................................................................... x
List of Figures ..................................................................................................... xi
List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................... xii
Part I Introducing the Research ........................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 Researching the Cultural Components of Bible Translation ................. 2 Introduction to the State of Bible Translation in PNG ............................ 3 Research Problem .................................................................................. 5 Goal of the Research ............................................................................. 5 Research Sub-problems ......................................................................... 6 Significance........................................................................................... 6 Delimitations ......................................................................................... 7 Assumptions .......................................................................................... 8 Definition of Terms ............................................................................... 9
Terms Related to Translation ..................................................... 9 Terms Related to Anthropology ............................................... 10
Overview of the Dissertation ............................................................... 11
Chapter 2 Research Design ............................................................................... 13 Timeline .............................................................................................. 14 Qualitative Nature ............................................................................... 14 Subjects ............................................................................................... 15 Phase1: Discovering the Cultural Components of Language Program
Design ........................................................................................ 16 Data Collection Methods.......................................................... 16
Literature Review ......................................................... 16 Card Sort ...................................................................... 17 Vignettes ...................................................................... 18 Ethnographic Interview ................................................ 18
vii
Focus Group ................................................................. 19 Research Participants ............................................................... 19 Data Analysis Methods ............................................................ 21 The Reliability and Validity of the Data ................................... 21
Phase 2: Melanesian Program Planning ............................................... 22 Teaching Staff ......................................................................... 23 Research Participants ............................................................... 23 Data Collection Methods.......................................................... 26
Participant Observation ................................................ 26 Exit Survey .................................................................. 27 Focus Group ................................................................. 27 Individual Interviews .................................................... 28
Data Analysis Methods ............................................................ 28 Reliability and Validity of the Data .......................................... 29
Part II Exploring the Literature ......................................................................... 30
Chapter 3 Time and Relational Orientation ....................................................... 31 Monochronic Versus Polychronic Time Orientation ............................ 31
Monochronic............................................................................ 31 Polychronic .............................................................................. 33
Production Versus Relational Orientation ............................................ 36 Production Orientation ............................................................. 36
The Common Framework ............................................. 37 Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation ............... 38
Relational Orientation .............................................................. 39 Summary ............................................................................................. 41 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 42
Chapter 4 Cognitive Processing ........................................................................ 44 Linear Cognitive Processing ................................................................ 44 Nonlinear Cognitive Processing ........................................................... 47 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 50
Chapter 5 Power Distance and Locus of Control ............................................... 52 Low Power Distance and Internal Locus of Control ............................. 54
Low Power Distance ................................................................ 54 Internal Locus of Control ......................................................... 57 Interplay Between Low Power Distance and Internal Locus of
Control ............................................................................ 58 High Power Distance and External Locus of Control ........................... 61
High Power Distance ............................................................... 61 External Locus of Control ........................................................ 64 Interplay Between High Power Distance and External Locus of
Control ............................................................................ 65
viii
Conclusion .......................................................................................... 67 Summary ............................................................................................. 68
Part III Phase 1 and 2 Data Analysis ................................................................. 70
Chapter 6 Time and Cognitive Processing ......................................................... 71 Western Expatriate Verses Melanesian Conceptualization of Time ...... 71 Lines and Circles ................................................................................. 76 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 81
Chapter 7 Relational Orientation and Power Distance /Locus of Control ........... 83 The Cultural Tension Between Production and Relationship ................ 83 Where Does the Power Lie? ................................................................ 89 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 95
Chapter 8 Phase 2: In Search of a Culturally Appropriate Model ....................... 97 A Return to Results Based Management .............................................. 98 Beyond Results Based Management .................................................. 103
Positive Feedback on Week One ............................................ 104 Negative Feedback on Week One........................................... 106 Feedback on Phase 1 Research ............................................... 109 The Birth of Melanesian Program Planning ............................ 111
Conclusion ........................................................................................ 115
Chapter 9 Putting Melanesian Program Planning on Paper and Then Out into the World ................................................................................................ 117
Putting It on Paper ............................................................................. 117 Planning and Management ..................................................... 118 Getting the Picture ................................................................. 119 Cyclical Teaching .................................................................. 120 Group Work ........................................................................... 122 Budgeting .............................................................................. 123 Spiritually Integrated ............................................................. 124
Out Into the World ............................................................................ 125 External Testing ..................................................................... 126 Internal: Field Testing ............................................................ 128
Melanesian Program Planning and Management Course Details ................................................... 128
The Melanesian Program Planning Course Compared to RBM and Others ............................................ 129
How Likely Are Language Teams to Use the Melanesian Program Planning Tool and the One Year Melanesian Program Planning Tool? ......... 131
Need to Do Community Awareness ............................ 132 Value of the Cultural Components of the Course ........ 133 Need for Written Material .......................................... 135
ix
Conclusion ........................................................................................ 136
Part IV Leading for Change ............................................................................ 138
Chapter 10 Independent or Interdependent? .................................................... 139 Dependence ....................................................................................... 140 Independence .................................................................................... 144 Interdependence ................................................................................ 146 Conclusion ........................................................................................ 151
Chapter 11 Moving Into the Future Together .................................................. 153 Pacific Institute of Languages and Translation (PILAT) .................... 155
Greater PNGBTA Involvement .............................................. 155 Participant Driven Curriculum Development.......................... 157 Being a Bridge Organization .................................................. 159
External Funders ............................................................................... 160 There is Not a One Size Fits All Solution for Language
Program Funding ........................................................... 162 Willingness to Adapt to Solve Problems You had a Part in
Creating ........................................................................ 163 Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association ............................. 165
Be Strong in Your Cultural Values and Willing to Put Them Aside When Needed ...................................................... 166
Don’t Look for the Elegant Solution ...................................... 167 SIL-Papua New Guinea ..................................................................... 168
Recognize Your Default Response to Wicked Problems ......... 169 Interdependence with Your Primary Partners ......................... 170
Come to the Table with Open Ears and Hearts ................................... 170
Appendix A Phase 1 Four Vignettes in English and Tok Pisin with Questions. 172 Vignette 1 .......................................................................................... 172 Vignette 2 .......................................................................................... 173 Vignette 3 .......................................................................................... 174 Vignette 4 .......................................................................................... 175
Appendix B Full and One Year Melanesian Program Planning Tools .............. 176 One Year MPPT: English .................................................................. 179 Full MPPT: Tok Pisin ........................................................................ 181 One Year MPPT: Tok Pisin ............................................................... 182 Full MPPT: Motu .............................................................................. 184 One Year MPPT: Motu...................................................................... 185
References Cited .............................................................................................. 187
Vita ................................................................................................................ 194
x
List of Tables
Table 1: Full List of Research Subjects .......................................................................... 15
Table 2: Phase 1 Western Expatriate Participant by Country of Origin and Participation Level ................................................................................. 20
Table 3: Papua New Guinean Participants by Province, LWC and Participation Level ... 20
Table 4: Phase 2 Participants Divided by Participation Level ......................................... 24
Table 5: Phase 2 Course Construction Participant Information ....................................... 25
Table 6: Power Distance Ranking and Scores for Western Expatriate Translators .......... 56
Table 7: Power Distance Ranking and Scores for PNG Neighbors ................................. 62
Table 8: Group Feedback from Week 1 of the Construction Course ............................. 104
Table 9: Scripture Use Indicators in Final SURAM Report .......................................... 143
xi
List of Figures
Figure 1: Power Distance and Locus of Control Four Quadrant Grid ............................. 53
Figure 2: SIL-PNG Language Programs Organizational Chart ....................................... 55
Figure 3: Average Order of Importance for the Time Card Sort ..................................... 72
Figure 4: Average Order of Importance for Cognitive Processing Card Sort .................. 77
Figure 5: Western Expatriate Linear Cognitive Processing Model.................................. 78
Figure 6: Melanesian Cyclical Cognitive Processing Model........................................... 79
Figure 7: Average Order of Importance for Production Versus Relationship Card Sort ........................................................................................................ 84
Figure 8: The Power Grid with Quadrant Numbers ........................................................ 90
Figure 9: Borneman’s RBM Program Planning Tool ................................................... 111
Figure 10: Melanesian Program Planning Tool, Page 1 ................................................ 113
Figure 11: Cyclical Lesson Plan for MPP Tool ............................................................ 121
xii
List of Abbreviations
DHEST Department of Higher Education Science and Technology
ELDD Endangered Language Documentation and Development
LPC Language Program Coordinator (PNGBTA) LSD Language Services Department
LWC Language of Wider Communication
MPP Melanesian Program Planning MPPM Melanesian Program Planning and Management
MPPT Melanesian Program Planning Tool
MTT Mother Tongue Translator
PILAT Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts and Translation
PNG Papua New Guinea
PNGBTA Papua New Guinean Bible Translation Association RBM Results Based Management RD Regional Director (SIL-PNG) SIL-PNG SIL Papua New Guinea
SMR Source-Message-Receptor
TSC The Seed Company
TTC Translator Training Course
Part I
Introducing the Research
Part I is made up of two chapters that give a brief introduction to the current state
of Bible translation in Papua New Guinea followed by a discussion of the goals and
significance of this research including my assumptions, delimitations, key terms and
research questions. It concludes with the design of the research and the two phases
developed.
2
Chapter 1
Researching the Cultural Components of Bible Translation
In this chapter I will give a brief introduction to current state of Bible translation
in Papua New Guinea (PNG) followed by a discussion of the goals and significance of
this research. I will also discuss my assumptions, delimitations, key terms and research
questions.
My personal involvement with the Bible translation movement in PNG is
stretching into its ninth year now. The last four plus years I have been working at the
Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts and Translation (PILAT), a school that trains Papua
New Guinean translators. One of my favorite things at PILAT is to sit down and talk with
the students, hear their stories and concerns and try to understand their struggles. It was
through this process that my interest in this research was born. I began to catch glimpses
of a translation structure that was built around a Western cultural framework that did not
work well for the average Papua New Guinean Bible translator. As I reviewed several of
the workshops we taught I realized that they were designed by and for a Westerner’s
cultural framework. They had received a surface level treatment to give them a
Melanesian feel, but they were still thoroughly Western.
This research is a labor of love for those who have struggled for so long and made
such great strides with something that is not their own. I also hope that it will be
informative and enlightening for the reader and help them to think through how culture is
embedded in the frameworks that surround us.
3
Introduction to the State of Bible Translation in PNG
Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse country in the world with
839 active languages. It also contains around 316 language groups who do not have any
portion of the Bible in their own language, more than any other country on the planet
(SIL-PNG 2016).
Despite all-time enrolment highs in primary and secondary education only one out
of three students are completing the minimum government standard of a grade eight
education (UNICEF 2016). Higher education in PNG has also been in a state of decline
for several decades, the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology
(DHEST) cites, “fragmented sector coordination; insufficient Government funding;
deteriorating physical infrastructure; lack of quality assurance measures; and inadequate
Information Communication Technology” as some of the contributing factors (DHEST
2016). Yearly enrolment statistics at the Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts and
Translation (PILAT), a joint venture between SIL-PNG and PNGBTA, also reflect a
decreasing education level in course participants. However, PILAT course participant
numbers have increased each year for the past five years (Sahl 2016).
Telecommunications access in PNG has been growing rapidly over the decades;
in 2006 only, three percent of the population had access to telecommunications networks
while in 2015 approximately eighty percent of the population had access. Nearly all this
growth can be attributed to cellular phones. Internet access in PNG is also growing
rapidly with the introduction of affordable smart phones, 3G and 4G networks, and PPCI
submarine cable (Bibolini 2015). Though access to cell phones and internet is possible in
most of PNG; they are not yet affordable to the average Papua New Guinean who lives
on $6.14 per day (World Bank 2014).
Up until very recently Bible translation has been something the missionary came
to do for the language community. Certainly, expatriate translators have had national
4
“language helpers” or “co-translators” but for all intents and purposes it has been an
expatriate driven endeavor.
Fortunately, the last forty years have ushered in a new wave of national
translation organizations like PNGBTA, that consists almost exclusively of Mother
Tongue Translation (MTT) teams with little to no expatriate involvement. A number of
these teams have been able to successfully meet their program goals and publish scripture
in their own language but there have been a number of teams that have struggled as well.
SIL-PNG has started to shift its thinking about how it is involved with MTT
teams and is exploring ways to support them while not taking the lead in their programs.
So far, they have made very little effort to adapt the program structures to a Nonwestern
framework. In fact, the SIL-PNG structures have been an industry standard for so long
that PNGBTA has adopted them in many cases.
One of the more interesting developments within SIL-PNG over the last couple of
years is Papua New Guinean led teams who have significant expatriate involvement. For
the sake of this paper these types of teams will be referred to as ‘interdependent’ teams
while teams with little to no expatriate involvement will be referred to as ‘independent’
teams. Many of the interdependent teams have been perceived as being quite successful.
What is not clear is if this perceived success is due to the fact that they have expatriate
support which is able to help them navigate the western/linear program structure or if the
cross pollination of interdependence is actually a stronger model for Bible translation.
It would seem that the Holy Spirit has brought Bible translation in PNG to this
juncture and has used the factors above to give MTT teams the opportunity to lead their
own translation programs.
SIL International has recognized the growth of national Bible translation
organizations across the world and the amazing moving of the Holy Spirit and has begun
to shift how it sees itself going forward, from the major provider of translation to a
5
technical service provider. This is an encouraging move that puts the work of translation
into the hands of those who best understand the local languages and cultures (SIL Think
Tank 2015; SIL International 2012).
SIL-PNG has also recognized the value of such a move and has begun to explore
how it can facilitate locally led projects. One area that has received very little attention is
language program design. Because the vast majority of translators have been Westerners,
program design and implementation has been predicated on western thought patterns.
These 316 remaining languages represent some of the most remote and isolated peoples
on the planet, many of whom have had very little contact with Westerners and their
Enlightenment thought processes.
It would seem that a study of what Papua New Guinean thought processes look
like and how they might fit in with translation program design and implementation is a
necessary next step in the natural growth of the Bible translation movement in PNG. The
current study seeks to give voice to the felt needs of Papua New Guinean translators and
their language communities in regard to their language program design and
implementation in a more culturally appropriate way.
Research Problem
This study investigates and tests the cultural similarities and differences in
Western expatriate and MTTs in Papua New Guinea with special attention given to the
factors that affect how culturally appropriate language program planning is done.
Goal of the Research
There are two primary goals for this research. The first is to discover the cultural
differences between Papua New Guinean and Western expatriate translators; and the
6
second is discover how these cultural differences affect how these groups approach
translation program design and implementation.
Research Sub-problems
1. Examine the missiological, anthropological and linguistic literature to discover
cultural differences in Western and Melanesian cultures that might affect language
program planning.
2. Investigate the cultural values and biases of Western and Papua New Guinean
Bible translators, using card sort, vignettes, focus groups and ethnographic interviews to
discover what cultural factors might affect language program planning, and analyze the
impact of their similarities and differences for language program planning.
3. Conduct a Results Based Management (RBM) language program planning
workshop followed by a controlled week of deconstruction and analysis in light of the
findings from Phase 1 to discover what should be changed to make a culturally
appropriate language program planning course with a select group of Western and Papua
New Guinean participants.
4. Apply the data and insights from the analysis of the RBM language program
planning workshop to construct a Melanesian Program Planning and Management
(MPPM) course to complete the Phase 2 research.
5. Conduct a controlled MPPM workshop to test if the changes made to the course
would affect the likely use of program planning tools by the participants.
Significance
The significance of this research is that there has not been any other in-depth
research conducted on cultural differences between Westerner translators and MTTs in
7
Papua New Guinea and how these differences affect their natural approaches to program
design and implementation.
The twenty-first century movement from doing translation for to doing with or,
perhaps even more significantly, supporting those who are doing it themselves represents
one of the largest shifts in translation practice in modern history. The shift has been
piecemeal at best and has neglected to take into consideration cultural factors that shape
how people approach these sorts of projects. In some cases, attempts to support this shift
have taken a step backward, reinforcing western cultural practices and thought processes
at the expense of the MTT teams that are supposed to be taking the lead. The aim of this
study is to examine how compatible Western and Papua New Guinean cultural practices
are in Bible translation program design and implementation and to give a voice to Papua
New Guinean MTTs regarding culturally acceptable language program design and
implementation.
Delimitations
This study is delimited by Bible translation programs in Papua New Guinea. The
PNG focus of this study was chosen because the study is largely about cultural values and
how they affect translation program planning. Though PNG is part of a larger cultural
group often referred to as Melanesia they have enough significant differences in culture
and language to justify focusing in on PNG specifically.
It is further delimited by language programs within SIL-PNG and PNGBTA.
These are the two largest Bible translation organizations in PNG and represent well the
Western Expatriate and Papua New Guinean led translation programs which are the focus
of this study.
This study will only involve active Bible translation programs. Most Bible
translation programs focus on finishing the New Testament before taking on the Old
8
Testament. Most of the Western expatriate teams feel their translation program is
“finished” when they have completed and dedicated the New Testament. They also tend
to retire and return to their home country after their New Testament dedication, making it
very difficult to interview them. For this reason, the focus of this study is on active
programs.
This study is largely based on ethnographic interviews but there is some statistical
data gathered in the study. Because of the sample size and the limited number of regions
in the country represented, this data is not meant to be representative of all Papua New
Guineans: instead it is only meant to represent the small subset of Papua New Guinean
translators. Furthermore, the statistical data collected for the Western Expatriate subjects
is collected from such a diverse group of people from North America and Western
Europe and is such a small sample size that it must only be looked at as representing
Western expatriates working for SIL-PNG.
Assumptions
My study was built around the following assumptions:
1. Papua New Guinean translators and Western translators are different
culturally in the areas of time orientation, cognitive processing, power distance and locus
of control and the value of production verses relationship.
2. These cultural differences affect the natural way that they approach tasks like
translating Scripture and language program planning.
3. SIL-PNG would like to work with Papua New Guinean led translation teams.
4. PNGBTA would like to adapt their approach to translation program planning
to be more culturally appropriate.
5. It is my belief that culture shapes institutions and not the other way around.
9
6. It should also be noted that I have a personal bias that Papua New Guinean led
translation programs are better suited to reach their own language communities and that
expatriate driven programs have some inherent flaws that are difficult to overcome.
Definition of Terms
As is the case with most of these types of studies this study deals with a very
specific group of people (Bible translators in Papua New Guinea) doing some very
technical work (Bible translation). As a result, there is a whole host of job specific
technical terms that are used in this paper that need to be defined so that the average
reader can more easily follow the discussion. Since the focus of this study is how cultural
factors affect translation program setup and implementation there are a number of
anthropological terms that need to be defined as well.
Terms Related to Translation
Linear Program Design: is the traditional SIL translation program design that
follows a series of sequential steps to reach an end goal. This form of program design has
a definite order, which must be followed, and a definite end or completion. It is generally
a production centered process, when scripture production is finished so too is the program
(E. Nida 1964; King 2018; Dede 2016).
Mother Tongue Translator (MTT): is a person who translates the Bible for his or
her own language group.
Nonlinear Program Design: has a less formalized structure. It allows for people to
enter the translation process at different points giving input where they are best suited,
and it is most needed in order to keep the process moving forward. The goal of nonlinear
programs is not to publish their scriptures and finish. It is an ongoing work, which seeks
10
to engage people in the process and continue to involve the community, empowering
them to not only be a part of the translation work but to grow themselves (King 2018).
Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association (PNGBTA): is a Papua New
Guinean founded and run Bible translation organization whose membership is composed
primarily of Papua New Guinean translators.
SIL-PNG: is an expatriate language development organization in Papua New
Guinea. Its members come from a wide variety of denominational and cultural
backgrounds.
Sustainable outcome: is indicated by: a completed scripture portion which is
desired by the community, scripture is being used in churches as well as other appropriate
venues, the language community feels ownership of the scripture, and the language
community has been empowered through the process (S.-1 Team 2014; Dobrin 2008).
Translation program: covers the entire scope of the work and all those who are
involved in it. The translation committee, Translation team, program design, the work
itself, as well as peripheral things like literacy and church engagement.
Translation Organization: is the larger group that translation programs work under
and are accountable to. For the sake of this research this term will refer to SIL-PNG and
BTA.
Translation team: is the group of people who are working together physically
doing the work. A translation program may have multiple teams involved in the process
at the same time.
Terms Related to Anthropology
Linear Cognitive Processing: is closely tied to monochronic time orientation. A
person who is a linear cognitive processor generally thinks in a chronological ordered
11
way. Their understanding of processes is one step after another. They also feel that these
processes must have a beginning and end (Shaw 2010; King 2018)
Locus of Control: is the extent to which an individual feels that he can effect
change on his or her environment. A person with an internal locus of control feels that
their actions can change their environment. While a person with an external locus of
control believes that they have little to no control of their environment (Rotter 2004;
Fournier 2016)
Monochronic: is a predominately Western understanding of time in which things
are seen as happening in a linear orderly fashion. It includes behaviors like standing in
orderly lines, separation of work and personal time and promptness (Hall 1983;
Plueddemann 2009)
Nonlinear Cognitive Processing: is closely tied to polychronic time orientation. A
person who is a nonlinear cognitive processor thinks much more in terms of cycles or
webs. These people see processes much more in terms of cycles so they likely have no
real beginning or end (King 2018)
Polychronic: is a predominately Non-western understanding of time in which
multiple things are seen as happening at the same time. It includes behaviors like
grouping instead of standing in lines, mixing of work and personal time and not being
tied to a clock (Hall 1983)
Power Distance: is the extent to which a person in a subordinate role accepts the
inequality with his supervisor (G. Hofstede and Minkov 2010)
Overview of the Dissertation
This study is divided into four parts. Part I starts with an introduction of the
research through a discussion of the context, research problems, terms, my assumptions
and study delimitations. Part II explores the anthropological, missiological and linguistic
12
literature surrounding the central subject of this research, culturally appropriate language
program planning. Part III begins with an analysis of the Phase 1 research and its cultural
implications to language program planning. It then moves to a discussion of how the
Phase 1 research is applied in Phase 2 course development and running of a test course.
The final section, Part IV, reflects on the results of the Phase 1 and 2 research and draws
out some suggestions for the various organizations involved in Bible translation in Papua
New Guinea.
13
Chapter 2
Research Design
Sharon Merriam and Elizabeth Tisdell state, “The data collection techniques used,
as well as the specific information considered to be data in a study, are determined by the
researcher’s theoretical orientation, by the problem and purpose of the study, and by the
sample selected” (2015, 106). This chapter is necessary for this very reason, one needs to
understand the researchers approach and reasoning for constructing the project the way
he did if they want to fully understand the research.
My research is separated into two phases. The first phase might be described as
the discovery phase. In this phase I used five data collection methodologies to discover
the cultural factors that affect language program planning. The second phase might be
considered the testing phase. In this section I used four data collection methodologies to
construct and test a more culturally appropriated Program Planning workshop. This phase
could also be considered the adaptive leadership phase or the leading for change phase
because these principles were at the forefront of my thinking when this phase was
constructed.
Because of the distinct nature of the phases and their very different goals I will
devote a section to each phase in this chapter. Each section will cover subjects and
subject selection, data collection methods, data analysis methods and validity and
reliability of the data collected. The data analysis chapters will also be separated, giving
me ample space to fully flesh out the implications of each phase as I see them.
14
There are two components of the research that are similar enough in both phases
of the research that they can be talked about as a whole, the timeline of the research and
its qualitative nature. I will also introduce the subject pool at this time and give a brief
description of them. A more in depth discussion of the subjects from each phase will
follow in their respective sections.
Timeline
The initial literature review was conducted from December 2015 through October
2016. The pilot project began in February 2017 and lasted until March 2017. It was
written up and submitted for approval in March 2017. Upon approval, the full Phase 1
research was conducted from April 2017 until March 2018. The Phase 2 research began
in March 2018 and ended in August 2018. Data analysis was an ongoing process from
February 2017 through September 2018.
Qualitative Nature
Both phases of this research are largely qualitative in nature. There are several
reasons for this decision. The most prominent reason is that Papua New Guineans are
very relational, and they often convey information through stories. Simple yes or no
answers and easily quantifiable data do not fit their cultural model of communication. So,
I designed the entire project to allow people to tell their stories, to explain difficult
concepts with stories and to allow their voices to be heard in a way that makes sense to
them. The card sort in Phase 1was the one place where I attempted to collect quantitative
data but even there I asked the participants to explain the order in which they put the
cards, giving it a qualitative element as well.
15
The other main reason is that I would not be able to get at deeper cultural factors
without more in-depth stories. It also allowed the participants to reveal cultural factors
that I had not considered. This was important in the end because they revealed a
complicated cultural concept that I was not aware of before this research.
Subjects
The subjects for both phases were selected from Western Expatriate members of
SIL PNG, Papua New Guinean employees of SIL-PNG and PNGBTA national
translators. Each participant was given a participant number that corresponds to their
cultural identity. The Western Expatriates will be identified by WE and their subject
number (WE 1, WE 2, WE 3 and so on) for the rest of this paper. Similarly, the Papua
New Guinean subjects will be referred to as PNG and their subject number (PNG 1, PNG
2, PNG 3 and so on). There were several subjects that were involved in multiple activities
in Phases 1 and 2. In Table 1 I give a full list of both sets of subjects and the activities in
which they were involved in both phases of research. Further details will be given about
Phase 1 and 2 participants in Tables 2-4.
Table 1: Full List of Research Subjects
Research Task Western Expatriate (WE) PNG National Translator
(PNG) Phase 1 Interview and Card Sort 9 (WE 1-3, 7, 11, 18, 21, 23, 24) 10 (PNG 1-7, 12, 14, 15) Card Sort Only 15 (WE 4-6, 8-10, 12-17, 19, 20) 11 (PNG 8-11, 13, 16-21) Subtotal 24 21 Phase 2 Design Workshop 6 (WE 9, 25-29) (1 from previous) 15 (PNG 1, 2, 5, 22-33) (3 from
previous) Testing Workshop None 30 (PNG 27, 30, 31, 34-60) (3
from previous) Subtotal 6 (1 from previous) 44 (5 from previous) Total Participants 29 60
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Phase1: Discovering the Cultural Components of Language Program Design
I described Phase 1 earlier as the discovery phase because I used the initial
literature review to identify the critical cultural components affecting language program
planning that I tested in the pilot project and later the full version. The pilot and full
version continued to be a discovery process for me because they revealed another cultural
component that was not present in the initial literature review. The section below
describes in more detail the data collection methods, participants, data collection
methods, analysis methods and the validity and reliability of the data.
Data Collection Methods
Phase 1 of the research included four types of data collection methods: literature
review, card sort, vignettes and ethnographic interviews. The following sections will give
a brief description of the methods employed and any features of interest for each method.
All of the Phase 1 data collection was done in the administrative conference room at the
PILAT campus in Ukarumpa, PNG with the exception of the literature review which was
conducted at the Hubbard Library in the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena,
California and the SIL-PNG Academic Library in Ukarumpa, PNG.
Literature Review
The literature review was an important part of the Phase 1 research because it
shaped and informed the card sorts and vignettes. I started with very broad searches of
the available cultural material on PNG and I began to hone it down as patterns emerged
in the body of data. I eventually recognized three cultural factors that I wanted to test:
monochronic verses polychronic time orientation, production verses relational orientation
and linear verse nonlinear cognitive processing. The literature also provided me with the
17
dependent, independent and interdependent framework which proved not to be a major
issue for Phase 1; however, it did prove to be critical in Phase 2 of the research.
Card Sort
The card sort, vignettes and the ethnographic interview were done in one sitting
with each subject. After collecting the informed consent, the researcher would ask the
participant if he could record the interview. Every participant agreed to have their
interview recorded. The researcher started the digital recorder and administered the card
sort. The subject group who did not do the full interview was not recorded but the
researcher took notes as they explained their ordering of the cards. Their explanations
proved to be very similar to those who were recorded.
There were three card stacks and each one dealt with a different set of cultural
values. Each stack consisted of five cards and represented points on the cultural
continuum. The first set of cards dealt with the value of production verses relational
orientation. The second set of cards dealt with linear verse nonlinear cognitive
processing. The third set of cards dealt with monochronic verses polychronic time
orientation.
The researcher gave the subject one stack of cards at a time. He then asked the
subject to think about how their cultural values related to the cultural factor and asked
them to put the cards in order from most important to least. Once they put the cards in
order the researcher asked the subject to explain why they put the cards in that particular
order. Once the subject was finished explaining the researcher would move on to the next
stack of cards.
The back of the cards were labeled A to E. The researcher took note of the card
order of each participant and later entered them into a spread sheet that tracked the data.
18
Vignettes
There were four vignettes. The full vignettes are listed in Appendix A. Each
vignette was an open-ended story that put the subject of the story into a difficult situation
and did not offer a resolution. The stories were designed around the cultural factors
identified in the literature review.
Each vignette was typed on an individual card. The researcher gave the
participant one card and allowed them to read it or have it read to them. After they read
or heard the story the researcher would ask them a series of questions that made the
subject assume the position of one of the characters in the story and explain what they
would do in that situation. The questions they were asked were also designed around the
cultural factors identified in the literature review.
The participant responses to the vignettes also surfaced a fourth cultural factor
that was not present in the original literature review. This factor surfaced again in the
ethnographic interviews and the focus groups.
Ethnographic Interview
The ethnographic interview followed the card sort and vignettes in the first
interview session. The participants were asked to tell stories about what it was like to be a
translator, and about success and failures they experienced in their language programs.
This was a much more open-ended approach than the rest of the interview session and
even the participants who had been giving short answers up until this point opened up
and shared some remarkable stories.
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Focus Group
I waited until all of the initial interviews were finished before I conducted the
focus group. Each focus group consisted of four to six participants. They were asked a
series of questions about their language programs and how they worked. This was a much
more practical discussion about the translation process and the mechanics of the
translation teams. There were also discussions about changes that they would like to see
or make in the process.
Research Participants
The research sample for this phase includes two groups of subjects, Western
expatriates and Papua New Guineans (see Tables 2 and 3). The sample for the card sort
was expanded to include non-translators. It became obvious early in the pilot project that
the card sort sample size was too small to allow for outliers in the data. I decided to
increase the number of subjects in the card sort to twenty from each group. It was
difficult to find twenty translators to participate so the scope was broadened. Priority was
given to translators, then to language related workers and finally to support staff. As the
number of people who completed the card sort reached fifteen I began to see the data had
reached a saturation point and some clear patterns began to emerge. This gave me
confidence that twenty was a good sample size for the card sort.
The research was first run with the expatriate group and it was during this section
I realized that the card sort would have to be expanded. In the end, the full expatriate
group consisted of twenty-four participants from eight different countries. Table 2 sorts
them by country of origin and participation level. It is obvious from the table that the
sample is heavily weighted towards American, this reflects the overall makeup of SIL-
PNG. It also reflects the people who were available to be a part of the sample when the
research was conducted.
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Table 2: Phase 1 Western Expatriate Participant by Country of Origin and Participation Level
Country of Origin Full Participant Card Sort Only Total Australia 1 1 Canada 2 2 Finland 1 1 Netherlands 1 2 3 Norway 1 1 Switzerland 2 1 3 United Kingdom 1 1 2 United States of America 4 7 11 Total 9 15 24
The second group, Papua New Guineans, consisted of twenty-one participants.
They too were chosen with the bias of translators first, then language workers and finally
the general population. In this group ten of the subjects participated in the full study. I
decided to use the same number of participants for the card sort as I had used in the
Western expatriate group and similar to that group the data was saturated at thirteen
people so twenty-one was a reasonable number of participants. Since all of the
Melanesian participants are from PNG, Table 3 is divided by province of origin. You will
notice that only four of the country’s nineteen provinces are represented. This was due to
the nature of subject availability at the time the research was conducted. However, it is a
good sample because the provinces present in the subject group represent four of the five
regions in the country.
Table 3: Papua New Guinean Participants by Province, LWC and Participation Level
One major shift I made early in the research was I originally intended to separate
these subjects by the level of expatriate involvement in their language programs. It
Province LWC Full Participant Card Sort Only Total Central English 5 5 Eastern Highlands Tok Pisin 8 8 Milne Bay English 1 1 Morobe Tok Pisin 5 2 7 Total 10 11 21
21
became apparent that was not really a major factor for them. What was going to be the
issue was their Language of Wider Communication (LWC). The people from Central
Province and to some extent Milne Bay were much more comfortable speaking English
than Tok Pisin (trade language in Papua New Guinea) so I shifted the focus group
separation from level of autonomy to Language of Wider Communication.
Data Analysis Methods
I recorded all of the interviews in Phase 1 with a digital voice recorder. The audio
files were then transferred to a hard drive dedicated to my research. I then transcribed all
of the interviews and coded them. I translated the interviews that were done in Tok Pisin
during the transcription process.
The demographic data I collected was put into a spreadsheet that processed and
categorized the information. The data from the card sorts was also entered into a
spreadsheet that calculated average card order for each group.
The Reliability and Validity of the Data
The Psychology Department at the University of California at Davis says that the
reliability of data “refers to the repeatability of findings. If a study were done a second
time, would it yield the same results?”(UC Davis “Introduction: Reliability and Validity”
n.d.) In the case of Phase 1 of this study one can say with good assurance that the
research is reliable. Both the Western Expatriate and the Papua New Guinean sections of
the study were repeated to assure reliability, and both yielded the same results.
This same department says, “Validity refers to the credibility or believability of
the research. Are the findings genuine?” (UC Davis “Introduction: Reliability and
Validity” n.d.). They go on to make further distinctions between internal validity, “the
22
instruments or procedures used in the research measured what they were supposed to
measure” and external validity, “the results can be generalized beyond the immediate
study” (UC Davis “Introduction: Reliability and Validity” n.d.). As discussed above
Phase 1 of this research was designed to test cultural factors that appeared in the research.
The card sorts and vignettes were specifically designed to test the cultural factors that had
been recognized. They performed just as they were expected to and tracked well with
data that was already published. In addition, the ethnographic interview and the open
discussion portions of the card sorts and the vignettes allowed for the identification of an
additional compound cultural factor that was not found in the literature.
I believe that this study is externally valid as well. Though this is a fairly small
sample size for both the Western expatriate translators and the Papua New Guinean
translators the data became saturated fairly quickly suggesting that both groups are fairly
consistent in regard to these cultural factors. There is also a significant body of published
data on the Western expatriate subjects which agrees with the data I collected. The
combination of these two factors would suggest that the data would have good external
validity for the Western Expatriate Translators through the rest of the international SIL
community. I also believe that the data for the Papua New Guinean translator group has
good external reliability for Papua New Guinean translators country wide. I would not
assume that the results could be generalized to MTTs in other parts of the world.
However, I do believe the same study could be run in other parts of the world and yield
the same sorts of valuable cultural information relevant to the particular context.
Phase 2: Melanesian Program Planning
Earlier I described Phase 1 as the discovery phase of my research. I believe Phase
2 can be described as the testing phase. This section was designed to test the cultural
components that affect the translation process that were identified in Phase 1and to test
23
the Melanesian Program Planning Course and tool that was produced as a result of this
research. As I have stated already, the translation process is a very large and complicated
series of activities, so I have chosen one very small part of it to test these cultural
observations, the Program Planning process. In the following section I describe in more
detail the participants, data collect methods, analysis methods and the validity and
reliability of the data for this phase.
Phase 2 was separated into two courses. The first will be referred to as the
construction course. The construction course was run 13-22 March, 2018 at the Training
Centre in Ukarumpa, Eastern Highlands Province (EHP), Papua New Guinea. The second
course will be referred to as the test course and it was run 15-28 August, 2018 at the
Training Centre in Ukarumpa, EHP, Papua New Guinea.
Teaching Staff
Teaching staff for the construction course consisted of two people, Barry
Borneman and myself. Chapter 8 contains a full explanation of why these two people
taught the course. The Test course was taught by three people: PNG 5, an expatriate
teacher from the PILAT teaching staff and myself. There was supposed to be another
Papua New Guinean teacher, but he was not available at the time and so the expatriate
PILAT teacher was added.
Research Participants
In Table 4 I give the full participant sample for Phase 2 research. Since Phase 2
had two parts: course construction and course testing, and not all of the subjects
participated in both parts, Table 4 divides the subjects along those lines. Table 4 also
indicates if the subjects participated in the Phase 1 research.
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Table 4: Phase 2 Participants Divided by Participation Level
Participant Number Phase 1 Phase 2: Course Construction
Phase 2: Course Testing
PNG 1 X X PNG 2 X X PNG 5 X X PNG 22 X PNG 23 X PNG 24 X PNG 25 X PNG 26 X PNG 27 X X PNG 28 X PNG 29 X PNG 30 X X PNG 31 X X PNG 32 X PNG 33 X
PNG 34-60 X WE 9 X X
WE 25-29 X
The research sample for the Phase 2 Course Construction section of the research
is not divided along cultural lines. For this portion of the research I selected people who
had strong backgrounds in translation and translator training. The act of revising a course
to meet the cultural needs of MTTs and still be a useful training tool is not a simple task.
It requires a great deal of knowledge about the translation process as well as curriculum
development. Some of the participants in Phase 1 were also a part of the Phase 2
research, as indicated in Table 4. I gave priority to Papua New Guineans because they
know their own culture better than expatriates ever will. There were a limited number of
expatriate participants in this phase who provided advice in their particular fields of
expertise (mainly curriculum development).
The set of participants for the Course Construction portion included three
PNGBTA translation teams with two representatives from each team. The rest of the
participants came from middle to upper level management in PNGBTA (Language
Program Coordinators and above), administration at Wycliffe Australia, National Church
25
Leaders and teaching and administrative staff from PILAT. In Table 5 I show the
participants’ country of origin, organizational affiliation and relation to language
programs. There are two things worth noting in the table. The first is that several of the
participants operate across organizational boundaries. The second is that many of the
people involved in leadership roles are not directly involved in language programs. This
means that Program Planning is as much an administrative task as it is a translation task.
The second part of Phase 2 involved testing the Program Planning Course that
was created during the first course. PNG 5, an expatriate teacher from PILAT and I
taught this course. The participants in this course were chosen from PNGBTA’s list of
priority language programs, commonly known as 6-9-6. The Language Program
Coordinators (LPCs) over these programs selected the course participants. The LPC for
each program also participated in the course as a way to foster mutual understanding in
the process and aid in communication between the teams and their LPCs.
Table 5: Phase 2 Course Construction Participant Information
Participant Number Country of Origin Organization Language Team Member PNG 22 PNG PNGBTA No PNG 23 PNG PNGBTA Yes PNG 24 PNG PNGBTA Yes PNG 25 PNG PNGBTA Yes WE 25 Australia WBTA No PNG 26 PNG PNGBTA No PNG 5 PNG PILAT, PNGBTA Yes PNG 27 PNG PNGBTA No WE 26 Germany PILAT, SIL-PNG No PNG 28 PNG PNGBTA Yes PNG 2 PNG PNGBTA Yes PNG 29 PNG PNGBTA Yes PNG 30 PNG PNGBTA No PNG 31 PNG PNGBTA Yes WE 27 USA PILAT, SIL-PNG No PNG 32 PNG PNGBTA No WE 9 Netherlands PILAT, SIL-PNG Yes PNG 33 PNG PNGBTA No PNG 1 PNG PILAT, PNGBTA Yes WE 28 USA WBTA No WE 29 USA SIL-PNG Yes
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Data Collection Methods
Though Phase 2 involved a number of different steps to collect and test data there
were four data collection methods used: participant observation, exit survey, focus group
and individual interviews. Each method will be described below.
Participant Observation
During my research, I found a different program planning approach that held
some promise for being a better fit for Papua New Guinean culture. This model is taught
by the CEO of Wycliffe Australia, Barry Borneman. I asked him to come to PNG and run
his course for a group of participants I selected. He agreed to come and run his course
and gave us full permission to rework the course to meet PNG culture as we saw fit.
I sat in the class as a participant. I recorded the entire class on a digital audio
recorder, which allowed me to be entirely present in the class. It also gave me the
freedom to come back to the recordings for in depth data analysis. In looking at Raymond
Gold’s (1958) roles of field observers I believe I would fall into the Participant as
Observer category.
The second step in the data collection process for Phase 2 was to facilitate a
discussion with the participants with the end goal of adapting the course to meet the
specific cultural factors outlined in the research in Phase 1. The first day the participants
were given free rein to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the course as they saw
them. The second day I guided the discussion around the cultural factors identified in
Phase 1. The third and fourth days were spent revising the curriculum to better fit PNG
culture.
I spent several months putting the course into a teachable format with a course
schedule and lesson plans. The course writing process is described in further detail in
Chapter 9.
27
I felt that the new course should be tested to see if Papua New Guinean Bible
translators found the course helpful and a better fit culturally than previous offerings. At
first I thought I would give the course to two of my Papua New Guinean teachers, who
were participants in the first course, to run with the remaining language teams that
PNGBTA had chosen to emphasize. As I thought about some of the dynamics of this I
realized that I was guilty of forcing my Western cultural value of independence on these
Papua New Guinean teachers. This also flew in the face of the Papua New Guinean
learning style that we seek to model. So, I decided it was better for me to teach the
second class with them and eventually turn the entire thing over to them as they felt
comfortable.
Exit Survey
Following the course testing section, the participants were asked to fill out an exit
survey. This survey had a series of questions designed to get quantifiable data on the
course. It also asked questions that allowed the student to talk about their experiences in
the course. The survey was implemented to give people who had reservations about
speaking critically about the course an anonymous avenue to share.
Focus Group
Following the course testing section, I held focus groups with the participants.
The focus group was designed to gauge how well the course fit the cultural factors
identified in Phase 1 of the research. The students were also given the opportunity to talk
about past experiences with Program Planning methods, how this course was the same or
different and if they thought they might use it.
28
Individual Interviews
I also ran individual interviews with several participants from the course testing
section to further triangulate the feedback about the course. In a culture where
relationships are so important it was a high priority to make sure individuals had a voice
especially if they did not agree with the majority. The simplest way to do this was to use
individual interviews to test the sample.
The last three methods were designed and implemented for the same reason: to
make sure the feedback about the course could be trusted. In a culture where relationships
are valued like they are in PNG it is not uncommon for people to tell you what they think
you want to hear in order to maintain the relationship. It is my hope that by using three
different methods the feedback on the data that has been collected will be reliable and
point out any outliers.
Data Analysis Methods
I used a digital audio recorder to record all of the sessions for the course
construction section. I also took notes during all of the sessions. Many of the key topics
that were discussed were written on large sheets of paper and hung around the room. I
took pictures of all of this material and stored them on a secure hard drive. When the
course was over I went through all of this data and used it to design a course outline and a
set of lesson plans.
The focus groups for the course testing section was recorded with a digital audio
recorder and then transcribed. The individual interviews were handled in the same way.
The focus groups and the individual interviews that took place in Tok Pisin were also
translated as they were transcribed.
The data from the exit survey was collated in a spread sheet and the written
answers were scanned and saved on the secure hard drive.
29
Reliability and Validity of the Data
In talking about reliability of the data in Phase 2 of this research it is valuable to
divide the research into two sections: course construction and course testing. The
reliability of the course construction section is more difficult to determine because many
of the outcomes of the research were built on what Borneman taught and by his own
account he was quite free with his course structure, allowing the Holy Spirit room to
work in participant’s hearts and to shape the course content. This means that modules of
the course are not easily reproducible and the outcomes for the students are not easily
reproducible either. However, many of the discussions in the second week of course 1 do
confirm the findings in Phase 1of the research as well as much of the existing literature
cited in the following chapters. This agreement does help to confirm the reliability of the
data in the course construction section.
The course testing section tests the course construction curriculum revision made
in light of the Phase 1 findings. The outcomes for the course testing section were very
consistent and essentially reproduced the findings from previous course. I am confident
in saying that the data from the course testing section is quite reliable.
Going back to the UC Davis framework of internal and external validity, I believe
that the Phase 2 research is internally valid because all of the cultural factors it set out to
measure were discussed and the participants confirmed the data from Phase 1. They also
gave feedback on the Program Planning Course that allowed me to make adjustments
according to the cultural factors.
It is also my strong belief that the data is externally valid. The course was tested
over a fairly large data set of Papua New Guinean translators and the results were very
good. I believe that the course will work well in the broader Melanesian context. Further,
I believe that the same system can be used to build culturally appropriate Program
Planning Courses for Mother Tongue Translators in other contexts.
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Part II
Exploring the Literature
Part II includes Chapters 3, 4 and 5 that examine four key cultural components
related to Bible translation. Each chapter will present two opposing systems, Western and
non-Western. In each case the non-Western system is meant to represent a Papua New
Guinean system but will often have wider implications as well. It is not my belief that
these are the only two systems in the world. In fact, I believe that there are a number of
distinct non-Western cultural systems that have their own cultural factors that affect how
these cultures would naturally approach Bible translation. I am using a two system
approach for this research to limit the scope of the research and to better address the
context within which I work.
In Chapter 3 I address current literature on monochronic versus polychronic time
orientation and production versus relational orientation, Chapter 4 will address current
literature on linear versus non-linear cognitive processing and Chapter 5 will address
current literature on low power distance and internal locus of control versus high power
distance and external locus of control. These three chapters are designed to address
research sub-problem 1: Examine the missiological, anthropological and linguistic
literature to discover cultural differences in Western and Melanesian cultures that might
affect language program planning.
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Chapter 3
Time and Relational Orientation
Every culture has its own set of values and those values shape the way that the
people within the culture interpret and order such things as time, production and
relationships. In this chapter I will take a closer look at the cultural values of
monochronic versus polychronic time orientation and production versus relational
orientation as they relate to Bible translation.
Monochronic Versus Polychronic Time Orientation
Edward T. Hall says, “Because time is a core system of all cultures, and because
culture plays such a prominent role in the understanding of time as a cultural system, it is
virtually impossible to separate time from culture at some levels”(Hall 1983, 3). People
use their understanding of time to build the systems they use, like Bible translation
program designs. But not all cultures view time in the same way so it is important to
understand time orientation in individual cultures in order to understand their systems. In
fact, Westerners and non-Westerners have very different understandings of time.
Monochronic
The common Western understanding of time is linear, ordered events happening
one after the other. Each event is completed before the next begins; Hall calls this
monochronic time (Hall 1983, 43–44). Monochronic cultures value things like
32
promptness, division of work and personal space, work and personal time and a singular
focus during meetings (Plueddemann 2009, 84) hence the “mono” in monochronic.
Jim Plueddemann gives two wonderful examples of his Western (United States)
time orientation bumping up against African polychronic time orientation. In the first
story, he recounted a meeting he had with the CEO of a company in Africa. During the
hour-long meeting, they were “disrupted a dozen times” by people seeking direction
about everything from where to put drinks to trucks broken-down in the entrance.
Plueddemann recounted,
At first I was bothered by the distractions, but as we continued, my frustration turned to great admiration. I was amazed that one man knew so much about such a complex operation and that he could carry on a half dozen logical conversations at the same time. (Plueddemann 2009, 83)
In the second story, he remembers the constant flow of people in and out of his
office while he was the director of theological education for his denomination and his
secretary’s inability to tell anyone they could not see him. It got to a point where he
turned an old chicken coop in his backyard into a makeshift office, so he could have
some uninterrupted time to work. He refers to the chicken coop as his “monochronic
office” where he could meet deadlines and his real office as his “official polychronic
office” (Plueddemann 2009, 84). Both stories highlight the difficulties people have
crossing over into another time orientation. Monochronic people need order, they need
starting and stopping points, they need separation of work and home life and when they
don’t get it life seems chaotic.
Hall and Plueddemann are not the only people to recognize cultural difference in
time orientation, Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede, and Michael Minkov in their 2010
seminal work Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind attributed the
differences in Western and non-Western understandings of time to uncertainty avoidance.
In their view the lower a culture’s tolerance of uncertainty the more strictly they adhere
33
to schedules and follow linear (monochronic) time structures, monochronic time
orientation has a positive correlation to high uncertainty avoidance (G. Hofstede and
Minkov 2010, Kindle location 3159-99). Though PNG is not scored in their work I
believe it would have a very low uncertainty avoidance score, one of its nicknames is
“the land of the unexpected”. This would seem to confirm Hofstede’s conclusions, as
PNG is very much a polychronic society. However, The United Stated scores in the
bottom third in uncertainty avoidance but is still very much a monochronic culture.
Is one then to believe that the United Stated is an outlier that does not fit the rule
or is there some better way to understand time orientation? Plueddemann builds on Hall
as he deals with the issue of time orientation. He suggests that monochronic time
orientation has a positive correlation to the idea of low context communication. High
context communication involves unspoken cues given by the communicator, which may
carry more weight than what is said. While low context communication is very straight
forward, what is said is what is meant. Hall’s idea is that low context communicators,
North Americans and Europeans, are monochronic in their time orientation, while places
like Africa, Asia, and Melanesia, I would add, are high context communicators and
polychronic (Hall 1983, 17; Plueddemann 2009, 84). Plueddemann and Hall’s theory
seems to cover the outliers in Hofstede’s theory better, but it is not necessarily that
simple, this could be a case where both theories are valid and they both are contributing
factors.
Polychronic
Many non-Westerners understand time in a very different way; it is more of a
network. They are quite comfortable with multiple events taking place at the same time,
Hall would categorize this as polychronic time (Hall 1983, 45–47). Plueddemann’s
34
example of the African CEO is a great picture of how this sort of time orientation is lived
out (Plueddemann 2009, 83).
The Dutch missiologist, Jan A.B. Jongeneel, views the Jewish culture and
writings of the Old Testament and the Jewish/Greek culture and writing of the New
Testament as having a strong linear (monochronic) orientation. He points to the
messianic nature of the religious systems of Judaism and Christianity as the prime
example of their linear time orientation. He believes both scriptures point to a linear
progression of time moving toward the first and second coming of the messiah and the
eventual end of the world; while he views polychronic, predominately Eastern religions,
as operating on a cyclical system of birth, death and rebirth. The overall thrust of his
work attempts to show an incongruence and incompatibility between monochronic and
polychronic views of time and history and therefore religion (Jongeneel 2009). So, what
does this mean for Bible translation in a culture like Papua New Guinea; which Jongeneel
categorizes as polychronic (2009, 128)?
First, it should be stated that although the problems raised by Jongeneel are real
and they need to be addressed, they are not insurmountable. It would seem that Jongeneel
has an over simplified view of polychronic time orientation and uses the most extreme
examples in Eastern religions to prove his point. Though it is true that some polychronic
time orientation operates on the cyclical idea of birth, death and reincarnation, it is not
true that this is a stagnant process. He points to the Hindu belief of the periodic
destruction and recreation of the universe as his primary example of polychronic religious
time orientation. Jongeneel describes it like this:
They view the world age (yuga) as the smallest period of the cosmic cycle. They distinguish four of these cycles, each being progressively shorter by one quarter: kritayuga (the best of the four world ages), 34reat yuga, dvapara yuga, and kali yuga (the worst of the four world ages). The human community is now living in the period of the kaliyuga, which lasts for 432,000 years and will end in a state of chaos. Thereafter, a new cycle
35
will commence, with an infinite repetition of the same phenomena: creation-destruction-new creation (Jongeneel 2009, 119).
What is obvious from his statement is that these cycles are not happening outside
of time and that they are not the same each time. They can be tracked by years and they
are distinguishable by which one is better or worse and are in fact moving from better to
worse towards chaos. This agrees with Phil King’s wheel metaphor in its cyclical nature,
turning around and around, but a wheel does not stay in the same place as it turns, it is
moving forward traveling through space; it is never in exactly in the same position as it
was previously (King 2018, 11).
It is my opinion that Christian history can be viewed in the same way, pre-Jewish
history: where people sought to worship a God they did not know; Jewish history: where
God revealed himself to his people and they worshiped as best they could in accordance
with the law; The New Testament age: where God revealed himself in a new way and
gave his people a new way to worship Him; the Church age (which we are presently in):
where the Church continues to worship Him in this new way and waits on his second
coming, and I understand that there will be another age that will stretch into eternity
where all of humanity is judged and those who are found faithful will spend eternity with
God worshiping Him and those who are not will be eternally separated from Him.
As can be seen from this reading of Judeo Christian time: God reveals Himself in
some way, the people seek to worship him to the best of their ability, they fall short, God
loves his people and gives them a new way to be with him (reveals himself in some way)
and the cycle goes on. Though this does not exactly match the Hindu description of the
cosmic cycle, it is similar enough to believe that it can be communicated to and
understood by polychronic thinkers.
This means the Bible should be able to be translated by and for polychronic
thinkers. I would even go a step further and say that this demonstrates that the Bible is
best translated by polychronic thinkers, for polychronic thinkers. They have a different
36
cognitive schema than monochronic thinkers and therefore a different way of relating the
data to others, making it much more difficult for monochronic thinkers to communicate
Biblical meaning in a wholly polychronic way (Shaw 2010, 210–14). This idea has given
rise to the Mother Tongue Translator and now should give rise to Mother Tongue
Translation program design and implementation.
Production Versus Relational Orientation
Another key difference in Western and Nonwestern cultures is their emphasis of
production versus relationships. Western cultures tend to view production as the priority,
some might even go as far as to say good production leads to good relationship and bad
production leads to broken relationships. Nonwesterners, especially Papua New
Guineans, would put relationship as the highest priority (Robinson 1998, 13). If these two
propositions are true, then the question arises; how can people with these two very
different orientations work together in Bible translation programs?
In the next section I will explore some of the current literature involving
production verses relational orientation and how the two are related to Bible translation
program design and planning.
Production Orientation
Production orientation can be processed in light of Hofstede’s
individualism/collectivism scale. According to Hofstede,
Employed persons in an individualist culture are expected to act according to their own interests, and work should be organized in such a way that this self-interest and the employer’s interest coincide. Workers are supposed to act as “economic persons,” or as people with a combination of economic and psychological needs, but anyway as individuals with their own needs. (G. Hofstede and Minkov 2010, Kindle location 2106-2108)
37
In other words, individualistic Westerners in the work place are expected to act in
their own best interests which would be self-promotion through task completion. Their
primary concern is not the good of their working group or even of the organization, for
the most part it is about the individual. The United States is one of the more extreme
examples of this behavior. Christopher Early describes it like this,
In an individualist culture, people feel proud of their own accomplishments and derive satisfaction from performance based on their own achievements, whereas individuals from collectivist cultures derive pleasure and satisfaction from group accomplishments. (Early 1989, 568)
Early designed a study that tested how American management trainees
(individualistic) performed in group versus individual tasks against how Chinese
management trainees (collectivist) performed in these same tasks. The results were not all
that surprising; the Americans performed well when they were asked to complete a set
number of tasks on their own and put their names on the work, and they performed
extremely poorly on the tasks they were asked to do corporately without placing their
names beside their work. The Chinese participants had the opposite results (Early 1989,
572–76). This means that the Westerner is happy to produce when he or she can take the
responsibility and the credit. He is much less likely to work well in a group where he or
she is a nameless member of the group.
The Common Framework
Two production oriented Bible translation program design models have recently
surfaced in PNG. The first is called “The Common Framework”; it was originally
designed by The Seed Company but is now used by Wycliffe Bible Translators US as
well (both are US based organizations). It has a heavy focus on the production of
scripture on a prearranged schedule. This schedule is generated from a spreadsheet that
38
makes an estimate of how many verses a team can produce in a year. It tracks and charts
their progress through the year and through the duration of the project. If the translation
goals are not met the team must be able to give a reason why or face the prospect of
losing funding (Kitchen 2016). In a presentation to BTA in their Community of Practice
meeting in 2016, Michele Axelson described Common Framework projects as, “well-
managed: they have well determined goals, timelines for completion, and budgets which
are reviewed regularly” (Axelson 2016). The whole idea that a project must have a
“timeline for completion” to be well managed is a Western production oriented construct
which is being imposed in a non-Western, relationship based society.
When asked about the apparent lack of cultural sensitivity in this model two
Wycliffe Bible Translator USA vice presidents, Doug Hennum and John Krehely,
responded like this, cultural understanding goes both ways and they must make an
attempt to conform to our culture too if they want to partner with us (Hennum and
Krehely 2015). Though it is true, cultural understanding does go both ways, one must
question if bending your host culture to meet your own cultural values and expectations is
the best way to partner cross culturally.
Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation
The second production oriented program design, which has emerged recently in
PNG is Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation (MAST). On their website,
Wycliffe Associates (a US based organization) says of MAST,
it should be possible for a full team of 26 translators to draft a translation of the ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT in as little as TWO MONTHS…Compare that to the years it has been taking for New Testament translations to be produced. (Wycliffe Associates 2016)
39
It is quite obvious that this approach is solely interested in translating the Bible as
quickly as possible, with no regard to relationships or how a production-oriented
approach might affect how the translation is ultimately received. Pushing through the
translation process without engaging the community in meaningful relationships is a
problem that has been identified by SIL-PNG as a cause of community rejection of
translations (S.-1 Team 2014).
These two projects use funding as a carrot to get MTTs to operate in the funder’s
production oriented framework. Despite what is being said by these organizations about
giving the language community more of a voice in the process (Seed Company 2014)
they have actually given the investor the strongest voice by allowing them to dictate the
pace at which translation happens, and how and what is reported. What these programs
have lost sight of is that not everyone cares how fast the process happens, for many it is
just as much about the journey. To put it another way,
In order to be relevant, missional message bearers must be appropriate from the perspective of those with whom they interact. Being relevant demands considerable anthropological research to bring to light things that people in other cognitive environments simply assume. Their perspective is reality for them, and the only way the message can make sense to them is by connecting with their assumptions. (Shaw 2010, 212)
Relational Orientation
For Melanesians one of the keys for harmonious living (gutpela sindaun) is
building and maintaining relationships, but not all relationships are created equally. Lise
Dobrin recognizes a strong difference in how Westerners and Melanesians approach
relationships:
Westerners build relationships primarily around episodes of talk, Melanesians are inclined to dismiss talk as unreliable, since it comes so cheaply and is open to the suspicion of being deceitful or dissembling on
40
those grounds. Unlike talk, one’s feelings toward another can be materialized—made real and knowable—through the gift of a desirable object…From a western perspective this Melanesian way of making friends can be disconcerting, because it revolves so centrally around giving and requesting things and so can seem materialistic or grasping. But such overtures are aimed at eliciting a healthy and lively pattern of reciprocal exchange. (Dobrin 2008, 308)
So, not only are Western and Melanesian expectations regarding production and
relationship completely different but their very understanding of what relationships are
made up of and how they are formed are at odds as well. This excerpt from a Urapmin
villager’s perspective and interpretation by Joel Robbins further demonstrates Papua New
Guineans views on material exchange and relationship building:
“We were afraid when we first saw whites, but they enticed [grisim] us with salt. We tasted it and it was good. And then they gave us matches and showed us how to make fires. Then we went and got them food, sweet potato, taro, and bananas and we gave it to them. We exchanged.” Such an exchange, of course, indicates the founding of good relations on Urapmin terms — for the Urapmin had always built friendly relationships with outsiders on the basis of exchange. (Robbins 2004, 51)
Ken Andy, a long-time translator in the Agarabi language and a regional leader in
the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea describes interconnectedness
through exchange in this way;
If somebody comes along and you make friends with them and whatever you have you give it to them and then there is something within their mind or their feelings which says, “O disla man hia em I gutpela man hia” (oh, this man is a really good man) and then they will go and whatever things that they have, and they will take it back to you. So, that will connect the life of a foreigner and a Papua New Guinean…so either you can talk to them in a way that they can see you as a human being and as a friend or you can exchange some things. If we live together, work together, talk together then that will connect the life of an expat with a Papua New Guinean (pointer fingers interlocked to demonstrate a tight connection). (Andy 2016)
This raises a very interesting question about the two new types of production
oriented Bible Translation program design mentioned above (Common Framework and
41
MAST); how would a Papua New Guinean interpret the establishment of such projects
and then the closure of them because of insufficient reporting? Andy says,
For us well trained Papua New Guineans we understand that if you don’t give the report you won’t get the money but for the uneducated people they won’t understand that, where the money is coming from or where it is going or what to do to get it…We Papua New Guineans don’t really rely on the report, we just say, “mi bai toktok na toktok bilong mi bai makim” (I will just say it and what I am saying should be enough). We have to do it in black and white (formal reporting). We Papua New Guineans can fail in that we can just talk and get things. (Andy 2016)
From Andy’s perspective, Western style reporting can be an issue for the average
Papua New Guinean. Someone from a relationally oriented culture would expect that
talking about the project would be sufficient reporting to keep the project on track while
that might not be the expectation of the Western production focused organization. It
would also seem from Andy’s descriptions of relationships and relationship building that
there is an expectation of ongoing interaction, in Western terms one might say a
significant amount of time spent to foster the relationship. Andy uses terms like “working
with”, “living with” and “talking with” which would also present problems for a plan that
wants to complete an entire New Testament in two months by having the translators work
twelve hours a day, there is no time for relationship building into that scenario. In talking
about relationships in language program development Clinton Robinson says,
It is essential to devote adequate energy and personnel time to maintaining this network of relationships. Genuine and fruitful partnership can only grow in the soil of sincere, open, and mutually respectful relationships. (Robinson 1998, 2)
Summary
Westerners and by extension Western translation program structures tend to have
a monochronic orientation. This is not a bad thing in and of itself because it is culturally
42
appropriate for Western translators. But, in places that are strongly polychronic and
where MTTs far outnumber Western expatriate there is a growing recognition that the
traditional style of program is not working for MTTs and there needs to be another
approach. The research conducted for this project will attempt to discover the nature of
Western Expatriate and Papua New Guinean translator’s time orientation and determine
how it affects their perception and use of language program design and implementation.
It is often said that the one who controls the purse strings has the power and that
seems to be true in the world of Bible translation currently. The strong Western value of
measurable scheduled production is at the heart of many discussions in Bible translation
circles currently. It is a Western business model driven by Western donors who expect a
return on their investment. But, Papua New Guineans do not see production as the be all
and end all. They value long term relationships that are fostered and nurtured through
exchange and extended meaningful contact. The research conducted for this project will
seek to better understand where expatriate Western translators and Papua New Guinean
MTTs fall on the continuum of production versus relational orientation and how their
cultural values reflect their understandings of language program design and program
planning.
Conclusion
The goal of research subproblem 1 is to “Examine the missiological,
anthropological and linguistic literature to discover cultural differences in Western and
Melanesian cultures that might affect language program planning.” This chapter has
demonstrated clear differences in Western and Melanesian cultural approaches to time
and relationships through current academic literature in an effort to partially fulfill
subproblem 1.
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Hall and Plueddemann (1983; 2009) built the monochronic versus polychronic
framework which has been used as the back bone for the first half of this chapter.
Westerners operate from a monochronic framework while Melanesians have a
polychronic time orientation. A firm grasp of the distinction between these two
approaches to time is critical for understanding the current state of the Bible translation
process and for developing more culturally appropriate models. The implications for
culturally appropriate language program planning will be further fleshed out in Chapter 6
through the Phase 1 research data analysis and then put into practice in Chapters 8 and 9
shaping and implementing the MPPM course.
The second half of this chapter focused on the differences in production vs
relational orientations to life. Though the framework for this section was not as clearly
defined in the literature, Early and Dobrin (1989; 2008) provided significant insight into
the Western and Melanesian approaches to production and relational orientation.
Westerners tend to value production over relationship and see good production as a way
to maintain good relationships, while Melanesians see good relationships at the center of
everything. In a Melanesian framework good production is born out of good
relationships. There is a clear distinction to these two approaches to life which causes
these two groups to approach the work of Bible translation quite differently. It also means
that they will approach the language program planning process quite differently. These
differences will become clearer as I discuss the Phase 1 research data in Chapter 7. The
implementation of the conclusions from this chapter and Chapter 7 will be discussed in
detail in Chapters 8 and 9.
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Chapter 4
Cognitive Processing
As with the other cultural relationships discussed in this part, linear versus
nonlinear cognitive processing will be discussed in terms of Western (linear) versus
Nonwestern/Papua New Guinean (nonlinear) cultural practices. This is an overly
simplistic way of looking at the problem, but time constraints will not allow me to take a
more nuanced approach at this time.
Linear and nonlinear cognitive processing is born out in a number of different
ways but for the sake of this research the most valuable incarnation is language program
design and program planning, which will be the focus of this discussion. How this topic,
language program design and program planning, has been chosen to be labeled gives
away the authors’ western mindset. The very idea that a language program needs a
designed, ordered structure, that it can’t just happen organically, reflects the Westerner’s
need for compartmentalized order. The fact that this much cultural meaning is embedded
in this short title highlights the difficulties that can be present in cross cultural exchanges
between these two groups.
Linear Cognitive Processing
Though translation is a very broad field with a wide variety of approaches, much
of what is going on now in Bible translation has been shaped by Eugene Nida’s work in
Functional Equivalence (Porter 2005). Nida began to develop his translation philosophy
in 1947 with his book Bible Translation: An Analysis of Principles and Procedures With
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Special Reference to Aboriginal Languages (Nida 1947) and came into full bloom with
his 1960 and 1964 works Message and Mission: The Communication of the Christian
Faith and Towards a Science of Translation. He continued to work with and develop his
theories well into the latter half of the 20th century.
Nida’s work primarily focused on expatriate translators working in languages
other than their own. Because of the time in which he worked and the focus community,
Nida’s work has a strong Western Enlightenment bent. This is not a criticism of Nida, in
fact he does an excellent job meeting his audience where they are. It was also a major
step forward from the wooden literal translation process that had come before. Nida took
seriously the idea of communicating the Gospel in a meaningful way that used the natural
language of the receptor’s culture.
One can only assume that Nida’s Western linear perspectives coupled with those
of his predominately Western audience gave rise to the, now famous, Source-Message-
Receptor (SMR) model of translation he developed. In this model, there are a number of
ordered steps, which must take place in the correct order if the process is to be successful.
The source of the message must communicate the message from his/her own cultural
perspective. Embedded or coded in this message is the outward meaning, but there are
also additional meanings that are communicated through culture and the way the message
is expressed. It is then the translator’s responsibility to determine what has been coded
into the message by the Source and retell it in such a way as to communicate as clearly as
possible what the source meant in the message (Nida and Taber 1969, 12). R. D. Shaw
sees SMR model as, “this encoding/decoding model focuses on the sequential linkages
between elements in a ‘serial processing structure,’ with each link dependent on the one
before it” (Shaw 2010, 209).
Shaw also levels several legitimate criticisms of this process. (1) That the process
was weighted towards making Western theology normative since Westerners were
46
translating what was coded in the message. This means that this process perpetuates
colonialism. (2) That the process is production oriented and neglects relationships, which
are God’s focus (Shaw 2010, 209).
The basic Bible translation program design, which is used in SIL-PNG and taught
at the Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts, and Translation (PILAT) a joint venture
between SIL-PNG and PNGBTA, is a linear program design model. The subtitle of the
language program planning course is “Design a Program Plan Using the RBM (Results
Based Management) Model” (Dede 2016). This program was originally designed for
expatriates to use in programs where they were the primary translators and
administrators. For Westerners, it is generally a thorough well-structured program that
makes sense. For Papua New Guinean MTTs this model is very difficult to understand,
tedious to wade through, and difficult to use (Course Students 2010).
The course describes the method in terms of results chains, one event happening
after another and being caused by the previous one. It is shown as a diagram with boxes
all in a line one after another happening in sequence, each one triggered by the
completion of the last (Dede 2016, 51). It also references completion as the end goal of
the project design, a product of, or to use the title a Result. The course regularly has the
students use, “Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time bound” (Dede 2016, 52)
thinking to shape their programs. Again, these are all very Western concepts and one has
to wonder if these sorts of foreign cultural values that are embedded in the curriculum are
at least part of the problem the MTTs have with the course.
This sort of Western linear thinking also extends into what PILAT teaches about
the translation process. The core course offered by PILAT is the Translator Training
Course (TTC); it has 4 sections, which are intended to be taken over multiple years. The
first course, TTC 1, introduces the students to a 10-step process of translation where each
step must be performed before moving on to the next step. At one point in the book, the
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list of steps is followed by the word, “The first draft is done” (Bullock 2016, 80). In
another place the list is given as a chart complete with boxes to tick as each step is
completed (Bullock 2016, 85–87). Though the course emphasizes the fact that translation
must go through multiple steps of checking and editing, these examples give the idea that
once a box is ticked it does not have to be revisited and is completed. Phil King puts it
like this, “the ladder model can consolidate unhelpful ladder-thinking, such as the belief
that when the steps have been followed the translation has been adequately finished (and
does not need to be reviewed again)” (King 2018, 90).
Nonlinear Cognitive Processing
Over much of its history Bible translation has been dominated by Western
translators who naturally shaped program design to fit their world view and cultural
norms. Though expatriate translators have regularly used language informants or co-
translators from the target languages, it has not been until relatively recently that people
have translated the Bible into their own languages. What had once been the work of the
missionary is now becoming the work of the Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) (Sanneh
2009, 191–250). This is an excellent shift and move towards empowerment but
unfortunately the structures within the discipline have not shifted at the same time. Bible
translation theory and program design is still dominated by linear Western thought
processes. The field is only now beginning to recognize the need to tailor program
structures to better meet the needs of their users.
Phil King uses the metaphor of ladders and wheels to describe linear and
nonlinear Bible translation program design. King’s wheels metaphor was birthed out of a
presentation by Max Sahl (2013) to the BTA National Conference in which Sahl was
trying to demonstrate how the Church could and should be a part of sustainable Bible
48
translation movements. Sahl likened a sustainable Bible Translation movement to
children pushing a wheel with sticks; each one tapping the wheel as needed to keep it
upright and moving forward.
King recognizes the value of the linear approach; “The ladder metaphor is very
productive for thinking about Bible translation tasks, especially in giving a roadmap for
those from time-oriented and task-oriented cultures who want to ‘complete’ something”
(King 2018, 85). But he also recognizes the need for diversity in program design and a
need to provide a culturally appropriate program design; “wheel-thinking may be more
attractive to global thinkers or people from relationship-oriented cultures, where the
process is at least as important as the product” (King 2018, 100). King sees the
fundamental difference between the ladder and the wheel as the ladder or linear model is
looking to the completion of the project and production of the scripture, this style of
program measures the distance to the end. The wheel or nonlinear model is concerned
about the process and multiplicity of inputs; it measures progress, if the project is moving
forward, the end or finish is not the main objective (King 2018, 85-6).
In his article, “Beyond Contextualization: Toward a Twenty-first-Century Model
for Enabling Mission” Shaw recognizes the need for a new paradigm in mission. The way
mission was approached for most of the last century was very linear; it emphasized the
conveyance of information in an ordered sequential manner. Shaw believes that one of
the major reasons for this was the Source-Model-Receptor work of Eugene Nida (Shaw
2010, 208–9). If this is the case, then clearly Shaw’s conclusions have relevance for the
current discussion. Connectionist Network Theory, in contrast, recognizes the intricate
web that is human interaction and message conveyance and tries to work within that
framework. In many ways, it is a step out of the linear Western Enlightenment approach
to communication and Bible translation, and a step towards postmodern, Nonwestern and
nonlinear communication patterns (Shaw 2010, 2010–14).
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For Bible translation in general and program design specifically this means a
more organic approach. It means allowing Mother Tongue Translators to structure their
programs in ways that make sense to them and supporting them in ways that they
determine. It means not climbing the ladder of program design rung by rung but being
willing to engage in the process at different points. It means not striving to finish the task
but to support the process and keep it moving forward (King 2018, 81-8).
Stephen Moyaru is the Language Program Coordinator for the East Papua Region
of PNG working for PNGBTA. In an email conversation about what it means to complete
a Bible translation program he said,
Bible Translation is a programme which involves projects; that is why it is never completed per se but evolves into other projects such as SIU (Scripture In Use), Literacy, Revision, Adapt-It for neighbouring languages and whatever other ways the church sees fit to use translated Scripture. (Moyaru 2017)
In 2014 SIL-PNG began a process of self-assessment and review of completed
New Testament projects to determine if the scriptures they were involved in producing
were actually being used. This research project was dubbed Scripture Use Research And
Ministry (SURAM). The SURAM teams went out to various language groups and
conducted extensive interviews as well as observing multiple venues where vernacular
scriptures would likely be used (S.-1 Team 2014, 1). They conducted eleven research
projects, produced a report for each language group (S.-1 Team 2014; S.-2 Team 2015;
S.-3 Team 2014; S.-4 Team 2015; S.-5 Team 2015; S.-6 Team 2015; S.-7 Team 2016; S.-
8 Team 2016; Team, SURAM-10 2016; Team, SURAM-11 2017) and produced a final
report (Team 2017) which summarized the findings and made some major and minor
recommendations. Major recommendation 2 from the final report is, “Projects should not
be viewed as completed when the NT (New Testament) is completed” (Team 2017, 22).
It gives the following rationale for this recommendation:
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The results of the SURAM trips have made it clear that good VSU (Vernacular Scripture Use) does not happen automatically after a dedication. A concerted effort is needed to ensure that the published Scriptures are actually distributed across the whole language area, and that church leaders are aware of its existence, and are trained and encouraged to use it. Equipping and encouraging church leaders to use the vernacular Scriptures is the first step in helping church members perceive the value of a vernacular Bible translation. (Team 2017)
This recommendation and its rationale reflects well Moyaru’s picture of the
evolving ongoing language program and King’s picture of the wheel model. This sort of
cyclical thinking is a hallmark of nonlinear cognitive processors.
Conclusion
The goal of research subproblem 1 is to “Examine the missiological,
anthropological and linguistic literature to discover cultural differences in Western and
Melanesian cultures that might affect language program planning.” This chapter has
demonstrated clear differences in Western and Melanesian cultural approaches to
cognitive processing through current academic literature in an effort to partially fulfill
subproblem 1. Shaw and King’s (2010; 2018) writings have been critical in developing a
framework for this chapter and for focusing this cultural concept in the area of Bible
translation.
The basic structure of language program design has remained largely unchanged
since the 1960’s. It was built around a modern, Western, Enlightenment cognitive process
that was held by most Bible translators at the time. That framework does not fit well in
PNG. Most MTTs in PNG have between a sixth and twelfth grade education and have not
had much exposure to this kind of linear cognitive processing. We live in a world with an
unprecedented number of choices in everything from soap to cars. Diversity is strongly
valued in most modern cultures, so why is it that we are cling so tightly to the Western
linear cognitive approach to translation? Shouldn’t the user (translator) be able to select
51
the product (program design) that best fits their needs and the needs of their language
group?
The theoretical framework presented in this chapter will be fleshed out further in
the Phase 1 research discussed in Chapter 6. Phase 1 will seek to place Western expatriate
translators and Papua New Guinean MTTs on the continuum of linear and non-linear
cognitive processing and examine how their natural state of processing affects how they
view language program design and implementation. The outcomes of this chapter and the
Chapter 6 will then be implemented in Phase 2 of the research and discussed in detail in
Chapters 8 and 9.
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Chapter 5
Power Distance and Locus of Control
It would be an extreme over simplification to say that any of the cultural factors
discussed to this point operate in a vacuum. They are all interconnected in some way and
each of these cultural factors affects how the others present themselves. In thinking about
what cultural factors affect the formation and implementation of a culturally appropriate
Bible translation programs the factors of power distance and locus of control are very
important. What makes these two cultural factors unique is how much they work together
to affect how Bible translation programs are implemented.
Hofstede describes power distance as, “the extent to which the less powerful
members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power
is distributed unequally” (G. Hofstede and Minkov 2010, Kindle Location 1179-80).
Power distance is measured on a continuum of high to low. High power distance would
be indicated by people in positions of authority being elevated to a point where the
people under them find it difficult to communicate with them, especially about decisions
being made by the person in authority. Low power distance is indicated by ease of
communication between people in authority and those under them even in difficult
situations. Gillian Fournier describes locus of control as,
The extent to which people believe they have power over events in their lives. A person with an internal locus of control believes that he or she can influence events and their outcomes, while someone with an external locus of control blames outside forces for everything. (Fournier 2016)
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In his book Transforming Culture: A Challenge for Christian Mission Sherwood
Lingenfelter builds on Mary Douglas’ work on grid and group (Douglas 1982, 190) to
construct a five quadrant grid that allows him to examine the interaction between two
different cultural factors (Lingenfelter 1998, 30–32). The fifth quadrant in Lingenfelter’s
model is a pilgrim or transformed quadrant which bridges between quadrants. For his
discussion, it is a very valuable quadrant which much of his argument hinges on.
However, for the current discussion the fifth quadrant is not needed since this discussion
revolves around peoples’ natural cultural inclinations. Figure 1 uses the four-quadrant
model to display the relationships between the cultural factors of power distance and
locus of control.
Figure 1: Power Distance and Locus of Control Four Quadrant Grid
Locus of Control
Power
Distance
Internal External
High
Low
High Power Distance/ External Locus of Control
High Power Distance/ Internal Locus of Control
Low Power Distance/ Internal Locus of Control
Low Power Distance/ External Locus of Control
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This section will focus on the two quadrants that generally deal with Western
expatriates: low power distance and internal locus of control, and Papua New Guineans:
high power distance and external locus of control. It is easy to see from Figure 1 that
these two quadrants are diagonally opposite on the grid. The following discussion will
demonstrate that they also create two very different approaches to life and Bible
translation.
Low Power Distance and Internal Locus of Control
It seems most beneficial at this point to deal with each cultural value separately
and then to demonstrate how they work together. This section will deal with the more
Western values of low power distance and internal locus of control.
Low Power Distance
There are a number of markers that define how people interact in low power
distance relationships. Hofstede gives this brief list for the workplace,
In small-power-distance countries, there is limited dependence of subordinates on bosses, and there is a preference for consultation (that is, interdependence among boss and subordinate). The emotional distance between them is relatively small: subordinates will rather easily approach and contradict their bosses. (G. Hofstede and Minkov 2010, Kindle location 1172-4)
Hofstede’s list is particularly valuable in this discussion because Bible translation,
especially in a mission setting, is viewed as a job with subordinates, the translators,
answering to an ascending list of people in authority over their project. These people may
include the translation committee, the people who are over language programs regionally
(Regional Directors (RD)), Language Programs Senior Manager for the country or the
Director for Language Services. These are the positions within SIL-PNG , see Figure 2
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(Doyle 2017), most translation organizations, including PNGBTA, are structured
similarly.
Figure 2: SIL-PNG Language Programs Organizational Chart
As Hofstede, has pointed out, in a lower power distance relationship the translator
feels free to approach and contradict any of these people listed, especially when they feel
they are acting in the best interest of the language group and/or the language program.
The other valuable point that Hofstede addresses is that the low power distance Western
expatriate translator feels that his or her supervisors have little to no responsibility to be a
benefactor of their work.
Director of SIL-PNG
Director of Language Services
Language Services Senior
Manager
Language Programs Senior
Manager
7 Regional Directors
Translation Committee
Translator
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Hofstede conducted his study in 76 countries, assigning a power distance score to
each of them based on his research and then ranking them according to their score. The
scores ranged from 104 (very high power distance) to 11 (very low power distance) and
the rankings went from 1 (very high power distance) to 76 (very low power distance).
Table 6 lists the power distance rankings and scores of the home countries of all the
Western expatriate translators who participated in this study (G. Hofstede and Minkov
2010, Kindle Location 1143).
Table 6: Power Distance Ranking and Scores for Western Expatriate Translators
(Adapted from Hofstede 2010, Kindle location 1143)
Country of Origin Power Distance Ranking Power Distance Score USA 59-61 40 Canada 62 39
Netherlands 63 38
Australia 64 38 Great Britain 65-67 35 Finland 68 33 Norway 69-70 31 Switzerland (German) 72 26
As one can easily see these Western expatriate translators represent the lowest
quarter of countries surveyed, indicating low to very low power distance in these
countries. This means that as a group these people are very likely to openly disagree with
their direct superiors especially in situations where the decision made would negatively
affect them, their translation work or their language community. It also means that they
see the success or failure of the language program as their own responsibility and not
something that should be shared or owned by their supervisor.
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Internal Locus of Control
Julian Rotter developed the theory of locus of control during the 1950’s and 60’s
and in 1966 published the paper “Generalized Expectancies for Internal Verses External
Control of Reinforcement.” In this paper Rotter says that a person has an internal locus of
control “if the person perceives that the event is contingent upon his own behavior or his
own relatively permanent characteristics.” (Rotter 1966, 1). In other words, one is said to
have an internal locus of control if they believe they have the ability to affect their
surroundings, events they are a part of and their position in life through their own actions
and abilities.
Internal locus of control is a pervasive idea within many major Bible translation
organizations across the world. This is likely true because most of these organizations
were founded during a time when Western expatriates were the only people doing Bible
translation and so their cultural values quickly became the corporate cultural values of
these organizations. This fact is made obvious in the brief story on Wycliffe US’s website
about how the organization came about,
In 1917 a missionary named William Cameron Townsend went to Guatemala to sell Spanish Bibles. But he was shocked when many people couldn’t understand it. They spoke Cakchiquel, a language without a Bible. Cam believed everyone should understand the Bible, so he started a linguistics school (the Summer Institute of Linguistics, known today as SIL) that trained people to do Bible translation. The work continued to grow, and in 1942 Cam and a few others officially founded Wycliffe Bible Translators. (“Wycliffe 101: The How and Why of Bible Translation” n.d.)
In this story Townsend went to Guatemala and saw a need. He processed this
need through his cultural value system and then set about trying to meet the need.
Townsend believed that he could change the condition of the Cakchiquel people through
his actions. This is the drive of the organization today and the drive of the individual
members of Wycliffe US, of which I am one.
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One does not have to look far to find more evidence of internal locus of control as
part of Bible translation organizations’ corporate cultures. When talking about their work
in language development the SIL International website states, “SIL works with
ethnolinguistic minority communities as they build their capacity for sustainable
development of their own languages” (“Discover SIL | SIL International” n.d.). The drive
and motivation of SIL International is very good in and of itself. It should only be noted
that they presume that all language communities have an internal locus of control and that
they feel that they can build their own capacity which is not always the case.
Interplay Between Low Power Distance and Internal Locus of Control
One must do little more than go to any Western book store and read the titles to
see how low power distance and internal locus of control work together in Western
culture. Books titles like: It’s OK to Manage Your Boss: The Step-by-Step Program for
Making the Best of Your Most Important Relationship at Work (Tulgan 2010), Managing
your Manager: How to Get Ahead With Any Type of Boss (Dufour 2011), How to Make
People Like You: 44 Ethical Ways to Manipulate People’s Opinion of You and Get Them
on Your Side (Newman 2015) and Making It All Work: Winning at The Game of Work
and The Business of Life (D. Allen 2008) give a glimpse into how low power distance
and internal locus of control work together in the Western world. These titles also
demonstrate how monochronic time orientation, production orientation and linear
cognitive processing’s interaction correlate with low power distance and internal locus of
control.
Looking at the first title, It’s OK to Manage Your Boss: The Step-by-Step
Program for Making the Best of Your Most Important Relationship at Work, the idea of
managing one’s boss demonstrates how low the power distance relationship is within the
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American context. Though they do recognize the supervisor employee relationship as the
most important relationship in the workplace and give priority to it, they give no sense
that this is a paternal relationship or even any indication of dependence. Rather, it feels
like a relationship of equals that can be manipulated for the employee’s gain. The idea of
managing one’s boss and making the best of the relationship, presumably for one’s own
gain, also demonstrates an internal locus of control because the employee feels that they
can change or manipulate the relationship to benefit themselves. Additionally, the phrase
“step-by-step” is a clear indication of linear cognitive processing.
The third title, How to Make People Like You: 44 Ethical Ways to Manipulate
People’s Opinion of You and Get Them on Your Side, follows a very similar pattern to the
first, but is even more explicit about its locus of control. The idea of “manipulating
people’s opinions to get them on your side” clearly demonstrates the belief that the power
to change a person’s environment rests within themselves. The book titles are obvious
examples of the interplay between low power distance and internal locus of control but
what does it look like for Bible translation and related fields?
One such related field in linguistics is Endangered Language Documentation and
Development (ELDD). Lise Dobrin writes that one of the major principles guiding
current work in the field of ELDD is “a western view of empowerment involving
autonomy and self-determination” (Dobrin 2008, 306). On the surface empowerment
through autonomy and self-determination seems like an admirable goal that is worthy of
striving toward. But what it reveals is, like Bible translation, ELDD is built on a Western
paradigm. When one examines this statement considering the power distance and locus of
control grid it becomes apparent how firmly rooted this sort of thinking is in the Low
Power Distance/Internal Locus of Control quadrant. The idea of empowerment through
autonomy reflects a low power distance cultural approach and understanding. It reveals
the high value Westerners have for independence from those who are perceived to be in
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authority (Hofstede and Hofstede 2005, 56). It also clearly illustrates how little
Westerners expect or want their superiors to be involved in and be responsible for their
work. It also reflects a Western low power distance belief system which says every
person should be free to choose the path that is most beneficial to them.
The idea of empowerment through self-determination strongly reflects the
Western cultural value of internal locus of control. One of the most core values for
Westerners is that the individual can decide who or what they want to be and then act to
make that happen, self-determination. In this case, it is the language community’s right
and responsibility to determine what they want for their language and community and
then it is their responsibility to make it happen (Dobrin 2008, 307).
As I have already demonstrated Bible translation has also been designed with a
Western cultural approach. The same sorts of low power distance/ internal locus of
control empowerment approaches that are found in ELDD programs can be found in
Bible translation as well. In their 2012 Annual Update SIL International said,
Contributing towards the sustainability of language development within nations is a key part of SIL’s vision. SIL is committed to building capacity among members of minority language communities who want to achieve and sustain their own language development goals. (SIL International 2012, 4)
Again, the idea of “achieving and sustaining their own language development goal”
betrays the Western cultural framework from which it was constructed.
I would like to make one thing clear at this point, empowerment is not a bad
thing. It is a very good thing that can have amazing benefits for the language community.
My point in all of this is to show that empowerment must be done from the proper
cultural framework. If you are forcing people to fit the cultural mold of your
empowerment model, then you are not empowering them. Dobrin puts it this way,
Yet culturally particular concerns are likely to be significant in shaping the outcomes of ELDD programs too, even though they may be much harder
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for those steeped in western cultural values to detect, interpret, or extrapolate from. This is not to say that concerns that seem natural to western linguists are inauthentic or imposed upon people to whom they are ascribed, nor that they are unimportant in any way…But even so, the cultural worlds they create and inhabit are distinct in terms of the schemes of meaning that shape their interest and organize their actions. If we are dedicated to linguistic diversity and the cultural diversity that supports it, we should take special care to acknowledge those concerns that arise out of the endangered-language communities’ contemporary vernacular cultures. (Dobrin 2008, 305)
High Power Distance and External Locus of Control
Like the last section, this section will deal with each cultural component
separately and then demonstrate how the two components work together. Though the
combination of high power distance and external locus of control appears in many
Nonwestern contexts the focus of this section will be about how these cultural factors are
manifested in PNG.
High Power Distance
High power distance too, has several markers that indicate how people will act in
these cultures. One would expect that these markers would be the opposite of the low
power distance markers and for the most part they are; however, there are some
interesting variations that Hofstede describes,
In large-power-distance countries, there is considerable dependence of subordinates on bosses. Subordinates respond by either preferring such dependence (in the form of an autocratic or paternalistic boss) or rejecting it entirely, which in psychology is known as counter-dependence— that is, dependence but with a negative sign. Large-power-distance countries thus show a pattern of polarization between dependence and counter-dependence. In these cases the emotional distance between subordinates and their bosses is large: subordinates are unlikely to approach and contradict their bosses directly. (Hofstede and Minkov 2010, Kindle location 1174-78)
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If one looks back at the organizational chart in Figure 2 in light of this new
information about high power distance some obvious difficulties begin to jump out. The
translator is the lowest person on the organizational chart and they are doing the bulk of
the work of translation. If someone who is in authority or even seems to be in authority
over them tells them to do something they have little choice but to do what they are told.
They do not feel they can push back or even question what they have been told to do.
This distance is even wider between the translator and people further up the
organizational chart. If the director of the organization tells the translator to do something
they have no choice but to comply.
Neither PNG or any other Melanesian country was scored on Hofstede’s power
distance index. However, PNG’s two closest Non-western neighbors who appeared in the
data scored very high as seen in Table 2 (Hofstede and Minkov 2010, Kindle location
1143).
Table 7: Power Distance Ranking and Scores for PNG Neighbors (Adapted from Hofstede 2010, Kindle location 1143)
Country of Origin Power Distance Ranking Power Distance Score
Malaysia 1-2 104
Indonesia 15-16 78
Although these scores do not specifically reflect PNG they do give some indication as to
where it falls on the continuum. Further, we can examine some additional sources that
will help to place PNG in the high range on the power distance scale.
High power distance work place relationships are often talked about in
paternalistic terms. Hofstede describes them like this, “The ideal boss in the subordinates’
eyes, the one they feel most comfortable with and whom they respect most, is a
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benevolent autocrat or “good father.” After some experiences with “bad fathers,” they
may ideologically reject the boss’s authority completely, while complying in practice”
(G. Hofstede and Minkov 2010, Kindle Location 1374-6).
In a recent conversation about what culturally appropriate leadership in PNG
looks like the Scripture Use Coordinator for PNGBTA, Badi Vila, had this to say,
Culturally appropriate leadership in my Tairuma cultural context; is also like a father who ensures that he plants every kind of edible fruits around his house, so none of his children goes stealing fruits from someone else’s backyard or goes asking his neighbors if he could eat from their fruit trees. If a child does this, he embarrasses his father, and insults his leadership quality and ability to care for his family. He will be branded as a woman who is weak. Everyone will hurl insults at him, degrade him, and gossip about him: They will say things like, “What kind of a father bears children and has nothing to give to them for survival. Does he care for his family? If he dies tonight, what’s going to happen to the future of his family and their generations to come? Will the family survive? If he dies tonight, he leaves nothing behind for his family. What a foolish man!” So basically, the father is expected to provide good leadership by caring for his family, providing for their survival and wellbeing, protecting them from danger, making wise decisions, and maintaining peace, justice, good and healthy relationships with people in his community as well, then only can his community trust his leadership with issues affecting their community because of the fact that he manages his family well, he is able to manage the affairs of the community as well. (Vila 2017)
The idea of the benevolent father is central to the leadership structure of the
Tiaruma language group. As Hofstede points out this is a key marker of a high power
distance view of leadership. In this case Vila is still speaking in terms of ideals. It is
important to examine how high power distance relationships play out on the ground.
Anthropologist, Stephen C. Leavitt, describes a power distance relationship between
expatriates and the Bumbita Arapesh language group in the Sepik area of PNG:
The Bumbita construction of the colonial regime insists that Europeans be regarded not so much as alter-selves but as paternal figures who demand obedience and can be generous caregivers. Brison (Brison 1994, 19) regards similar views among the Bumbita’s neighbors, the Kwanga, as “an
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intense desire to cultivate a relationship with a benevolent higher power who will rescue villagers from their present poverty and powerlessness.” The focus here is on the impact of seeing oneself as receiving the paternal care and nurture that Europeans might provide. (Leavitt 1995, 180)
Leavitt introduces a very important compounding factor in the power distance
conversation for PNG, colonialism. PNG was under Western colonial rule from the 1870s
until 1975 when they gained their independence. Though the existing research is less than
clear if PNG’s large power distance gap is a result of the 100-year colonial rule or if it
only strengthens an existing cultural practice, it is my opinion that the latter is true. There
were a great number of language communities in remote areas of the country that had
little to no contact with the colonial powers yet still strongly exhibit these sorts of
paternal high power distance relationships. Additionally, high power distance
relationships are seen as the ideal within internal leadership structures that have no
expatriate involvement.
External Locus of Control
Julian Rotter describes external locus of control as,
When a reinforcement is perceived by the subject as following some action of his own but not being entirely contingent upon his action, then, in our culture, it is typically perceived as the result of luck, chance, fate, as under the control of powerful others, or as unpredictable because of the great complexity of the forces surrounding him. (Rotter 1966, 1)
Simply put, the subject feels the ability to control an event or action that the
subject is a part of does not rest within the subject but with outside forces that the subject
feels powerless to affect. It is also significant that Rotter recognized the strong cultural
component of locus of control. He recognizes that as Westerners we have created labels
or terms to help us process these sorts of cultural values but for the people that hold them
there may not be a word that exists because it is just part of who they are as people.
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External locus of control presents itself in many ways in PNG but one of the most
pervasive is the ideas of malevolent spirits and songuma or witchcraft. Franco Zocca and
Jack Urame describe the Western perceptions of Melanesian spiritual beliefs as,
The life of the islanders came across to them as being completely wrapped up with magical beliefs and practices. Magical beliefs and practices permeated all areas of life and were an ever-present reality in people’s economic, social, religious and political organizations. Their whole view and mindset was somehow based on non-empirical assumptions and prejudices. And this is still the case today. (Zocca and Urame 2008, 29)
In 1970 Gustav Jahoda conducted a study which first tested individual Ghanaian
students’ locus of control and then tested their belief in supernatural phenomena. There
was a significant positive correlation between those students with an external locus of
control and their belief in supernatural phenomena. In 1973 Rick Scheidt conducted the
same study with introductory psychology students at the University of Nebraska in an
attempt to confirm Jahoda’s conclusions. He too found that there was a strong positive
correlation between external locus of control and the belief in supernatural phenomena.
However, one must move in reverse order from these studies to conclude that
Papua New Guineans have an external locus of control. It is easy to find ample evidence
for a strong belief in supernatural phenomena in PNG (Schwarz and Service 2013; Zocca
2009; Zocca and Urame 2008; Hiebert, Shaw, and Tienou 2000, 154, 188) and it would
not seem to be a stretch to think that at least one reason for this is that, as a group, they
have a strong external locus of control.
Interplay Between High Power Distance and External Locus of Control
As with the previous interplay section the best examples rest within a country’s
popular culture. Tony Kotauga, the Director of PNGBTA, posted an elegant statement on
Facebook that illustrates the interplay between high power distance, external locus of
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control and relational orientation as they relate to the current Melanesian
cultural/economic system.
The Melanesian economy is not measured by kina or dollars. It is built on strong and healthy relationships. Our ancestors survived over 100s of years without modern monetary systems. In fact, I grew up knowing that my uncle's garden is my garden. I saw my tribesmen and community go fishing, gardening, hunting and building houses together. Whatever they brought from gathering, they shared. I saw my mum do mumu with other women in the village, they would often exchange cooked food when the mumu was ready. When a fight broke out, they fought together and reconciled together. If my family lacked something, we walked over to another family member to seek help. The Kula system was introduced as a means to make peace with neighboring villagers and islands. It was also introduced to share resources and friendship. Our economy was based on relationship and reciprocity. Nobody valued our society as poor or one lacking services and goods until the dollar and kina was introduced. We are now classified as one of the poorest and most corrupt nations in the world according to the classifications of those who use the dollar and kina. Just because my uncle in the village does not have a kina in his hands, he has been used as a yard stick to measure the status of my beloved country. The data and innocent photos are used as a rationale to make millions for people that like playing with numbers and statistics. Who introduced the kina and dollar? Who introduced materialistic wealth? Who introduced individualism? This not our life, our wealth is based on our beloved cultural system that God gave us. We were introduced to a foreign economic system that is not ours. We need to make dollars and kina serve our cultural values and not the opposite. Over to you brethren that are entering the political leadership arena in 2017. This is my small insight. (Kotauga 2017)
Even though Kotagua is the leader of a large Bible Translation organization in
PNG and he sees and understands the problems he and his countrymen are facing he feels
unable to effect change in their situation. He understands that these outside forces have
affected the financial situation of the country and the way that PNG is perceived on a
global level, he sees these things though his external locus of control and feels powerless
to change them. His natural response is to look to those in authority over the country and
ask them to protect him and his way of life from this outside threat. Kotagua and Vila
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have very similar expectations/approaches to their leaders, expecting protection, like a
loving father might provide. He expects that not only will these political leaders be able
to affect change they will do so with his cultural group’s best interests in mind.
Conclusion
This chapter is unique because I didn’t find power distance and locus of control
when I originally wrote subproblem 1. I recognized the interaction between the two while
I was doing data analysis of my Phase 1 research. I returned to my subproblem 1 research
task in order to discover more about these cultural factors from the literature.
I believe that I did not see this cultural value to start with because it did not exist
in the literature in this particular format. The individual cultural values of power distance
and locus of control do exist in the literature and that is reflected in the discussion in this
chapter but I had to move outside of the academic literature to find specific examples of
how the two interact. That is the reason this chapter fused academic discussion on these
cultural values with examples from popular culture.
People enter into relationships with certain assumptions that may not even be
recognized by the person. Many of those assumptions are centered around cultural values.
We want people to behave in ways that meet our cultural expectations and when they
don’t we are often left frustrated and confused. Western expatriates fall into the low
power distance/internal locus of control quadrant of the Power Grid in Figure 1 while
Papua New Guineans fall into the high power distance/external locus of control quadrant
(see Figure 1 p. 53).
When Western funders enter into relationship with Papua New Guinean language
programs they generally come with a set of Western cultural assumption on things like
communication with people at different levels, finances, reporting and equality in the
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partnership that aren’t shared by the Papua New Guinean counterparts. It is my desire
that this research will help build cross cultural understanding in these critical areas.
One of the real difficulties in taking on a subject like cultural factors that affect
language program planning and management is that these cultural factors do not operate
in a vacuum. They push and pull at each other as they interact to form a complicated
cultural web that shapes us and forms us into who we are as cultural groups. This chapter
outlined a single interaction, that of power distance and locus of control. But even this
simple examination touched on how the other cultural factors examined in this part push
and pull at these two. Chapter 7 will give a more practical explanation of how I
recognized these cultural factors and what they mean in Western and Papua New
Guinean cultures. Chapters 9 and 11 will explain how they shaped the new program
planning process and some broader applications for Bible translation in Melanesia.
Summary
Section II of this paper has focused on research subproblem 1: Examine the
missiological, anthropological and linguistic literature to discover cultural differences in
Western and Melanesian cultures that might affect language program planning. My initial
survey of the academic literature turned up three cultural factors likely to affect language
program planning: monochronic and polychronic orientation, linear and nonlinear
cognitive processing and production and relational orientation. These factors were well
documented, and it was obvious that they were going to be major contributors in
constructing a culturally appropriate language program planning model. My Phase 1
research was designed to test these factors and to verify the data that was present in the
data.
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After my Phase 1 research and data analysis was finished I returned to the
academic literature to examine a fourth cultural factor that was present in the data: power
distance/ locus of control. I returned to the subproblem 1 to search for this factor in the
literature. Though the individual components that make-up the power grid were in the
literature there was very little written about their interaction. I searched further and found
evidence in more popular sources. The rest of my research has provided more evidence
that this is an important cultural factor in the language program planning process. For this
reason, I believe that more research needs to be done in this area.
The other significant thing that I learned in this process was there is fairly wide
agreement that cultural factors affect how people approach the tasks like Bible
Translation and language program planning but there has been very little action taken to
facilitate alternate culturally appropriate models. Westerners were the original people do
the bulk of this work and they develop the methods. There has been a global shift towards
Mother Tongue Translators, but the tools have stayed the same. This literature review
made it obvious that there is a need for this research and a need for continued changes in
the way Bible translation is approached.
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Part III
Phase 1 and 2 Data Analysis
Part III is about data analysis for Phase 1 and 2 research. Phase 1 of this research
project is designed to test the cultural factors identified in the literature review done in
the previous three chapters. Phase 1 data analysis will be done in Chapters 6 and 7.
Phase 2 of this research project has 3 steps. First, to run a Results Base
Management (RBM) program planning course, deconstruct it and identify points that
could be done in a more culturally appropriate way. This course will be identified as the
“construction course”. Second, to use the data collected from the construction course to
write a new culturally appropriate course. This course will be referred to as the “test
course”. Finally, to run the test course and collect data about its value.
Step 1 of the Phase 2 research will be addressed in Chapter 8 of this paper and
will satisfy research subproblem 3. Step 2 of the Phase 2 research will be addressed in
Chapter 9 and will satisfy research subproblem 4: Apply the data and insights from the
analysis of the RBM language program planning workshop to construct a MPPM course
to complete the Phase 2 research.
The following four chapters are an earnest attempt to give a voice to these faithful
men and women of God who have been so open with their thoughts and feelings
throughout my research. It is my intent that by putting their voices front and center in
these chapters the reader is able to see their cultures in a clearer way and understand the
daily struggles they all have operating outside of their cultural norms. I also hope their
voices will make the need of culturally appropriate tools more obvious as well.
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Chapter 6
Time and Cognitive Processing
Time and cognitive processing are the two most clear cultural divides between
Western Expatriate translators and their Papua New Guinean counterparts. The gap is so
great that often the two groups are not even talking about the same thing when they talk
about time and how they think. This chapter will demonstrate how wide the gulf is
between the two and will seek to illustrate some of the real challenges that a single
translation method that does not take these cultural differences seriously can cause.
Western Expatriate Verses Melanesian Conceptualization of Time
Over the three plus years of this study, I have talked to countless seasoned
missionaries working in PNG about the cultural factors that have been identified in my
research and none seems more culturally entrenched and vexing than that of time.
The most straight forward example of how different the two groups are in relation
to time is the results from the Phase 1 card sort related to time. Figure 3 shows the five
pictures used in the time card sort. The numbers on either side of the pictures represent
the average order of importance for each group, #1 being the most important and #5
being the least.
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Figure 3: Average Order of Importance for the Time Card Sort
As illustrated the two groups have nearly opposite cultural values surrounding
time. But even these pictures and rankings don’t do justice to the actual distance between
the groups. The following quotation from WE 2 describes why he put the cards in the
order he did. It is worth noting what he says about card D, the second card from the
bottom in Figure 3.
To be honest this (A) is the only one that fits with how my culture views time. This guy is looking at his watch. He is obviously aware of what time it is. He is trying to make sure that he gets to somewhere on time, it is important to him. I think that fits with our culture. The two pictures with the buses (B and D) they are different, but they are still buses and when I think of riding on a bus it takes forever, it is very inefficient. I
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mean if you want to get anywhere in America in a good amount of time you don’t take a bus you take a car. Because the buses are so slow. They keep stopping and stopping. To me it is a really inefficient way of transport. It is inexpensive, that’s the benefit of it. Looking at both these buses I thought, “Yuck, I wouldn’t want to be in that situation.” However, there is a difference in one picture (B) people are waiting in a line, an orderly line to get on. In the other picture(D), there is just all of these people swarming to get in there is no order at all to it. I am not sure if that speaks to the way I view time or the way I view order. I don’t like the one where they are swarming, it seems very stressful. If I was in that crowd it would be very stressful not knowing if I was going to get on or not getting jostled and pushed, I wouldn’t like that. Whereas this one is very orderly, you know where you stand. You don’t have to worry about losing your spot, you are in a line. Not sure how those relate to time but just looking at the pictures, I definitely prefer the one where they are waiting in a line. But I didn’t really prefer either because they are both taking buses. (WE 2)
In this statement, the subject shows two key components of his monochronic
cultural value. The first is extreme reliance on time and the need to be punctual and the
second is the need for order, in this case for there to be an orderly line and for him to
know his place in it. This same order motif comes up in his answer throughout the Phase
1 interviews.
WE 1 puts a slightly different spin on his explanation of the time card sort. He
voices his frustration with his Papua New Guinean coworkers’ use of time and lack of
urgency.
Well, the thing that comes to my mind, which is not exactly the way you wanted the question answered is, the incredible frustration of working with people who find this (tapping on card D) the normal way of planning but having a great implication to our work. If you only have half of the people there you don’t have a quorum and you have to adjourn until next month when you can have the meeting then. Then time fritters away and if we can’t get to TTC this year well then, we will just… I am in the middle of that right now with a couple of people. We had this plan, I warned them. I said, “This plan is very very ambitious, and you guys are going to have to translate while I am away, and you are going to have to give it to the one brother who has a computer and printer who can type it in from May to September and it wasn’t that had of a translation task. So, we could do a village check and I will be back by the end of November and I will be able to do the advisor check. Well, one of the guys went to
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Moresby for 3 months, well it was longer than that. Now here we are 2 people have done the translation portion of their assignment, but nobody is anywhere near the consultant check. (WE 1)
These sorts of frustrations are common for both the Western Expatriate and the
Papua New Guinean MTT. Most people bring their cultural expectations into these sorts
of relationships and when their expectations are not meet they generally go to the
assumption that the cultural system is broken. In this case WE 1 is expecting a
monochronic production oriented approach to the work of Bible translation but what he
receives is a polychronic relational response.
Another example of this is WE 22’s description of card D, “This is the one that
represents more chaos, the bus leaves when it is full and there is no order in how it runs,
there is no time table” (WE 22). Card D is a picture of people getting on a bus in PNG.
The bus system in PNG works well but because it does not operate in a way that meets
the Expat participants’ expectations it is seen as chaos. The word “chaos” was used by
many of the Western Expatriate participants to describe this card. Often the system is not
broken it just operates differently than expected. The natural response is frustration on his
part. He must now make a decision about how he wants to handle this frustration and
how he will respond.
As I mentioned in the introduction to this section sometimes the two cultures are
so far apart that when I talk with them about cultural factors that influence their work the
two groups are not talking about the same thing. This is one of those cases. When asked
to explain the way they ordered the cards for the time card sort the way they did, nearly
every Papua New Guinean participant gave me answers like these to preface their
explanation of how they ordered their cards: “When white men came we realized what
time was. Before that we didn’t have any idea” (PNG 8), “We don’t have white man
time. We just go when we want. We don’t really even think about time” (PNG 16) and
“We don’t know the time. When I lived in the village I didn’t know what time was”
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(PNG 13). What these people are talking about is the Western monochronic
conceptualization of time.
It isn’t that they don’t have any concept of time or that they lived in a time
vacuum up until the arrival of Westerners. It was more that they think about time in a
completely different way.
One of the more revealing statements from all of the Phase 1 interviews was,
“This one is a little difficult for me because we don’t really think much about time. If you
talk to Australians and Americans they say, ‘Time is money.’ Maybe our people would
say, ‘Time is people.’ Because if you don’t spend time with people, people will say you
are a bad person” (PNG 1). From his perspective Westerners equate time with money.
One only needs to look at all of the time idioms that revolve around financial terms:
spend time, buying time, saving time, the list goes on and on. For the Westerner time is
valuable and precious and must be treated accordingly. This is a big reason being on time
is so important, if you are not you are wasting a valuable resource that belongs to the
person you are meeting. From the Melanesian perspective, the only real value in time is
the ability to spend it building and maintaining relationships. If you hurry around worried
about every minute of your day and forget about the relationships you have you will
likely be seen as a bad person.
Another interesting component of the polychronic cultural orientation of
Melanesians is the “chaos” of the bus picture (D). PNG 10 had this to say, “We can’t stay
in a line, it is a race to get on the bus every time” (PNG 10). This statement is a real
testament to how deep seated polychronic time orientation is in Melanesian culture. I also
did a series of vignettes with the participants. Vignette 1 (see Appendix A) asked about
what the participant would do if they went to a hardware store and it was full of
customers. Every Papua New Guinean gave an answer like this, “If I know someone
working in the store I would go to him and ask him to be served first because I know him
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very well. ‘Please, can I be served first?” (PNG 4). This statement also reflects the Papua
New Guineans’ strong preference of relationship over production that will be discussed
further in the next chapter.
These are just a few examples from my research of the deep divide between
Western monochronic and Papua New Guinean polychronic time orientation. This quote
from Hall bears repeating, “Because time is a core system of all cultures, and because
culture plays such a prominent role in the understanding of time as a cultural system, it is
virtually impossible to separate time from culture at some levels” (Hall 1983, 3). If this is
true, and I believe it is, then it should be of little surprise that these two cultures, that are
so far apart in terms of time orientation, would struggle so mightily when they interact
with each other. It is not all doom and gloom however, both sides of this discussion have
a strong desire to work with each other and both are making strong efforts to overcome
these sorts of cultural hurdles. One needs to look no further than this research and the
support that it is garnering from both sides to know that there is a real will to see
Melanesian MTTs succeed on their own terms with the support of Western Expatriates.
Lines and Circles
As I have mentioned previously there were two main reasons I started these
studies. The first was the general reaction in the end of course feedback reports we
received in our Program Planning workshop. The second was a theoretical paper written
by one of my colleagues, Phil King, “Ladders and Wheels: Comparing Metaphors for
Bible Translation in The Context of Sustainability” (2018). When I began to look at them
together I realized we had been trying to fit a square cultural peg in a round hole and it
set me on this journey.
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King’s ladders and wheels metaphor is an extremely powerful one that fits the
current conversation well (King 2018). This article in combination with one from Dan
Shaw about cognitive processing (Shaw 2010) made up the backbone of this portion of
my research. There was very little published data about the cultural factors involved in
this research especially in regard to Papua New Guineans. As a result, the Phase 1 portion
of my research was largely an effort to check my own cultural observations and build a
data set.
Again, the easiest way for me to demonstrate the difference in the two groups is
with a picture of the cards and the two groups rankings of them, #1 being most important
and #5 being the least.
Figure 4: Average Order of Importance for Cognitive Processing Card Sort
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There are several interesting things to note about this card sort. Two thirds of the
Western expatriates put card B as their first choice. When they were asked to explain the
order in which they placed the cards most of the people who placed B first said
something like, “This one (B) is linear and it is going somewhere” (WE 7) or “This card
(B) shows a clear starting point and a clear direction. Though, I like this card (A) and it
works almost as well it does not have the arrow at the end to show movement” (WE 16).
They all liked the idea of the points in a straight line moving in a clear direction. For the
Papua New Guinean group, cards A and B were the least important and the participants
said things like, “What do I say about this, we don’t have this in our culture” (PNG 5).
One way to talk about cognitive processing is to talk about how people view the
passing of time. This is different than the earlier monochronic/polychronic discussion in
that this is a broader view of time and how it is thought about. The Westerner thinks
about time as one event happening after another in an ordered fashion like a time line.
Another way to think about it is an arrow shot down range, passing trees (events) as it
goes, depicted in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Western Expatriate Linear Cognitive Processing Model
WE 2 frames his linear processing in terms of his translation work, “I just can’t
help thinking in terms of goals, of steps. What’s the next step? What’s the next step? As
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soon as we get Luke and Acts dedicated what is the next book we are going to finish? We
are going to be thinking about that. That is just the way I think” (2017).
Melanesians think about time in a completely different way. As was stated earlier,
they would start discussions about time with some sort of statement that time doesn’t
exist in the village or that people really didn’t know what time was before Westerners
arrived. As I also stated before, what they were really talking about was this linear
Western conceptualization of time. When they talked more about how they thought about
time and processed information it became clear to me that they processed in cycles.
When Westerners hear a statement like this it carries some very negative connotations.
We use phrases like talking in circles or cyclical reasoning in very negative ways. I do
not mean what I am proposing here should be seen as negative. It is simply something
wholly different. A good picture of this is to think about a wheel rolling down a road. The
wheel is moving in a direction towards a destination or goal. But if you think about the
motion of the wheel as it moves you get the picture of a spiral. The line crosses over itself
as it moves forward and so the order of events is of little consequence as they may be
happening at the same time illustrated in Figure 6. This tracks closely with King’s
Ladders and Wheels metaphor (King 2018).
Figure 6: Melanesian Cyclical Cognitive Processing Model
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In their Phase 1 interview PNG 2 and 3 had this discussion related to planning and
how people think in the village,
PNG 3: For us, there are people who plan for things that are coming. For example, if there is someone who has died, and they look forward to the feasts of death and for a bride price that is coming ahead, and everyone works toward that goal. In our calendar there are events, everyone is looking forward to that and when it is done there is another thing again to look forward to. People prepare themselves for it (the next thing). There are other activities that come annually like a circle…They are in the system when those events occur in the church calendar and the village calendar as well. Especially, the large church we have there, the Catholic Church, they have these special feasts that the people in the community look forward to, especially the feast of Corpus Christi and stuff like that. They move from our village to another village and that brings everyone together to a certain village to celebrate together. The next year it is in another village and they look forward to it.
PNG 2: It is like this one about the feasts and all that, looking forward and preparing ahead. Then after the feast the people have to prepare a new garden. They have to do gardening and grow food, when the food is ready look forward to a new feast again it goes in a circle like that.
This idea of cycles is critically important to understanding Melanesian cognitive
processing. Most life events in the village operate on cycles and as you can see from the
quotation, there are a number of cycles in the life of a Melanesian. Figure 6 only
represents one of these cycles. In reality, there may be five or ten of these cycles that
overlap in the average Papua New Guinean’s life. So, the events in any one cycle over lap
and the cycles overlap as well. For Westerner’s who think in a linear way these sorts of
overlapping cycles laid on top of one another become impossible to sort out very quickly
but for the Melanesian it is very simple because it is how they think.
The cognitive processing differences in these two groups could not be more
pronounced. Modern Bible translation was born from the linear Western cognitive
paradigm of the last century. Bible translation theory should have shifted as missiological
understanding grew and the numbers of MTTs swelled in the first half of this century but
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sadly, practice still tracks closely with the old Western linear model. “New” models like
the Common Framework, have done very little to meet the MTT on their own cultural
terms. But instead have reinforced the Western linear model by dangling the funds that
MTTs so desperately need to operate their programs like the proverbial carrot.
My Phase 1 research in the area of cognitive processing has made it abundantly
clear that a change needs to be made for the sake of MTTs across the globe. In Papua
New Guinean, that change is underway. Phase 2 of my research begins to implement the
change process. There is a significant amount of data there to further support the need for
culturally appropriate structural change. There is also some good initial confirmation that
the changes being implemented are on the right path. This data will receive a full
discussion in Chapter 8.
Conclusion
My Phase 1 research surrounding research subproblem 2: Investigate the cultural
values and biases of Western and Papua New Guinean Bible translators, using card sort,
vignettes, focus groups and ethnographic interviews to discover what cultural factors
might affect language program planning, and analyze the impact of their similarities and
differences for language program planning, confirmed many of the conclusions I drew
from the academic literature regarding time and cognitive processing. Chief among these
is that Westerners have a monochronic view of time and Melanesians have a polychronic
view of time. As I have demonstrated in this chapter these different understandings of
time cause people to approach life and work in very different ways. These different
approaches to time must be understood and taken into consideration when thinking about
how people plan and constructing planning courses. Though it is much easier to suggest a
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one size fits all approach to planning the reality is if it is not culturally appropriate it is
likely the planning tool and the plan will not be used because it seems foreign.
The Phase 1 research also confirmed that Westerners use linear cognitive
processing while Melanesians use cyclical cognitive processing. The research further
demonstrated that these differing cultural values cause the subjects to operate differently
in real life situations. One clear example of this ties back into time orientation.
Westerners view time like a timeline, one event happening after another as time moves
forward. While Melanesians view time in a spiral. They see cycles in life happening all at
once ,overlapping in an intricate but understandable way. This has a dramatic impact on
how people plan. If we understand things happen on a line, in an “ordered” fashion then
we plan in a line for things to happen one after another. If we understand that time is
cyclical we plan for the over lapping cycles of life and we try to see how what we are
doing fits into those cycles. What this actually looks like for language program planning
will be fleshed out in Chapter 9.
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Chapter 7
Relational Orientation and Power Distance /Locus of Control
Every culture values people and how they relate to one another. However, not
every culture values these relationships in the same way. Likewise, how people lead and
the amount of control they feel they have is not universal. This chapter will seek to
demonstrate some of these differences in Western Expatriate and Papua New Guinean
cultures and point out some of the potential problems that they can cause.
The Cultural Tension Between Production and Relationship
One of the most difficult cultural tensions with Westerners for Papua New
Guineans to deal with is that of production verses relationship. Think back for a moment
to what PNG 1 said earlier about time, “This one is a little difficult for me because we
don’t really think much about time. If you talk to Australians and Americans they say,
‘Time is money.’ Maybe our people would say, ‘Time is people.’ Because if you don’t
spend time with people, people will say you are a bad person” (PNG 1), which also
speaks to the topic of production verses relationship. The idea that someone would value
producing money over spending time with people, in the eyes of his community, makes
them a bad person. It is often said that relationships drive every facet of life in PNG and
from my observations I believe that it is true.
Figure 7, uses the card sort data for production verses relational orientation to
rank the most important values for each group. It is immediately obvious from this figure
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Westerners value production heavily over relationship and Papua New Guineans are just
the opposite.
Figure 7: Average Order of Importance for Production Versus Relationship Card Sort
One of the interesting differences in the Papua New Guinean side of the card sort
order is they preferred card D over card E. I assumed that card E would be the preferred
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number 1 for the Papua New Guinean group. When asked to talk about the way he
ordered his cards PNG 1 said this about cards D and E,
I put this one first (D). The two guys are talking and smiling. They must be co-workers, or friends, or from the same language group, or related. They have a friendship; they have built a close friendship. They are smiling at each other and they are happy. In my culture, this type of relationship between these two men makes this sort of big gathering (E) possible. (PNG 1)
What I failed to see was they were more interested in the close personal
relationships than the more distant, larger group relationships. Similar statements were
made by most of the participants who put D as their top choice.
Vignette 2 (see Appendix A) put the participant in the place of a man who came
from a long way to get a blanket for himself in town. It is late in the afternoon when he
arrives and as he is rushing to get to the store before it closes he sees his uncle. The
participants are asked what they would do. PNG 12 responded like this:
I tell you it is the culture. I would stop and talk with my uncle. That would be the honorable thing for me to do. Because, even in our culture the uncle is very, very important. So, I would not just say, “Oh, I am rushing to the shops, so I will see you later.” I would stop with him and talk and if I am late then I’ll just go and spend the night with someone, possibly my uncle. I would let him know after the conversation that I was going to go buy a blanket but then we met so I will go and do it tomorrow. (PNG 12)
This participant’s response was pretty typical of the Papua New Guineans. None
of them said they would try to avoid the uncle or even try to cut the conversation short.
They were all willing, like PNG 12, to not immediately achieve their goal for the sake of
the relationship. For the Westerners, the goal was the highest priority. Several of the
Westerners even went so far as to avoid the uncle so that they could achieve their goal.
WE 3 said, “I think about this relative, I would probably try to avoid him and try to get
the blanket. I would do as much as possible to avoid him, so he wouldn’t see me” (WE
3). Many of the Papua New Guinean participants were willing to spend the night in town
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for the sake of the relationship with the uncle while none of the Western Expatriates
offered that response.
Cultural differences can build into frustration and even open conflict when
someone in the relationship does not feel their cultural needs are being met. WE 2
expressed his frustration with his Papua New Guinean coworkers’ lack of production
orientation in his ethnographic interview,
I remember some days when people didn’t show up thinking, “Why am I even out here. We went through all this work to work on translation and we are not getting any translation done.” And then I remember thinking through all my anthropology classes and all that, “You should just get out and hangout with the people and build relationships. That’s really valuable too.” So, I am like, “Yeah, ok, fine I will just go wander around the village and talk with people.” Then I still feel like I am not getting any work done.
So, for me a good village stay is that we get a lot of translation done. If I look back and say, “Wow, we got 20 chapters done this month” I am just really happy. But if for whatever reason, someone in the village dies ok, which is, of course, really sad. But the whole village just shuts down, probably for like four days. They have all the haus kri (extended time of receiving family and friends) for mourning, they have the church services, people come from all over the area and they mourn together. So, if something like that happens I know that nothing will get done for the next week and it gets really frustrating. Part of my brain knows, “hey, this is really important, someone died, and they are grieving.” I am not going to say, “come on let’s work, this guy has just died, come on let’s work.” But I think because we are not out in the village all the time and we go out for like six weeks or eight weeks. I feel like I have this limited amount of time and I want to make the most of it. I really want to take advantage of every day.
So, if I come back from those six weeks and I haven’t gotten much done I feel like that was a waste, you know. We just spent $2000 on the helicopter and all the kids’ schooling arranged and all that stuff and I only got three chapters done. “Maybe I shouldn’t even bother going,” that is how I feel sometimes. I struggle with that and I keep trying to not be like that because I know that that is not a healthy way to look at it, but it is really hard not to look at it that way. (WE 2)
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One of the really telling parts of this quote was in the first section when he was
talking about being frustrated, thinking back to his anthropology classes and realizing he
should go out and be relational. He has examined his situation, processed it, realized
where the problem was and even devised a solution. But, his cultural tendencies toward
production are so strong that he was still haunted by an uneasy feeling he was not doing
what was right.
For a Papua New Guinean, even when production is the goal, getting something
purchased in a hardware store or business done at a government office, the focus of the
interaction is on the relationship with the person working there. The business happens as
a result of the relationship. PNG 2 and 3 had this discussion during the vignettes portion
of their Phase 1 interview:
PNG 3: Another thing, when we go to a place like the hardware, because those are the sort of stores that we as village people go to, often we cultivate a relationship, especially since we are buai (beetle nut) people and buai is something that binds people together, the sharing of buai. We make sure that the salesman who is helping us at the moment or is helping a wantok (someone who is from the same language group or close relation) purchase his roofing iron or stuff like that, “hey here is some buai, chew.” And get to know them. When it is our turn he will say, “oh you are here?” and we will say, “yeah we are here for this.” “oh, no worries.” And he runs about and gets our order for us. We are very privileged in that we have buai. That makes a lot of things much easier for us.
PNG 2: Everything!
PNG 3: Especially with government office too. Yea, that happens a lot. (PNG 2 and 3)
This sort of relational exchange interaction was outlined well by Lise Dobrin
(2008) and discussed more fully in Chapter 3 of this paper. In summary, I should just say
that this sort of exchange of gifts, especially food, buai or small amounts of money, is a
very common way for Papua New Guineans to affirm or strengthen relationships. Every
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Phase 1 Papua New Guinean Participant talked about these sorts of exchanges and their
part in building reciprocal relationships.
None of the Western Expatriates had the same relational responses. The second
question in Vignette 1 (see Appendix A) was, “If you saw someone you knew working at
the counter (at a busy hardware store) what would you do?” The response from PNG 2
and 3 above was given even before this question was asked. While the expatriates gave
an answer like this, “I would try to catch his eye. I would not go to the front and say, ‘Hi
John, can you help me?’ when I knew there were 10 or 15 other people waiting. That
would not be appropriate” (WE 22). Or like this, “if that person chose to approach me I
think it would be a bit ok. But I still wouldn’t pass the line and approach that person
actively because those other people are as important as I am” (WE 10).
In the view of both of these Westerners the monochronic social norm for queuing
was the best way to achieve their production goal. The relationship that was already
present was in some ways tempting but it was not an acceptable approach. While the
Papua New Guineans fostered relationships to gain these sorts of advantages. What is not
immediately apparent from these statements is that the Papua New Guineans would have
an expectation of reciprocity. This means that if they saw this person in a setting where
they could be of assistance or were approached by this person to help them there would
be some expectation that they would help.
As I have said several times throughout this paper these cultural factors do not
stand on their own. As you can see from the example above they are affected by other
cultural factors that push and pull them closer to the center of the cultural continuum or to
the extremes.
The question now becomes: What do these two opposing cultural views about
relationships and production have to do with Language Program Planning and the broader
field of Language Program Management? Neither one of these cultural emphases are
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right or wrong they are simply different and require different approaches to Language
Program Planning and Management. One of the key things I hope has become clear from
previous chapters is language program planning and management up until recently have
been largely based on Western cultural models. I do not fault the people working in these
areas because these were their target audiences and the majority of people working in
these areas until relatively recently. What I am proposing here and in the rest of this
paper is that Papua New Guinean translators need and deserve program planning and
management models that fit their cultural paradigm and work well for them. Further I
would propose that international funders be flexible to these models and gracious to the
cultures they are designed for.
Where Does the Power Lie?
This section is unique from the rest of this chapter as well as the previous chapter
for several reasons. First and foremost is that this cultural factor did not appear in the
literature and therefore I did not test for it. I gave the participants a great deal of open
ended questions and lots of space for them to explain their answers because I felt that
there were likely unidentified cultural factors that were not in the literature. As I analyzed
the data I began to realize that there was another cultural factor at play. Later, it became
apparent that what I originally identified as a single factor was actually two factors
interacting. Eventually, I identified them as Power Distance and Locus of Control.
I returned to the literature review section and explored the themes associated with
these cultural factors. Though the interaction between these two cultural factors was not
explicitly outlined in the literature I was able to find the components were. The
components are discussed in detail in Chapter 5 and some examples of their interaction in
popular culture are given.
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Once I became aware of these cultural factors I felt that it was necessary to
develop some way to talk about the interplay between the factors more effectively. Being
familiar with the work of Lingenfelter and Douglas in the area of Grid and Group
(Lingenfelter 1998; Douglas 1982), I developed a similar four quadrant diagram. This
diagram can be seen in Figure 1 in Chapter 5. For the sake of brevity and simplicity I
have numbered each quadrant and I will refer to them by their numbers going forward.
Figure 8 is included to remind the reader about the cultural factors and their
corresponding grid numbers.
Figure 8: The Power Grid with Quadrant Numbers
Locus of Control
Power
Distance
Internal External
High
Low
High Power Distance/ External Locus of Control 1-
Low Power Distance/ External Locus of Control 2- Low Power Distance/
Internal Locus of Control 3-
High Power Distance/ Internal Locus of Control 4-
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I made a theoretical argument in Chapter 5 that placed Papua New Guinean
Participants in quadrant 1 and Western Expatriate Participants in quadrant 3. This chapter
seeks to further that argument by making the case for these placements with concrete
responses from the research participants from these groups. I will further draw out a
couple of application points as a result of these placements.
The first thing that tipped me off that there was another cultural factor at play here
was a response that I saw multiple times from the Papua New Guinean participants to the
Vignette 2 (see Appendix A). In this story a man is trying very hard to get to town to
replace his old tattered blanket. He runs into various obstacles along the way, the last of
which is an uncle he encounters on the street just in front of the store that is about to
close. The first question I asked each of them was, “If you were this man what would you
do?”. They all had very good stories and ideas about how to honor the uncle in this
situation. Most of their stories ended with them not getting the blanket because they felt it
necessary to honor the uncle. Most of the participants said they would find somewhere to
stay the night in town and return to the store the next day to get the blanket. To close their
story, they would say something like, “So, the way I see things, for example, if that
accident happened and I arrive late and the store is about to close and then I see an uncle,
I see things like, ‘this day is not meant for me to buy a blanket. There is always
tomorrow.’ Tomorrow will be a better day for me to get the blanket” (PNG 3). Another
participant used the words, “it was just not meant to be” (PNG 14) in the summation of
his answer.
The Western Expatriates, on the other hand, all had answers for what would
happen. Every one of them quickly came up with a plan to get the blanket. As was
mentioned earlier in this chapter their relationship with the uncle was not the primary
concern, they were driven by completing the task. Control of the situation was firmly
centered within themselves. WE 2 responded like this,
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Alright, this is easy I would probably wave at my uncle and say, ‘Hey, I have to go do something first, but I will be back in a little bit and then we can talk. But I have to get to the store.’ I wouldn’t stop to talk with him because the whole reason I am going is this blanket. If I stop and talk with him, I can’t get the blanket. It would be like what was the point. (WE 2)
As I reflected on the difference in reaction between the two groups I realized that
this was a Locus of Control issue. The Papua New Guineans largely felt helpless to
control their situation and so they didn’t try. They just went with the events as they arose
and decided to complete their tasks at a later time. The Western Expatriates, on the other
hand, saw this as an easy problem they could fix. Control in this situation was firmly
rooted within themselves and they felt capable of affecting change.
As I continued to analyze the data it became apparent that there was another
cultural factor working closely with Locus of Control. I started to look back over the data
and saw a pattern emerge around power exchanges. There was a disconnect in how the
Western expatriates and the Papua New Guinean translators dealt with people or systems
they perceived to be in power/authority over them.
All of the Western expatriate participants’ countries of origin fall in the bottom
quarter of Hofstede’s power distance rankings (2010, Kindle Location 1143). This means
that this group does not feel that there is a great deal of distance between themselves and
those in authority over them. One way that this is born out is that they feel that they have
the right to say no to those in authority if they have good reason. WE 10 made the
following remarks during the focus group interview when the discussion turned to
publication requirements,
As I have been there alone with a BTA team I have to choose to ignore some of the requirements. I am like, ‘too bad.’ It’s all good stuff but I cannot duplicate myself. New people throw in these brand new beautiful ideas with which we could add to the program but, hmmm, maybe not. (WE 10)
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Though she saw the value in the requirements, she felt she was under enough
stress (already doing enough) and so she simply refused to do the additional papers that
were required of her. It was not malicious or mean spirited. She simply felt she had the
freedom to not do what was required of her. This was a fairly common refrain from the
rest of the Western expatriate participants. When she spoke up about not doing the papers
the other participants affirmed her in refusing to write the papers and some admitted to
similar behaviors. They responded to what they felt were unreasonable requests in a low
power distance way by refusing to do the excess work.
The Papua New Guinean Participants on the other hand didn’t feel the same sort
of freedom to refuse burdensome requests by superiors. They feel a strong obligation to
do everything that is asked of them. They don’t feel they have the same freedom to say
no or chose their own path. In their focus group interviews I asked the Papua New
Guinean translators if they ever translated in different ways other than the process they all
described to me. PNG 14 answered, “We can’t change the process. We have to follow the
steps as they are given, or it won’t turn out right… If I do what I think it won’t turnout
well. We have to follow the process” (PNG 14). PNG 6 answered the question, “People
in the community are watching us. If we tried to do something different they would say,
‘No, you have to follow the process the white men made for it to come out right” (PNG
6). The other people in the discussion all agreed with these men as they made these
statements. These participants saw the translation process they use as something given to
them by those in authority, Western expatriates. So, any attempt to do something
different would be going against the people they perceive to be in authority over them.
What is interesting about these two cultural factors is they both deal with power
issues. Locus of Control deals with personal power and where you believe it resides.
Power Distance deals with group power and who holds it.
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Because I did not find these power issues in my initial review of the literature I
was not able to test for these factors in a quantitative way. This means the two groups
cannot be placed precisely on the Power Grid. However, there is sufficient qualitative
data to place them in quadrants. The Papua New Guinean participants’ responses in
multiple interviews gave me high confidence to place them in the High Power Distance/
External Locus of Control Quadrant 1. While the Western expatriates’ responses along
with Hofstede’s Power Distance scores allowed me to confidently place them in the Low
Power Distance/ Internal Locus of Control Quadrant 3.
Quadrants 1 and 3 are diagonal from each other on the Power Grid. This means
that they do not have either of these cultural factors in common and are as distant from
one another as possible. It also means that since they do not share any traits they have to
go the furthest to find common ground. However, it does not mean that the gap is
insurmountable. Both groups told stories of how God brought them together with people
from the other group to make amazing things happen. WE 3 told the following story
about God adding Papua New Guinean members to their translation team and the work
flourishing,
I just remembered one thing that happened that really helped the translation program. Our main translator, I guess he was in the village by himself and we were talking to him on the radio. While he was waiting, he overheard another translation team, probably the Smiths, talking about their team of fifteen translators and how well it is working for them. He just decided, “Well that is what we need.” He put out a call in the church service, the Catholic service, “we need more translators.” I am sure he gave a good speech, but I think it was God’s timing as well. The right people came, and it was a big spur to the program. (WE 3)
PNG 3 gave a very heartfelt account of what interacting with Westerners means to him
and to other MTTs who have the opportunity to attend classes at PILAT,
From all of these pictures you can see relationships, especially interracial relationships. For me and PNG 2, and I think I can say that for all the other translators who come to this center, this is the only chance
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they have to mix up with white skins. Back in the village we don’t really get a chance to talk with people from different races. So, this is a good opportunity and it really opens up our minds. (PNG 3)
All of my Phase 1 research was designed to identify and test cultural factors that
affect how people approach Bible translation. When one looks at the data set from this
first Phase it is truly striking how different these two groups are culturally. It can also
seem a bit daunting to try and figure out how the shared goal of Bible translation can be
carried out with these two groups partnering together. The good news is that they have
been working together for many years and have found ways to work through their
differences. Unfortunately, the structures of Bible translation have remained mostly
Western despite the growing number of MTTs. If our end goal is truly to see a Bible in
every language that wants one we must recognize that the number of expatriate
translators coming to work in remote areas is dwindling and the need is still very large.
People from these remote areas are willing to do the work themselves provided they can
be trained and given culturally appropriate tools to do the work. The training is
happening and expanding every year. It is now time to take a look at the tools the MTTs
use and adapt them to work in their cultures.
Conclusion
As I carried out the research subproblem 2 task: investigate the cultural values
and biases of Western and Papua New Guinean Bible translators, using card sort,
vignettes, focus groups and ethnographic interviews to discover what cultural factors
might affect language program planning, and analyze the impact of their similarities and
differences for language program planning, several interesting things became clear. The
first was that Westerners have an even higher value for production than I had anticipated
and seemed to be present in the literature. The second is that maintaining good
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relationships with others is the highest priority in Melanesian culture and this often
happens at the expense of the individual.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was the discovery of the power grid cultural
factors. The interaction between these two factors did not show up in the literature and I
was not intentionally testing for it, but it was a dominant theme especially in the vignettes
and ethnographic interviews where I had intentionally left space for the subjects to talk
freely and share from their experiences. I believe that this is one of the biggest successes
in understanding how differing values affect the Bible translation process.
I believe that relational versus production orientation and the interaction between
Power Distance and Locus of Control have an even greater impact on observable
behaviors than time and cognitive processing in the previous chapter. The impact of these
cultural values cannot be understated especially for Melanesian language programs that
are dealing with Western funders. Both groups have expectations, that are generally
unspoken, about how the other is going to operate in the areas of production and power.
When the partner does not perform as expected there can be a great deal of mistrust and
hurt feelings that lead to broken partnerships. I will speak to this more in later chapters.
For now, it is important to understand that there is a very large gap between the two
groups that often goes unrecognized.
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Chapter 8
Phase 2: In Search of a Culturally Appropriate Model
As I stated in the close of the last chapter, it is my firm belief that what is lacking
in Bible translation in Papua New Guinea is culturally appropriate translation structures. I
simply mean that the systems and processes that are currently being used were largely
constructed by Westerners for Westerners. MTTs deserve a translation system that is
designed for their cultural context and that works well for them.
Phase 1 of this research project took significant strides in discovering the cultural
factors that affect Bible translation and how Westerners and Papua New Guineans
approach these factors. If I had stopped after Phase 1 then there would have been no real
impact on the translation community of PNG. I would have fallen short of starting a
change movement within that community.
The goal of this project from the outset was to change how Bible translation was
approached in PNG and give MTTs structures that work well in their cultural framework.
This is a massive goal and one that was not going to be achieved in a single research
project. Sherwood Lingenfelter and Judith Lingenfelter encouraged me to narrow my
scope and take on something that was manageable and within my power to change. This
brought me back to PILAT’s failed Program Planning course. Fixing this course was well
with in my power to change and it is a good first step to the larger goal. If the planning
for language programs can be done in a culturally appropriate way, then the work that
leads out of the plan can be done that way as well.
The goal of this research then became twofold: to create a culturally appropriate
language program planning model and to create a course to teach the model. This double
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goal became the focus of Phase 2 of my research and research subproblems 3-5 (listed
below).
3. Conduct a Results Based Management (RBM) language program planning workshop followed by a controlled week of deconstruction and analysis in light of the findings from Phase 1 to discover what should be changed to make a culturally appropriate language program planning course with a select group of Western and Papua New Guinean participants.
4. Apply the data and insights from the analysis of the RBM language program planning workshop to construct a MPPM course to complete the Phase 2 research.
5. Conduct a controlled MPPM workshop to test if the changes made to the course would affect the likely use of program planning tools by the participants.
A Return to Results Based Management
I spent a great deal of time and energy looking for some culturally appropriate
language program planning model that was already in use, that we might adapt to fit our
context, with very little success. All the roads kept leading back to Results Based
Management (RBM). But, PILAT’s failed RBM Program Planning course had driven me
to this search in the first place and I did not want more of the same.
Thankfully, God is not limited by our biases. He had a plan for this course and He
was going to bring me along for the ride. In October 2017 I was at a complete loss as to
what I was going to do because I had been unable to find a Program Planning model that
I thought would be a suitable starting point. That same month I went to the PNGBTA
national conference in Lae, PNG. I had some brief conversations with Barry Borneman
(CEO of Wycliffe Australia) in the past and asked him if he would like to go to dinner.
While we were having dinner, he mentioned a Program Planning course he ran for SIL
Australia at the Kangaroo Grounds in Melbourne, Australia. I asked him to describe it to
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me. It quickly came out that it was based on RBM as well. I said something about it being
another RBM dead end.
He asked me what I meant, and I told him about our failed RBM course and my
belief that it was not culturally appropriate. He challenged me and started drawing his
course out on a napkin. It actually looked really good, I was shocked at what he was
describing as RBM. I invited him to come and run the course at PILAT with the
stipulations that I got to choose all of the participants and that we would take the whole
course apart the second week and put it back together to fit a Melanesian worldview. He
was happy with both of my stipulations and agreed to come and run the course.
I had some apprehension at this point because I thought I was moving us back
into the same thing we had just gotten out of. God quickly calmed my fears and set me to
preparing for the course.
I knew that I wanted almost all of the participants to be from PNGBTA and I
thought I had a pretty good idea of who they would be. God was working ahead of me, he
was moving new people into leadership positions in PNGBTA and the director of the
organization asked me to include them as their first leadership training. Again, I was
afraid that they would not be in a position to make the necessary input to shape the new
tool and course. The director explained why he wanted them to come, God settled my
spirit and I agreed to have them in the course provided they worked with experienced
translation teams from their regions. This meant we had to add another translation team.
In the end we had two people from the PNGBTA executive leadership team, four
PNGBTA Language Program Coordinators (over all language programs in a region of the
country), two leaders from the United Church, three translation teams with two members
each, the Scripture Use Coordinator for PNGBTA, the Consultant Coordinator for
PNGBTA, The head of SIL-PNG’s Anthropology Department, one of PILAT’s lead
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teachers and myself as participants. God had orchestrated a way to get all of the right
people in the room.
Now the course had to run. Barry had not given me much in the way of details
about what he was planning on teaching, so I just trusted that he knew what he was
doing. He arrived the day before the course was to start and we sat to talk about
expectations. Barry said he usually had a pretty good structure for the course, but he felt
God was leading him in a bit of a different direction. He said he was going to pay
attention to God and move in the directions God brought him. Again, this made me a
little nervous but if God was leading him then I was not going to stand in the way.
The following day the course began. Barry asked the students to lead a worship
time as they saw fit. It was a meaningful time of worship and then Barry moved to the
front of the class and the first words out of his mouth were, “Program Planning is about
people. It is not about filling in a sheet, it is about our relationship with others”. This was
the moment that I knew I could let go and let God do his thing. God was working in the
course through Barry and the participants to make something special for the people of
PNG.
The course ran for four days in that manner. Barry would come in the morning
and tell me what God had impressed on him to teach that day. The students led very
spirited and meaningful worship twice a day. Barry would teach on the subjects sharing
lots of personal stories and experiences. He would also have lots of interactive time for
the students to engage. The course ended on Friday, Barry spent the weekend with the
students and left on Monday.
I recorded all of the sessions and took a great deal of notes, but God really
impressed several things on my heart over the weekend as I reflected on what and how
Barry taught in this course. The first and probably most important was that I was wrong
about the main cause of the failure of our original RBM Program Planning course. I
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thought that the main cause of the failure was that RBM is so strongly Western and built
around Western cultural values that it had no chance of success with MTTs in PNG. I had
judged all RBM models on what we were running which was not fair. Thomas Marmor
and Eric Bartels wrote that organizations using RBM,
recognize that enduring change only takes place when local communities have set goals for themselves. They (these organizations) are willing to participate in local programs/projects that align with their own domains of experience. Several programs and projects may be necessary to bring about the communities’ desired changes or results. (2018, 116–17)
Presumably they believe that RBM facilitates these organizations to operate in this way. I
have had a number of conversations with various people since this course and they
generally believe this to be true.
As I reflected further on our course and version of RBM I began to realize that we
had a 55-page student manual for an eight-day course. The manual was full of technical
terms and jargon that are difficult for native English speakers to understand. We had
made program planning about filling out forms and forgotten about the relationships and
the people. We had made it unnecessarily complicated. It was not so much RBM’s fault
as our own. This is not to say that there were not cultural problems with Borneman’s
RBM model, there were, and I will address them in a later section of this chapter.
The second thing that God showed me was that this course and the activity of
program planning is not an academic exercise. We had made it into one and seemed to be
making it as difficult as possible. We had fallen into the trap that so many Westerners
before us had, “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle.” Paul Hiebert described this Western
cultural concept in his article by the same name. As Westerners, we believe that
everything fits into two boxes, the supernatural and the empirical and the boxes don’t
really overlap (Hiebert 1982, 41–44). A Papua New Guinean on the other hand sees no
such distinction. He or she believes that the supernatural and empirical realms are fully
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integrated and interact with each other constantly. By not recognizing this when we
create language program planning tools or courses we are continuing to commit the same
errors Hiebert points out in his article. By having regular times of worship and telling
stories about how God worked in different situations throughout the course Borneman
acknowledged the reality of the integration that the Papua New Guinean participants felt
and allowed them to work and process within their cultural framework.
Another major take away from the first week of this course was we need to be
very conscious about how we convey information. Our original Program Planning
workshop was very Western, very time bound, very linear and it conveyed information in
a Western lecture format. Barry’s approach was to tell a story about what the students
needed to learn and then begin to talk around the subject in a conversational way. He
used lots of visual aids and tried to keep the students engaged in the process as much as
possible.
Papua New Guineans often convey information through telling stories. This is
why they enjoyed Barry’s style so much because he told them stories about what they
were supposed to be learning and it was easy for them to get the important information
out of the story. They also have a different learning pattern than many Westerners. Papua
New Guineans learn by first watching (possibly several times). Then they will participate
with the instructor multiple times. Then they will do it themselves while the instructor
watches. Finally, they will do it on their own. As you can see this is a relational approach
to learning. Westerners want to be told once and then turned loose to do it on their own.
Our course was structured in this way too, we dumped information on the students and
then turned them loose to do the work. It was not a gradual process of people working
together to learn program planning.
Borneman talked to the students in stories, did exercises with them to emphasize
the points of the stories and then looked at the tool with them. Where he missed, he did
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not work on the tool itself sufficiently as a group and he did not ask them to work in
teams. I will talk more about this later in this chapter and in the section about course
revision and writing.
Perhaps most important, he kept the technical jargon and difficult words to a
minimum. Our original course was built around technical jargon that was difficult for
native English speakers to navigate. Barry emphasized that the words were not important.
He spoke in simple terms that were easy to understand and to work with.
I was worried going in to this section of the research that the new course would be
a disaster and we would be left with nothing. I was amazed when God showed up in some
ways we don’t normally see in our classes and did these remarkable things. I was very
inspired going into the revision week of the initial course and determined to incorporate
all of the things God was showing me through Barry and the participants.
Beyond Results Based Management
The previous section in this chapter outlines a number of successes through the
first week of the initial program planning course. It was not all smooth sailing and
culturally attuned. There was plenty of work to be done in the second week. As I
mentioned earlier God really showed me the importance of the participant led worship
time as I reflected on the first week and so we kept that as a key feature of the second
week as well.
This section will focus on the participants’ feedback from week one of the course.
Table 8 shows all of the participant feedback from the group discussions in week two of
the course. I have coded the comments and suggestions into six subject areas to aid in
data analysis. I have identified the most important points discussed by the subjects and
will elaborate on them below.
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Table 8: Group Feedback from Week 1 of the Construction Course
Feedback from the First Week of the Construction Course Management Training Leadership training was helpful Good to learn about team building and good balance Helpful to have conversations with those in leadership about our needs Good that patience in preparation for programs was emphasized Liked the emphasis on being sure realistic goals have to been set I enjoyed the risk assessment section Spiritual Components Liked the emphasis on the spirituality authority God has given us Appreciated thinking about the ways God provides divine opportunities Listening to God’s leading Course Structure I like the rock metaphor as an example of the right sized input for the right job The simple RBM method was very helpful Cultural Components Telling stories to teach the lessons was good Practical Suggestions Need handouts Need to slow down English or Switch to Tok Pisin Talk about budgeting Needs to be more coherent. The lessons should build on each other Cultural Suggestions Need more PNG examples Team teaching is better Make clearer connections between stories on the lesson Would like more time to work on the tool in groups Break it down into a 1-year plan (bite sized pieces)
Positive Feedback on Week One
We started the second week with a discussion of what the participants thought
worked well in that class. Three of their positive takeaways lined up with what God was
showing me. The first was effective conveyance of information. More specifically the
students enjoyed Barry’s story telling style. This was not without its drawbacks which
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will be discussed in the next section. But over all the students were very positive about
the narrative approach to information conveyance.
The second and strongest convergence with the students’ positive feedback and
what God was showing me was in the area of spiritual integration. One quarter of all of
their responses about what they found helpful in the class centered around this idea of
spirituality and its integration in all facets of life. It was interesting that the participants
picked up on the relational aspects of spirituality. This should not be a surprise
considering how they scored in the relational versus production continuum in Phase 1 of
this research. Since Papua New Guineans are highly relational and they also see the
physical and spiritual as fully integrated it should come as no surprise that they were
deeply concerned about things like, “the emphasis on the spiritual authority God has
given us”, “divine opportunities”, “listening to God’s leading” and “being spiritually
transparent” (Crosland 2018). These were also points they felt had been neglected in
other courses they had attended at PILAT and were glad to see them emphasized in this
one.
The last point of convergence in what God revealed to me and what they found
valuable was the very simple nature of this RBM approach. The participants did have
some valid critiques of this method, which will be discussed later in this chapter, but
overall, they very much appreciated the relational approach that deemphasized
terminology for the sake of simplicity and usability. Some of these participants had taken
the original Program Planning workshop offered at PILAT. They left the original
workshop knowing that they would not put what they had learned into practice because it
was so difficult to understand and implement. As we discussed what they liked about this
course they said things like, “I think I can see a way for us to use this, not like the last
course” (PNG 2). I emphasized the fact that this was not the end product and we were
going to make this into something Melanesian.
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The other significant takeaway from the positive feedback I received was the need
and appreciation of the management sections that Borneman taught. These sections were
culturally appropriate and hit home for many of the participants. This was something that
has not been taught in our context in the past, but it is obvious from the comments that it
is a large felt need. When I started the construction course I had not intended for there to
be any management training in the final course but because there was such a large felt
need and positive response to Borneman’s management sections it was included in the
last three and a half days of the test course.
Negative Feedback on Week One
The next session in the second week was about things the participants found not
to be helpful or lacking in the course. I was worried that this session would not work
well; because of power distance issues Papua New Guineans are not keen to talk about
the failures of others, especially those that they perceive to be in authority. So, I started
this session by addressing that fact head on and asking them to step outside of their
culture for a little while for the betterment of all of the people participating in this course
in the future. They were able to come up with twelve very substantive things about the
course that were either not helpful or lacking. As I analyzed the list I realized that all
twelve fell into three general categories: cultural critiques, felt needs and teaching style.
The first two categories are very pertinent to this discussion, so I will discuss them. Most
of the teaching style issues were things that we emphasize with our teaching staff at
PILAT and will be naturally addressed when we give the course to them to run. For this
reason, they will not be addressed here.
The cultural critique cluster was the largest and most important to this research, so
they will be discussed first. As I mentioned above, the story telling aspect of the first
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week was very powerful and worked well for the most part but there were a couple of
critiques that should be addressed. The first was that the stories were from a different
context. Borneman did work in PNG for a short time and he did use some stories from
that time, but most of his experience is with Aboriginal peoples in Australia and the vast
majority of his stories were from that context. For that reason, some of the cultural
connections and points that he was trying to make did not land well with the participants.
This is a valid criticism that will be addressed as all of our teachers have predominately
PNG experience and so most of their stories will be from that context.
The participants also found that sometimes the connections were not clear
between the stories and what they were being taught. There were two reasons for that.
First, the context for the story was often wrong for PNG and had the potential to be
misinterpreted. Second, the story teller was a Westerner and so he told his stories through
his cultural lens which did not always match the Melanesian cultural lens. All of the
teachers at PILAT are either Papua New Guineans or they have significant cross cultural
experience in the country. Though the latter do not preclude them from unclear cross
cultural communication it does go a long way in helping them to communicate in a
culturally appropriate way.
Because Borneman was the only person who knew this material he was the only
person teaching it. Though the participants were actively involved in the course there was
only one teacher. One of the points that they raised is that they much prefer team teaching
situations. This largely points to the collectivist nature of PNG culture as opposed to the
very individualistic nature of Western culture. PILAT always employs team teaching in
their courses and since the majority of the participants have been involved in courses at
PILAT as students and teachers, I am curious if that affected their view of having a single
teacher for the entire course.
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Another cultural critique of the first week was that the participants did not get the
opportunity to work with the tool together. This brings up two very interesting cultural
points, the first is the same collectivist versus individualist tension mentioned above. As
Westerners we are happy to take the tool and try it on our own. We will come back to the
teacher if we need help or instruction. Papua New Guinean participants prefer to work on
it as a group and help each other. There is a Power Grid issue at play here (see Figure 8,
p. 90). The class set up for the first week expected the students to act like people from
Quadrant 3 (low power distance and internal locus of control) but their preferred place to
operate was Quadrant 1 (high power distance and external locus of control). What they
were asking for was for the course to operate in Quadrant 1.
The last cultural critique came in the form of a suggestion, “Start with drawing a
picture story and labeling it” (WE 25). What the participant wanted was an approach that
was not tied to lecture or standing up talking. She wanted something that people from her
language group could think about in concrete terms, apply the concepts, and then move to
the more abstract program planning task. This was one of the most important suggestions
of this week and its application will be talked about in depth in the next chapter.
The felt needs also came in the form of suggestions. They were all quite simple
and doable, but they had been overlooked for various reasons. The first was that they
wanted handouts. It is a good idea to give people something that can take with them and
refer to when they are on their own. The second thing they suggested was a section about
budgeting. Borneman made it a point of emphasis that funding should be sought from
inside the community first and then later look outside if needed. I would guess that he did
not want to talk about budgeting for fear of returning to a dependence model. However,
even if the funds are coming from inside the community it is a good idea to know how to
manage them. The last suggestion was the RBM model was a too big picture and still left
them with little idea of what to do from year to year. Considering the short term
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orientation of Papua New Guineans and how fluid life is in PNG this was a very
reasonable request that was not difficult to accommodate.
Feedback on Phase 1 Research
The goal of this section is to discuss some of the feedback from the participants
about the Phase 1 data analysis (Phase 1 data analysis has been discussed at length in
Chapters 6 and 7). This was the first time that I had presented the Phase 1 data analysis to
a group and I was a bit nervous about how the findings would be received. Since the
participants were a mixed group, I felt that I could receive pressure from both sides. The
first response that gave me this sense came from WE 29, who said,
My initial reservation stemmed from the idea that “time”, in a Western sense, does not seem to exist at all in PNG thinking. “Cyclical,” to me connotes Eastern/Hindu-type worldviews ― incorporating death and life into an eternity of spirals which hopefully end in “gutpela sindaun”/Nirvana. So, in that sense, it does not seem to me that PNGs think cyclically with regard to time. (WE 29)
I believe that she is right, time in the Western sense largely does not exist in PNG,
especially not in village settings. What she has set up is a dichotomous view of time,
Eastern and Western. This is an extreme over simplification. There are countless nuances
to how people understand time. But there were certainly enough significant concerns in
her statement to warrant concern on my part.
When the cyclical time factor came up for discussion in the second week the
Papua New Guinean participants were very excited about it. This idea that life operates in
cycles and that they have to think in cycles to accommodates the cyclical nature of life in
PNG was completely natural to them. They got excited because they had never seen it
presented this way and it had finally been expressed in a way that made sense to them.
After the session I received an email from WE 29 that read,
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The connection between cyclical thinking and planning resonated with me when one of the participants (might have been PNG 30? ― and if I remember right, echoed by PNG 33??) remarked that accomplishing [translation] tasks could be related to the planting/harvesting calendar, i.e. a particular [translation-related] task could be inserted into an agricultural-task slot. So maybe during yam-planting, everyone would also know that village checks would be part of that slot. (WE 29 2018)
This was a very encouraging email to me. When one looks closely at the email,
there is a Western production orientated approach to the subject, it is about
accomplishing “translation tasks”. My approach and the approach we took in the
Melanesian Program Planning course is that Bible translation is another cycle that must
be integrated into the cyclical nature of life in the village. It is not tasks to be
accomplished or boxes to be ticked that exist outside the flow of normal village life.
We spent a good bit of time looking at all of the cultural factors and discussing
the challenges and benefits of have these two very different cultures working together. As
we talked about the challenges PNG 27 began to study the card sort data very closely.
The discussion moved on and he finally spoke up and said, “I have been looking at these
charts for some time now and I have realized that though the Westerners are a #1 on top
and a #5 on the bottom and we are a #5 on the top and a #1 on the bottom, we both have
#3 in the same place. Why can’t we both move to a #3 and work together” (PNG 27).
What an eloquently simple but profound statement. I had failed to notice this, but it was
true. This statement will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 11 of this dissertation.
The other thing that was striking in this discussion was how interested each
group—Western and PNG—was in the other’s scores. Neither group had realized just
how far apart they were. The participants told numerous stories about their expectation
that the other group would operate under their cultural norms only to be shocked and
dismayed by what they did.
The participants asked me to include findings from my Phase 1 research in their
document packages they were taking home. They wanted to share the results with other
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people they were working with because they thought it would be significant for their
cross cultural interactions in the future. This positive feedback gave me the confidence to
present my data to a wider audience and to move forward with the changes that we were
creating together.
The Birth of Melanesian Program Planning
The final sessions of the second week were designed to take what we learned in
the first week, combine it with what we learned in our debriefing sessions discussed
above, and then create a new program planning course that would be written from the
data produced in these two weeks. As we began, I asked the participants if they wanted to
modify what they had been working with in the Results Based Management tool or if
they wanted to create something totally different. They all saw some value in RBM now
that it had been approached differently and they decided to modify the existing tool to
meet their cultural framework.
Because Borneman had bounced around so much following the Spirit’s leading
we found it somewhat difficult to reconstruct the original tool he had taught. We went
back and looked at some pictures from the previous week and were able to recreate it on
the white board. Figure 9 below is our recreation of Borneman’s chart. This is a blank
working document that helped us to see the RBM framework as we talked about course
revisions.
RBM for Language Program Planning
Input Activity Output Outcome Impact
Figure 9: Borneman’s RBM Program Planning Tool
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As we looked at the RBM program planning chart (Figure 9) I realized that
another failure in PILAT’s previous RBM course was that there was never ownership of
the tool and the information contained in it by the users. The Papua New Guineans who
came to the course felt like they were filling out a form for someone else’s benefit. They
did not see it as something that belonged to them, that they could use as they saw fit and
that could benefit their language program. I emphasized that whatever we came up with
was going to be something they used and not something they fill out and put on a shelf,
so they needed to make it practical and useable for themselves. It needed to be culturally
appropriate.
They voiced concerns that if they changed the tool too much especially the terms
then they would not be able to communicate their program plan well with people from
the outside who might be used to RMB. My solution for this was simple, we would put a
glossary in the back of the tool so that they could glance at it quickly when they spoke to
people and use the terms outsiders were familiar with. This put the participants at ease
and gave them the freedom to make as many changes as they wanted.
Figure 10 is the first page of the Melanesian Program Planning tool/working
document, that the participants constructed. It will be referred to as the Melanesian
Program Planning tool in this paper because that is the name the participants gave it.
There are two versions of the tool, the general program planning tool and the one year
program planning tool. Both versions have been created in English, Tok Pisin and Motu
and can be found in Appendix B. At first glance the Melanesian Program Planning tool is
similar to the RBM tool that it was born out of, but it does have some key features that
meet cultural needs of the participants that its predecessor did not have.
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Figure 10: Melanesian Program Planning Tool, Page 1
In the RBM tool Impact is the overall goal that you are working towards. In the
MPP this overall goal is stated as the Vision (Figure 10). The Melanesian participants felt
that the word “Impact” carried very little meaning in this context and chose to change the
term. In the Tok Pisin tool they chose the word “driman”—a very similar word to
vision—but this word has a lot more power and spiritual authority in Tok Pisin.
You will also notice the shift in position of this cell, from the left column in
Figure 9 to the heading in Figure 10. The RMB version has it in sequential order. Figure
9 is a Western construct that follows monochronic time orientation and linear cognitive
processing. It might also be linked to a low power distance approach in that all the cells
have the same value. In Figure 10 the participants intended to give the Vision section a
place of prominence and show visually that the rest of the plan must be under the Vision.
They felt that though the Vision was the ultimate goal of the program it was also the
genesis as well and needed to be separate and above.
The Community Discussion and Planning sections of Figure 10 are not a part of
the RBM tool (Figure 9). They are a part of the RBM process, but they are lead up steps
to the planning tool rather than a part of it. The participants thought that this was a key
Melanesian Program Plan: English
Community Discussion
Planning Resources Activities Results
Vision:
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part of planning in Melanesian culture and wanted it included in the tool. Community
discussions are one of the most important ways that decisions are made in PNG. If the
community is felt to have been excluded from the decision making process or people feel
their voices have not been heard there will be no community ownership or support. The
planning section is focused on planning for the Language Team and the Language
Committee. It is not that RBM excludes this but that they think it should be done before
or outside of the RBM tool. These sorts of group planning sessions are extremely
important in Melanesian culture and have to be recognized as such.
The MPP category, Resources, the center column in Figure 10, is the same as the
Inputs, the left column in Figure 9, category in the RBM model. The participants felt that
Inputs had very little meaning in their context and wanted to change the word to
something that carried more weight in PNG. The phrase, Olgeta samting bilong kamapim
wok is used for this section in the Tok Pisin version. It means “everything needed to do
the work.” This phrase best reflects what the resources are in this context.
The term Activities is found in both versions. In the RBM model it is the second
column from the left in Figure 9 and in the MPP model it is the second column from the
right in Figure 10. The participants felt that it was adequate and accurately conveyed
what was supposed to go on in this section. The Tok Pisin and Motu versions are very
similar and carry the same basic meaning.
RBM uses Output and Outcome, the second and third column from the right in
Figure 9, to distinguish between short term and long term production. The participants
felt like this was an unnecessary distinction and found it confusing. They decided to go
with a single section which they labeled Results, the first column on the right in Figure
10. They felt that this more clearly described the contents of this section. The Tok Pisin
version uses the phrase Kaikai bilong wok. Literally, this means the “food of work”. It is
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probably more accurately translated “the fruits of work” or “the fruits of our labor” and
describes well what fits in this section.
The students spent a great deal of time on this tool (see Figure 10) and they
thought very deeply about creating it. In the end they thought they had moved past RBM
to something else and wanted to give it a suitable name. They decided on Melanesian
Program Plan. I felt that this was appropriate as well and the tool and new course bear
this title.
Conclusion
In Chapter 8 I outlined the beginning of the Phase 2 research, the running of the
construction course led by Barry Borneman (first week) and myself (second week) in
Ukarumpa, PNG. In the first week Borneman taught relationally based Results Based
Management (RBM). Though relations and results do not seem to meld all that well,
Borneman did a good job of emphasizing the relational nature of planning that had been
neglected in our previous RBM course. In the second week I led the students in taking the
course apart, analyzing it in light of the Phase 1 research results, suggesting changes that
needed to be made and constructing the Melanesian Program Planning tool. These two
weeks laid a solid foundation to sit down with all of the data collected and construct the
MPPM course.
Carrying out these two weeks of research I addressed research subproblem 3:
Conduct a Results Based Management (RBM) language program planning workshop
followed by a controlled week of deconstruction and analysis in light of the findings from
Phase 1 to discover what should be changed to make a culturally appropriate language
program planning course with a select group of Western and Papua New Guinean
participants.
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More importantly the construction course further validated the data collection and
analysis from Phase 1 of the research, formed a culturally appropriate language program
planning tool (see Appendix A), and constructed a framework to create the MPPM
Course.
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Chapter 9
Putting Melanesian Program Planning on Paper and Then Out into the World
The process of getting to the point of running the Results Based Management
course with Borneman and the following work week of deconstruction was long and
difficult, but it was rewarding. It had been years in the making but I could see progress
toward something that Papua New Guineans could use and call their own. However, the
process was far from over. I did not realize how much more work needed to be done in
order to have a useable tool and a class to teach it. The new class and tool still needed to
be tested. In this chapter I will describe the process taken to write the new MPPM course
and testing it.
The course writing process addresses subproblem 4: Apply the data and insights
from the analysis of the RBM language program planning workshop to construct a
MPPM course to complete the Phase 2 research. Running the testing course fulfills
research subproblem 5: Conduct a controlled MPPM workshop to test if the changes
made to the course would affect the likely use of program planning tools by the
participants.
Putting It on Paper
When the construction course ended I had recordings of all the sessions, had taken
lots of notes and pictures, the participants had created the Melanesian Program Planning
Tool (MPPT) and we had all of the flipchart notes that we had written as the course was
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going on. What I didn’t have was anything resembling a teachable course. My next
challenge was to build a course out of the material I had that would be culturally
appropriate, reproducible and meet as many of the participants’ suggestions as possible.
Planning and Management
I felt like the first step was to create a course schedule so that I could see the
modules on paper and move them around to make the most sense. As I started doing this I
realized two things. The first was the course was not going to be long enough even
though I was expanding it to meet the participants’ suggestions. Courses at PILAT
generally run for two to six weeks. The main reason for this is that travel is difficult and
expensive in PNG. Because most of our students are subsistence farmers and cannot
afford the full cost of tuition, room, board and travel, we offer scholarships that cover
most of those costs. In order for us to keep costs at a reasonable level courses need to be
at least two weeks long. After my first attempt at the schedule I realized that I only had
five to seven days’ worth of material. I began to look over the notes and materials again
to see if I was missing something.
This process revealed the second realization. There was some very good material
that Borneman taught and the participants responded well to what did not fit into Program
Planning. As I took a closer look I realized that it was largely basic management material.
I thought about these two things together and realized the course actually needed to be
Melanesian Program Planning and Management (MPPM). The first six and a half days of
the course would be Language Program Planning and the final three and a half days
would be Language Program Management. Management training is a very large felt need
in the Papua New Guinean translation community and this will be a first step in meeting
that need.
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Getting the Picture
During the deconstruction week of the first course one of the participants
suggested using a picture story and labeling it to teach program planning. Borneman had
suggested this idea too, when we talked before the first week of the course. The idea
really resonated with me and I decided to build the course around it.
On the morning of the first day of the MPP course I wrote, the students are asked
to draw a picture story, five or six cells, of how they would build a house in their village.
This is a very common theme in PNG, most people know how to build a house and have
done it multiple times in their life. PILAT only accepts students to classes as teams and
so this is a team activity. The team will consult together and draw the picture when they
reached consensus. Once everyone finished their picture they were asked to hang it on the
wall near their table and explain the drawing to the rest of the class. The class then talked
about the similarities and differences between each picture and anything they might have
missed in their pictures.
The pictures remained on the wall for the duration of the course. Each time a new
element of the MPP tool was introduced the students were asked to return to their
pictures and see if they could find that element in their picture. If they could they labeled
it on their drawing. This system allowed the student to think about the abstract MPP
terms in a more concrete way with a familiar situation. Continuing to return to the
drawing throughout the course and having it on the wall where the student could see it
and think about it reinforced the ideas and helped the students to become comfortable
with the process.
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Cyclical Teaching
Perhaps the most difficult task in developing this curriculum was integrating
cyclical thought processes into the structure of the course. This was an essential step that
reinforced the value of this kind of cognitive processing and made the course more user
friendly. It was also critical because without it the tool that was created could easily fall
back into a linear process and eventually quit being used.
The first step in integrating cyclical patterns in this course was to reinforce their
validity. I decided to do this with several simple anthropology lessons spread throughout
the course. It was critical to reinforce the value of these Nonwestern patterns that have
been looked down upon until very recently. The lessons on Monochronic versus
Polychronic Time and Linear versus Cyclical Cognitive Processing are both very early in
the course schedule. They both appear before any of the MPP tool lessons. Both of these
lessons reinforce the validity of these cultural/cognitive patterns and give the students
permission to function in their normal cultural patterns. The course instructors return to
these themes throughout the course, reminding the students to think about the cycles in
the village as they do their planning, take them into account and make their program plan
one of those cycles.
It would have been quite easy for the course to be set up to teach the MPP tool
(see Figure 10 p. 113) from right to left: (1) Vision, (2) Community Discussion, (3)
Planning, (4) Resources, (5) Activities and (6) Results. In a Western framework this
would have made perfect sense and would have flowed naturally. I chose to order the
course quite differently: (1) Vision, (2) Results, (3) Community Discussion, (4) Planning,
(5) Activities and (6) Resources. Figure 11 is a visual representation of the spiral or
cyclical lesson plan.
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Figure 11: Cyclical Lesson Plan for MPP Tool
In addition to emphasizing cyclical cognitive processing, this method also gives
the teaching staff plenty of opportunities to talk to the students about not just going left to
right and being finished. This type of planning is an ongoing process which has to be
revisited and changed as situations within the community change. This also fits the
cyclical cognitive processing model. Lastly, this method deemphasizes the dependence
on external resources, placing them last in the teaching order. By allowing the students to
think about everything else first they are able to make plans that are not resource
dependent. Certainly, all plans are dependent on resources to some degree but by
deemphasizing the resource section we try to make the plan less resource driven.
Melanesian Program Plan: English
Community Discussion
Planning Resources Activities Results
Vision:
6 5
4
3
1
2
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Group Work
As I stated earlier, PILAT only accepts course participants as teams. Group work
is one of the hallmarks of our courses. This course is centered around group work and the
translation team functioning as a unit. Each unit in the course has a group activity that
must be completed together and reported to the larger group. This gives the larger group
the opportunity to learn from the teams as well.
One of the suggestions from the participants in the deconstruction phase of the
first course was that the students have time to use the tool together. This was a big focal
point when I designed the MPP course. If the students are not comfortable with the tool
they will not use it when they leave. It was my goal to give the teams every opportunity
to work with all of the parts of the tool as well as the tool as a whole. As the teachers
introduce each section of the Melanesian Program Planning Tool (MPPT) the teams are
asked to return to their house building drawing and analyze it for components of this new
section they learned. They label their drawing and fill in the section on the MPPT they
just learned about. This was the first step to getting the teams to using the tool and filling
in the sections. This also gave them the opportunity to realize that all the sections work
off of each other and that they might have to go back and make adjustments in what they
filled out earlier to make everything work together correctly.
Once the students become comfortable with the tool in parts, we ask them to sit
down as a team and fill out the MPPT, Figure 10 and Appendix B, for their program. We
give them time in class to do this so that the teachers can come around and help them as
needed. However, it is not enough time to finish the entire MPPT. This means that they
also need to work on it on their own at night because they are expected to present their
plan to the class the next morning.
The students should have a decent grasp of how to use the tool now. But we want
them to leave equipped and ready to start work so their last assignment is to fill out a One
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Year MPPT for their program. Like the previous assignment teachers are available part of
the time but they are expected to finish it as a team and present it to the class the next
day. Because the teams do not have access to their communities and their translation
committees they have work to do when they get home as well. Both of these tools require
input from the language community and the translation committee. The students need to
have those conversations and adjust their plans accordingly.
Budgeting
Budgeting was also one of the key areas of felt need for the participants. This has
long been a problem for language teams. PILAT has struggled in the past to find an
appropriate place to teach on budgeting. The Program Management side of this course is
the perfect place to fit this training in. This section of the course was a little difficult to
write because we have SIL-PNG, PNGBTA and independent teams that will attend this
course and they all handle finances a little differently. I decided to run two different
budgeting sessions, the first is a general budgeting course that will help teams know how
to make a budget for their program for the year and to work within their budget.
The second session will talk about organizational financial systems, PNGBTA
and SIL-PNG have similar enough systems that we can teach some general practices and
then talk about specifics for each organization. The second section will also cover some
general financial reporting expectations from international organizations since some of
these teams will receive funds from international organizations at some point in the life
time of their program. This has been a major problem for Papua New Guinean led and
run teams in the past and something they always ask for help with. Unfortunately, some
of these nationally led and run teams are being denied funding now because so many
teams without Western involvement have had problems meeting the financial reporting
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standards in the past. It is my hope that these sessions will help to alleviate some of those
problems and open up some of the funding avenues that have been closed.
This discussion of the writing process and decision making therein is not
exhaustive by any means. It is meant to be a sample of the thought processes that went
into taking this course from concepts the participants came up with to a teachable course.
Spiritually Integrated
As I mentioned in the previous chapter, Hiebert’s “ Flaw of the Excluded
Middle”(1982) was a real problem in the previous RBM Program Planning course we
were running. The course was very Western in its approach to spirituality. Borneman
moved his version of RBM away from this compartmentalized view of the spiritual and
material to a more integrated approach. This meet a felt need for the students which was
reflected in their comments on the spiritual nature of Borneman’s course summarized in
Table 8 on page 105.
I wanted to bring this same spiritual integration into the MPPM course. We
started every morning and afternoon session with a time of worship and prayer led by the
students. We did specific units on spiritual authority and divine opportunities. Every
lesson also had times when we talked as a group about how what the participants learned
would affect their Christian walk and the general spiritual climate in their language
communities. The students were often asked questions like what is God teaching you
through this, how will this affect your Bible translation and where do you see God
moving your team? We also talked about the larger themes of how God has gifted each of
us for the work he has called us for and God given authority of leadership.
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Out Into the World
When someone from outside a community or culture seeks to engage in change
implementation within the community or culture there needs to be a high level of scrutiny
of the work that person is doing. In the case of this research I am working within several
different cultural communities and advocating for change on behalf of one of them. This
complicates the issue to some degree. There is an Expatriate translation community that
has one set of needs and Papua New Guinean Translation community that has another.
The structural needs of the Expatriate community have been served well for many years.
The Papua New Guinean translation community has done their best to use the same
language program planning framework designed from a Western cultural perspective.
This research seeks to begin to construct a new language program planning framework
designed from a Papua New Guinean cultural perspective.
As an outsider to the Papua New Guinean Bible translation community my work
and my representation of their group should be closely evaluated to make sure I am doing
what the people within the community have empowered me to do. I feel that my Phase 1
research has been thoroughly vetted and tested both from within the Papua New Guinean
translation community and externally. That testing has been summarized in previous
chapters in this paper. I have also summarized some of the steps I have taken in writing
the MPP course to meet the needs and suggestions of the community earlier in this
chapter. This is not an exhaustive list of steps but merely a sample to demonstrate the
various steps I have taken. The rest of this chapter will be dedicated to outlining the
internal and external testing of this course and the MPPT. Like the rest of this paper this
is not an exhaustive list it is merely a sample designed to give the reader some idea of the
testing and the outcomes.
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External Testing
At first glance external testing might seem to be a useless endeavor with
something so culturally targeted as the MPP course and tool. However, SIL International
prides itself on being an organization of practical academics. What I mean by this is
academic research with a practical end is highly valued in our organizational community.
As such there are a large number of people in our organization who understand the
concepts outlined in this research and can offer critical feedback despite not having
firsthand knowledge of Papua New Guinean culture, though many do.
In early 2018 I read an email about SIL International hosting the International
Language Assessment Conference 7 (ILAC 7) in Penang, Malaysia. This conference was
largely outside my field but I noticed they had a language program management track and
so I enquired about content in the track. After several exchanges with the conference
organizers I decided that it would be beneficial to attend. At the same time, I received an
email from the Pacific Area Director for Language Services requesting I attend the
conference. I also received a request from one of the conference organizers that I give a
presentation at the conference on my research and MPP.
The presentation was approximately forty minutes followed by ten minutes of
questions. The presentation started with a short description of the reason for the research.
It was followed by an extended period of description of the findings from Phase 1. I also
put a number of quotes from various participants in the power point presentation to give
the people in attendance a better sense of how the cultural factors are viewed in context.
Most of the quotes from the presentation also appear in this paper. I then described the
Phase 2 research and the input from the participants in the construction course. I went on
to describe how the course was written, the participants’ suggestions and how the
suggestions were worked into the curriculum. This was the end of the presentation.
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The question time was an open forum that allowed the people in attendance to ask
whatever questions or points of clarification they had. Many of the questions surrounded
how the Phase 1 research was integrated into the curriculum. This material is covered at
length in the previous chapter. One of the questions was about how the One Year
Melanesian Program Plan worked versus the full MPP. They both work in exactly the
same way; the main difference is the one year plan is more focused and it has a budgeting
section which allows the program planner to make a budget for each Action point. There
were also a number of people interested in how the house building drawing fit into the
lessons and how it translated to the MPP. Again, there is a full description of this above.
All of the answers were well received. People were very interested in the house building
pictures as a teaching tool and I fielded a number of questions about this after the formal
presentation time as well.
After the session was over I received five emails requesting the presentation. The
organizers of the conference also asked me to write a summary paper about my research
that they wanted to add to the conference materials. I also had one person ask if he might
be able to travel to PNG to watch the course run first hand. He had hopes that he might
use some version of it in Africa.
All of this positive feedback from academic circles within my larger organization
was a little surprising to me. Often these sorts of changes are not received well and there
can be a good bit of resistance. I was pleasantly surprised by the feedback and
encouraged to move ahead. I think that it is a good indicator that culturally appropriate
program planning and management is an understood need we are dealing with across the
world and that innovative approaches are needed and wanted.
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Internal: Field Testing
As stated previously it is critically important when one wants to bring about
change in a cultural situation that is not their own that there is a high level of scrutiny
from within the cultural community where change is being implemented. In August 2018
we ran the field test of the MPPM course described in the previous sections of this
chapter. This section will discuss the feedback from the Papua New Guinean translators
and Language Program Coordinators (LPCs) who participated in the new course I
created. Their feedback fell into five main categories: (1) how the course compared to
previous experiences with RBM and other planning and management tools they had
learned in the past, (2) how likely the language teams would be to use the Melanesian
Program Planning Tool (MPPT) and the One Year MPPT, (3) the need to do community
awareness, (4) the value of the cultural components that were taught and (5) the need for
written material. Each one of these categories will be discussed briefly in the sections that
follow. Before I go into the data analysis for the MPPM course it seems fruitful to
describe the details of the test course.
Melanesian Program Planning and Management Course Details
The course writing process described above started almost immediately after the
construction course was over in March 2018 and finished in July 2018. I ran the MPPM
course in August 2018. The course was run at PILAT in Ukarumpa, Eastern Highland
Province, Papua New Guinea. There were twenty-eight Papua New Guinean Participants
all of whom were members of PNGBTA (see Table 4 on page 24). Some of these
subjects also participated in other sections of the research, this is also noted in Table 4.
Of the twenty-eight participants, twenty-four of them were translators on language teams.
The other four were Language Program Coordinators (LPC) with PNGBTA. These are
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the people who the language teams report to. I thought that it was important to bring the
LPCs with their language teams so that they could work together on the program plan and
build closer relationships.
There were three teachers in the course; PNG 5, an expatriate teacher from PILAT
and myself. I had originally thought that I would turn the course over to two Papua New
Guinean PILAT teachers and let them run it. I eventually realized I was imposing my
Western independence model on them and that this would not follow the Melanesian
teaching style that we try to model at PILAT so I took on the lead teacher role. PNG 5
was the second teacher and the expatriate filled the final spot. I had originally intended to
have two Papua New Guinean teachers but one of them was not able to teach during the
time the course was scheduled and so I filled his role with the expatriate teacher.
The course was divided into two sections: program planning and management.
The program planning section ran for six and a half days and the management section ran
for three and a half. The total length of the course was two weeks.
At the end of the course the students participated in a focus group to solicit
feedback, they were also given an exit survey and some individual interviews were also
conducted in an effort to give the participants ample opportunity to share their thoughts
on the course and to triangulate data. The following sections in this chapter will analyze
the data that was collected.
The Melanesian Program Planning Course Compared to RBM and Others
One of the things that set me on this journey was a failed RBM course that we ran
at PILAT. As stated earlier this course failed not because RBM is bad in itself but
because we had not used it in a culturally appropriate way. The Melanesian Program
Planning course was birthed from an RBM course and still has many similarities with its
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predecessor. The difference is that we took cultural differences seriously when we
constructed the course. Participant PNG 44 recognized this when she said, “This program
planning course is more culturally appropriate, not like RBM. RBM is too monochronic”
(PNG 44). When she refers to RBM she is not talking about the whole system but the
RBM Program Planning course that was run by PILAT. I would very much agree with
her assessment of the previous course. It was very time bound, linear and
compartmentalized.
Along those same lines PNG 48 said, “Yes, there is a lot for me to share with my
coworkers when I return. I just learned a lot, more than the three previous times I
attended RBM courses” (PNG 48). Again, the RBM course he is talking about is the one
that was offered by PILAT. These are two great testimonials from people who attended
the previous course and see a marked improvement as a result of taking cultural
differences seriously. These two were the only people in the present class who had
attended the previous Program Planning workshop however, many of the other students
had attended other planning and management workshops offered in the past in other
places.
PNG 36 has spent most of his life in leadership positions with NGO’s, the
government and private organizations. Throughout this time, he has seen his share of
planning and management courses and he had this to say about MPP, “I found the
program planning and management information presented in this course is more
culturally appropriate than the things I have learned about in the past” (PNG 36). PNG 59
offered a similar sentiment when he said, “It (MPP) is a more PNG way. I like it very
much. It is so simple”. Nearly all of the participants made this sort of statement about
MPP.
There is significant evidence from the participants in this workshop that
Melanesian Program Planning is at least moving in the right direction. It seems that it has
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moved past its predecessor in usability and culturally appropriateness. However, usability
does not always equate to likely use, the subject of the next section.
How Likely Are Language Teams to Use the Melanesian Program Planning Tool and the One Year Melanesian Program Planning Tool?
Likely future use is not the easiest thing to gauge but it necessary to know if one
is going to assess the value of a training course. At the end of the test course the students
were given an assessment document and asked a series of questions designed to gauge
likely use among other things. The documents asked the participants to rate the likelihood
of them using the Melanesian Program Planning Tool and the One Year Melanesian
Program Planning Tool in the future. They were given a number line from 1 to 5, with 1
being very likely to use it in the future, 3 being not sure and 5 being very unlikely to use
it in the future for both questions. Each question also had a blank where students could
elaborate on their answers.
The students were asked how likely they would be to use the Melanesian Program
Planning tool in the assessment document. Twenty-six of the twenty-eight participants
circled #1: very likely to use the Melanesian Program Planning Tool. One participant
circled #2 and one circled #3: not sure. Of the twenty-six who picked #1 their written
answers were fairly similar to this, “This program plan is to be used in our language
program because the course fits well in our Melanesian society. It will be a great help to
bring change to our way of doing things” (PNG 57). Another participant said, “As
motivated by this course, a program plan for my language group has already been drafted
towards the end of this course. I have given it to my Language Program Coordinator
because I don’t want to delay” (PNG 55). The two participants who did not mark #1 both
cited that they already had a long term language program plan in place and would likely
just revise it.
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All twenty-eight of the participants marked #1: very likely in regard to their likely
use of the One Year Melanesian Program Planning Tool in the future. Most of the
participants gave answers similar to these, “Yes, we will apply what we learned, create a
one year program plan and use it” (PNG 58) and “it is very likely because I believe a one
year program plan will really help me and my translation committees. And it is lovely
because a one year program plan will help me so much in the ministry of translation and
my pastoral ministry” (PNG 52). I did receive a few answers like this one, “before
creating a one year program plan I think it is best to make an awareness campaign and to
build better relationships in the community so, the community will understand what and
why we are doing the program and they will fully support us” (PNG 35). One of the key
themes of the course was to have ongoing community discussion to gauge their felt needs
and to create support for the work of translation in the community.
Need to Do Community Awareness
Every one of the participants talked about the need to do community awareness in
one form or another. The last question on the assessment document was, “What are you
going to do to use what you have learned in this class?” Most of the students took this as
an opportunity to outline their next steps when they return home. Nearly all of the people
who used this as an opportunity to outline next steps had something like, “Do awareness
in the churches, women’s groups, youth groups and big gatherings in the community”
(PNG 38) near the top of their to do list. Others phrased their answers like this, “I have to
make a proper plan with my community when I return home so that our program will
work well and be accepted by our community” (PNG 41). Community buy in is critically
important for the success of these sorts of activities, especially in PNG. If the community
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does not feel like they are part of the project they will not feel they have ownership of
what is produced and will not use the Bible.
As I have stated throughout this paper maintaining good relationships is critically
important for life in PNG. Community awareness is just another facet of maintaining
relationships. Keeping the community informed and understanding their needs in
paramount to maintaining relationships. Question #6 on the assessment document asked,
“What is the most important thing you learned in this class?” The idea of maintaining
good relationships was an important one in this section. PNG 35 said, “The most
important thing I learned in this class is building up relationships. Before we can start a
work, a project, a business etc. the most important thing for each and every one of us to
start with is – to build good relationships” (PNG 35).
Along these same lines we spent a good deal of time learning how to recognize
stakeholders and understanding what their effects are on the program. PNG 27 said, “the
most important thing I learned in this course is dialoguing or communicating what is or
must be done to every level of stakeholder to promote common understanding so that the
job can be completed well” (PNG 27).
Finally, PNG 46 said, “the most important thing I’ve learned in this class is the
program, planning, relationships and communicating with people and monochronic and
polychronic times” (PNG 46). This quote points to several important sections in the
course: good relationships, clear communication and cultural issues. The next section will
briefly discuss the cultural components of the course.
Value of the Cultural Components of the Course
Some of the most well received sections of the construction course were the
anthropology sections in which I talked about the findings from my Phase 1 research. The
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initial response was so positive that we decided that this should be a part of the regular
course. The responses to them in this course has been just as positive. The majority of the
of participants talked about these sections in their responses to the most important thing
you learned section. In response to the most important thing he learned in the testing
course PNG 51 responded, “The different views between monochronic time and
polychronic time and how we can make good use of time in both cultures. Both are
needed in both cultures so that one can adapt easily depending on where they are located”
(PNG 51). What is notable in this quote is the participant’s recognition that both views of
time have value and that a good understanding of both is essential for the groups to work
together well. I will explore this idea further in the next section.
The idea of monochronic and polychronic time was cited more than all of the rest
of the cultural values combined. For the Papua New Guinean participants this was the
most striking difference. However, other cultural differences did make it into the list and
caused the participants to really think about their interactions with Western expatriates. In
the following quote PNG 37 links time and cognitive processing to find his natural way
of doing program planning. He also acknowledges the need to function outside of his
cultural comfort zone in order to partner well with others.
The most important thing I learned in the class is monochronic and polychronic time. I would prefer using polychronic time with cyclical thought processes when doing planning and managing the translation program, it is just natural for my cultural context. However, due to the cross cultural adaption and interaction at certain stages there would need to be balanced use of monochronic and polychronic time to achieve translation program goals. (PNG 37)
This approach to partnership will be discussed further in Chapter 11.
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Need for Written Material
The most significant felt need the participants expressed as the course ended was
the need for a course book or some written material that they could follow as the course
went along. This same need was expressed during week two of the construction course
and is reflected in Table 8 (p.105) “need handouts”.
One of the problems we had with our previous Results Base Management
Program Planning course was that the student handbook was too large, and the students
were consumed by the book and forgot about learning. In an effort to combat this I gave
them a binder with plastic pockets that they could put handouts in. I gave out a minimal
number of handouts throughout the course and asked them to arrange them in the binder
as they saw fit. I also gave all of them a notebook and pen and asked them to take notes
on what they thought was important. At the end of the course I gave the participants all of
the course material on their memory sticks (if they had one) or in printed format if they
did not. My thought was that I wanted them to have the material, but I did not want them
to be bound to the course book. This was actually not a great idea for several reasons.
The first and most obvious reason was that English was not the first language of
any of the participants. Since most of the instruction was done in English they needed
some way to follow along and check what they were hearing. I think this alone warrants
having some sort of students’ course book.
The other reason is if there is no course book you don’t have any idea about the
information the students are taking home with them. If they have not been taught how to
take good notes in school, then it is very likely they will not have good notes to take
home with them and refer to at a later time.
I will be creating a student handbook for future courses that we will print and give
to the students on the first day of class. It will contain an outline of each section and all of
the power point slides. There will be explanations of the key points for each section so
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that the students can follow what is being taught. I do not like the idea of a fill in the
blank type course book because it constricts the teacher and the student is stuck in the
book trying to fill in the blanks and not interacting with the instructions.
Conclusion
This chapter has given the reader an overview of the Phase 2 research which
addressed subproblem 4: Apply the data and insights from the analysis of the Results
Based Management language program planning workshop to construct a MPPM course
to complete the Phase 2 research and subproblem 5: Conduct a controlled MPPM
workshop to test if the changes made to the course would affect the likely use of program
planning tools by the participants.
The process I went through to write this course was different from what we
normally do at PILAT. It was an experimental process that put a lot of the decision
making steps into the hands of the end users. The PILAT administration and teaching
staff was able to hear what the students and their supervisors actually wanted and needed
from the course and to shape the course to fit those felt needs. Though PILAT does make
some course revisions in light of exit interviews this is the first time this much emphasis
was put on the end user. This processes was more expensive than our traditional method
of revising courses and would be a valid criticism leveled against using this process. I
believe that the added expense can be justified by the impact the course has on the
students, the ownership they feel for the course and the value that this sort of approach
gives them in the process.
Another criticism that might be leveled against this sort of approach is it takes
longer to have a completed course in hand. Again, this is a valid criticism but I think
meeting the felt needs of the end user and giving them a product they are more likely to
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use more than justifies the added time it takes to make the course. This is also a Western
criticism built around a production orientation and should be recognized as such. It will
be one of my jobs in the future to bring cultural knowledge to these sorts of conversations
in the future.
The second half of this chapter was centered around data collected from the test
course. I believe that the data presented supports the end user centered approach I took to
construct this course. It also validated the key components of the course: an emphasis on
cultural understanding, community involvement, building off of current planning
practices, a group centered approach and cyclical teaching principles.
I did learn several valuable lessons from the data. Chief among them is the need
for students, especially non-native English speakers, to have written materials to follow
along with during the lessons. Giving students notebooks and asking them to take notes is
not sufficient. The other is that the students need more instruction time around
constructing a budget and the basic considerations that go it that process.
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Part IV
Leading for Change
I spent a great deal of time early in the research process thinking about
dependence, independence and interdependence. As I reached the end of Phase 2 of the
research I realized this was an important topic especially as we thought about change
implementation moving forward. Chapter 10 revisits these topics now that the research
has been completed and we seek real and lasting change in the organizations of which I
am a part.
Finally, as I have worked through this research and writing process God has
shown me places where change needs to happen. Some of these changes are quite simple
and relatively painless. Others are complicated and will require a great deal of work to
make them successful. Chapter 11 will focus on these suggestions for change in different
organizations. I will speak to the four principal actors in program planning and
implementation is Papua New Guinea: (1) Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts and
Translation (PILAT), (2) external funders, (3) Papua New Guinea Bible Translation
Association (PNGBTA) and SIL-Papua New Guinea. I expect that some of the people
and organizations will receive these suggestions with open arms and try to implement
them while others will be resistant. Lasting change comes from within and so the will to
implement these changes can only come from within.
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Chapter 10
Independent or Interdependent?
When I first started working on this project I spent a great deal of time looking
into the literature on dependence, independence and interdependence. As I started my
field research I moved away from these ideas because I realized that these themes were
not as important as some of the others that are outlined in my present work. I removed all
of the material I had written on the subject from my literature review and reworked my
Phase 1 research questions and materials to focus on other areas. I feel this was a good
decision and the other directions I went shaped my research in more significant ways than
a focus on dependence, independence and interdependence would have.
However, recently as I started to think about how my work will change my
ministry, the work of the Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts and Translation (PILAT),
and the two organizations we work with, the question of dependence, independence or
interdependence returned. This question is critical to understanding how these
organizations will operate, interact and want to be viewed by the other. PILAT is a joint
venture between SIL-PNG and PNGBTA, we are the nexus of these primary partner
organizations in many ways. There is no doubt that this research will shift PILAT’s focus
going forward and so it is critical for the three parties, together, to devise a systematic
response to this critical issue as we move into the future.
The dependence, independence and interdependence discussion is nearly as old as
the modern missionary movement. It has its roots in the “three self-movement”, which
began more than 150 years ago. The principle players in this movement were Rufus
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Anderson, Henry Venn, John Nevis, and Rolland Allen (Anderson 1869; R. Allen 1912;
Nevis 1899). These men focused primarily on moving the local church from dependence
on foreign money, leadership, and propagation to independence and autonomy in the
local church and capacity building in local leadership. This has been a noble goal for
more than 150 years now, but it has still not been accomplished. Though independence is
still a valuable concept, it is starting to be reexamined in light of deeper partnership. This
chapter will seek to compare and contrast dependence, independence and
interdependence as it relates to PILAT, the PNGBTA and SIL-PNG partnership and the
Melanesian Program Planning course and tool.
Dependence
Dependency has long been a problem in cross-cultural work around the world and
Papua New Guinea is no exception. In PNG Bible translation has traditionally been the
work of outside parachurch organizations like SIL-PNG, New Tribes Mission, Pioneer
Bible Translators, United Bible Society, and others rather than the church itself. These
organizations have brought their own money, materials and human resources to the task;
creating dependency and lessening the sense of local ownership. Even when the task was
taken on by the church it was funded and headed up by foreign missionaries who came to
work with the church; like the German missionaries working in the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Papua New Guinea and Dutch missionaries working with The
Methodist/United Church (Osmers 1981; Wagner and Reiner 1986, 110–35; Threlfall
1975, 27–45).
I believe it is fair to say that these translation organizations started with
dependency at their core despite their desire to empower the local community. SIL
International has as one of its core values, “Building vision and capacity: We believe
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that building vision and capacity is central in promoting sustainable language
development and Bible translation programs” (SIL International 2015). At least in SIL-
PNG, this has generally not been the case; the expatriate translator has done the work
with the help of a couple of co-translators with little to no guidance from the community
and no real effort to build capacity in the community (S.-1 Team 2014; S.-2 Team 2015;
S.-3 Team 2014; S.-6 Team 2015; S.-7 Team 2016).
Fortunately, in recent years there has been a real recognition of this problem
within SIL-PNG and they are making earnest attempts to evaluate and adjust their
approaches to the work of Bible translation and community engagement. The SIL-PNG
and PNGBTA partnership in PILAT is one great example of this shift in thinking. This
partnership will be discussed in depth at a later point in this chapter. There are also
notable changes happening in the way many SIL-PNG teams function which indicate a
shift away from the “doing for” mindset that was the traditional approach to expatriate
led translation work. This shift will be fleshed out further in the Independent and
Interdependent sections that follow.
Though the sort of dependency described above is not something people within
SIL-PNG have the will to revisit, SIL-PNG in conjunction with Wycliffe Bible
Translators Netherlands took on the task of exploring this difficult subject with the desire
of understanding our shortcomings in the past so that we might not revisit those mistakes
in the future. In 2014 SIL-PNG began a process of self-assessment and review of a
selection of completed New Testament projects to determine if the scriptures they were
involved in producing were actually being used. This research project was dubbed
Scripture Use Research And Ministry (SURAM). The SURAM teams went out to various
language groups and conducted extensive interviews as well as observing multiple
venues where vernacular scriptures would likely be used (S.-1 Team 2014). The SURAM
team completed eleven different surveys and subsequent reports as well as a summary
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report of all the findings. The summary report gave an overview of the individual reports
and made some recommendations based on the sum of the individual reports.
The individual project reports as well as the final report listed fourteen different
indicators/ hypotheses (see Table 9) that were rated from 1 to 5, 1 being the
lowest/negative and 5 being the highest/positive. The last two hypotheses are particularly
pertinent to the present discussion: “5.13 There is a direct correlation between
community involvement/empowerment and the level of VSU (vernacular scripture use)”
and “5.14 Projects that are designed and implemented by a local church or a
local/national partner with assistance from SIL, produce translations that are significantly
more used than projects completely run by SIL” (S.-2 Team 2015). These two are also
strong indicators of dependency; if a community is not involved/empowered then they are
being kept in a dependent state without hope of being self-sufficient. Likewise, if they are
not allowed to make decisions about what their translation projects will look like, how
they will operate or what will be produced then they have lost control over the very thing
that is supposed to give them spiritual freedom and community empowerment.
Seven of the eleven projects that were researched scored a two or lower in both of
these indicators. All of the projects scored a two or lower in at least one of the two
indicators and no team scored higher than a three in indicator 13 or 14. The chart in Table
9 shows the score for all eleven language communities for each of the fourteen indicators.
The language group names have been changed for the sake of anonymity (SURAM Final
Report - April 2017, 13). Table 9 shows the scores for all of the language program
together. This table makes it much easier to see the pattern of low community
involvement and inadequate program design that seems to be endemic in language
projects from this time frame.
Several of the individual reports use the term, “traditional SIL project” in
reference to the degree in which the project in the study conforms to SIL-PNG’s usual
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style of project. A traditional language project for SIL-PNG is one that has an expatriate
as the primary translator and decision maker and generally receives funding from outside
the language group (Carter 2016).
Table 9: Scripture Use Indicators in Final SURAM Report (Taken from the SURAM Final Report- April 2017)
It is clear from this report that these “traditional SIL projects” have a structural
dependency problem. Despite the best efforts of SIL and its teams on the ground these
sorts of projects have a certain amount of dependence built into their structure.
Fortunately, things are changing in SIL-PNG and there are a number of different
programs happening now that start with a different structure that does not necessitate
dependence on the expatriate translator or external funder. Many of the Western
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expatriate translators involved in this research started out with what would be considered
a “traditional SIL program” but have shifted to some degree during their work to become
something different at least in part.
Independence
The idea of independence is at the core of the three self-movement and one of the
driving factors of the modern missionary movement. The Papua New Guinea Bible
Translation Association (PNGBTA) was born out of the idea that there should be a self-
sufficient indigenous translation movement in PNG. There are a number of national
translation organizations around the world that have come from similar backgrounds.
Their value and impact around the world is undeniable. But the question remains if
independence is something these Nonwestern organizations and the language programs
that operate under them are after or if it is a Western cultural value that Western
missionaries and mission organizations are trying to impose.
As of June 2018 PNGBTA has seventy-three language programs under its
authority (Moyaru 2018). It is an extremely large translation organization. This number
of translation programs makes PNGBTA larger than many SIL operational units
throughout the world. Nearly all of these language programs would be considered
independent in the sense that they have little to no expatriate involvement in the
leadership, governance or translation work. SIL-PNG casts a massive shadow in PNG.
But, PNGBTA has emerged as a strong independent organization with its own very
recognizable branding and approach. Most people, myself included, would recognize
PNGBTA as a very successful model of independence in the realm of Bible translation.
Lise Dobrin works in the field of Endangered Language Documentation and
Development (ELDD) and has spent significant time working in the Sepik area of PNG.
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She cites a number of different authors in her field (Crystal 2000; Hinton and Hale 2001;
Grenoble and Whaley 2006; Fishman 2001; David Bradley and Maya Bradley 2002) who
suggest that independent language programs are the only way to have success in language
revitalization. She summarizes them as saying,
In other words, outsiders are justified in helping to get language programs started, serving as technical advisers, and providing guidance and encouragement. But if a language program must be driven or continually energized by outsiders in order to function, it is by definition not self-sustaining and cannot have an enduring effect on the linguistic situation. (Dobrin 2008, 302)
This idea of expatriates coming in and working as catalysts in a language
community to get language related activities going and then progressively turning them
over to the language community is a fairly standard practice in SIL-PNG called
progressive disengagement. Clinton Robinson (Robinson 1998, 146–49) describes this
process in detail from the beginning steps where the expatriate is guiding and leading the
program development, doing a great deal of the translation, to when he or she moves out
of the village all together and has a remote advisory role, leaving everything to the
language community. This approach was used by a number of the Western Expatriate
participants in this study with fairly good success. The difference in the language
programs that Dobrin’s contemporaries are talking about and what Robinson is
describing and the Western Expatriates participants in research experienced is that the
outsider will continue to be connected in some way to the language program in the SIL
approach. If this connection can be described as “energizing” to the language community
might be up for debate but there is continuing contact and interaction between the
expatriate and language community even after they have left the village and turned the
work over to the language community.
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This sort of relationship where the expatriate is in a support role to the team,
doing little to no translation work and not really making any decisions brings us to our
third missiological framework, Interdependence.
Interdependence
More recent discussions have moved on from the problems of dependence, to
discussions on the value of independent verses interdependent ministries. Increasing
globalization has led to increased connectivity of the local sending church and the
missionary’s work on the ground. It has also facilitated two-way interactions between
members of sending churches and stakeholders on the ground. Thomas Friedman
describes this interaction from the sending church/church member’s perspective,
“[Globalization] enables us to reach into the world as never before and it enables the
world to reach into each of us as never before” (Friedman 1999, 406). These two way
links, through things like social media and more affordable and reliable international
travel, are giving rise to a growing understanding that each church or partner has
something to offer the other and that partnership is not a one-way street (Baker 2008).
On an organizational level, John Chesnut (2009, 16) believes, “that values,
principles, and policies, especially in the areas of finance and personnel, must be built
with an international focus in mind.” This highlights a growing tension between the
needs/desires of the partnering individuals or churches, the language communities and the
translation organizations which must be balanced if interdependence has any hope of
success. The key in this statement is balance. Too often local peoples are asked to
sacrifice their cultural values for the sake of the resource partner while the resource
partner does nothing to move toward the local peoples. This is not true partnership or
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interdependent relationship. It is merely using resources to bend the will of another group
to that of your own.
Tony Kotauga, the executive Director of PNGBTA, had this to say about their
recent decision to start moving away from outside (international) funding,
I think, BTA’s decision to slow down on outside (international) funding and increase domestic funding is not new nor a surprise to anyone. I think there is a shift in funding models globally and most NBTOs (National Bible Translation Organizations) are starting to reflect the change. Any outside funds have strings attached to them and compliance is a big one. BTA has been in operation for 38 years and it depends on outside funding for nearly 80% of its budget. Most of the funding is designated to individuals and translation programs. The ministry runs an operation that has very little income, therefore, we do not have the freedom to spend. In recent times, funds from outside have almost completely been tied to projects, the reporting expectations and compliance for these are challenging. Our organizations do not have the capacity to focus on trying to meet the demands of outside funding. Otherwise, the most important reason is to give opportunities to Papua New Guineans to fund Bible translation so that they too can be blessed. We want to encourage local ownership of the ministry. (Kotauga 2018)
One very important point in this email is PNGBTA is moving away from external
funding because it is being done on the funders’ terms and with their strings attached.
This sort of funder driven partnership can hardly be considered interdependent. This
might be seen as a move away from interdependence but in fact it is a move towards a
different kind of interdependence. They are still trying to pursue funding just not from
international donors. PNGBTA has acknowledged the fact that there are sufficient funds
within the county to do the work of Bible translation and that these funds do not come
with the stipulations that international donors put on funds. This is locally sustainable
interdependence. The people funding the program and BTA have a personal interest in
their success and will use the products they produce.
This is not to say that they are moving away from interdependent relationships
with expatriates all together. When asked about PNGBTA’s recent decision to relocate
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their Language Services Department (LSD) to Ukarumpa (the location of SIL-PNG
headquarters) Kotauga said,
The management decision to relocate the Language Services Department to Ukarumpa is a calculated one. We have thought and planned for three years before making the decision. We plan to centralize BTA’s core functions and departments in the regions, therefore, Ukarumpa will host LSD. Having the branch there, makes it accessible for SIL and BTA leaders to communicate and work together. We will also have access to our field teams who normally attend training at PILAT. It is BTA’s response to foster collaboration and working together with our major partner SIL-PNG. We are taking this first practical step towards working together. (Kotauga 2018)
There is a recognition by Kotauga and by the PNGBTA leadership that SIL-PNG
is a partner who is interested in the same goals that PNGBTA is and that SIL-PNG is not
trying to control the relationship with their purse strings. PNGBTA recognized the
importance of this interdependent relationship and is actively taking steps to foster the
relationship and move closer.
Though there is a monetary incentive to stay in the outside funding partnerships
there is a misalignment of values, so they are moving away from the partnership. There is
very little monetary incentive for PNGBTA to move closer to SIL-PNG but there is a
shared value system and a mutual respect between the two organizations. It is critically
important to understand that dangling the financial carrot is no longer an acceptable
practice to entice partnership. Shared values and cultural understanding are paramount for
successful partnerships. The other thing that is not obvious from Koptauga’s statement is
that there has been a longstanding recognition that PNGBTA is the cultural authority in
the country, they are the cultural insiders. While SIL-PNG brings technical knowledge to
the table.
Ajith Fernando’s call for local people to use their innate cultural knowledge to
advance missions locally while being supported by knowledgeable expatriate
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missionaries must be taken seriously (1988). As Shaw says, “we first must truly hear their
voices and allow them to move us beyond what we already know” (Shaw 2010, 214).
Westerners in general are quick to speak and slow to listen. This habit must
change. Too often in PNG the Westerner is the first to speak and it kills the discussions of
the local people. This is a power distance issue that was outlined in previous chapters. If
the person who is perceived to have power (Western expatriates) speaks before everyone
has had a chance to speak then the discussion is over because no one feels comfortable
disagreeing with the person in authority. Westerners must come to the table with closed
mouths and open ears. They must not jump in quickly and offer a solution. When they
jump in quickly with solutions they think they are solving the problem but are only
creating tension and animosity, building a wall between themselves and non-Westerners
and confirming stereotypes about their culture.
Dobrin actually disagrees with her colleagues about the value of independence.
She believes that empowerment is not necessarily given to local communities through
“autonomy and self-determination” but rather, through relationship building; specifically,
through the exchange of material goods. During her time in the Sepik she observed that
the people did not want to be alone in their work, relationship is a strong cultural value in
PNG and work receives credibility and strength through partnership. Exchange is a
tangible way to affirm one’s support of a work and to let others know you support it as
well. The exchange is all the more significant when it involves outsiders, especially
expatriates (Dobrin 2008, 308).
My research agrees with Dobrin’s, interdependent relationships are critical in
PNG culture. Papua New Guineans see these sorts of relationships as strength. When
people or teams go it alone that is a cultural indicator that something is wrong. When
people, teams and organizations work well in partnerships it is an indicator of strength
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and health. Good relationships are the glue that holds PNG culture together if one does
not foster good relationships in PNG then you will quickly become irrelevant.
Training Papua New Guinean Bible translators is the primary focus of PILAT
from an organizational perspective. From the language group’s perspective it is about the
relationship with knowledgeable outsiders who find value in what the translation team is
doing and want to build capacity in the team and the community. In both of these
situations capacity building is the goal. However, there is a different goal focus. For the
Western organization it is a production goal and for the Papua New Guinean language
community and language team it is a relational goal. If we as an organization lose sight of
the relational goal, then we will never accomplish the production goal in a satisfactory
way.
PILAT students regularly approach me as the Administrator for Academic
Training and say such things as, “We really appreciate our relationship with PILAT and
you bringing us here for training. It makes the people in the village value our work
more.”
I have hinted at the idea of prominence in relationships several times already but
have not addressed it directly. This is a key component in interdependence and should be
discussed directly. For Westerners the idea of partners being equals is very important,
this is a power distance issue as well. As discussed earlier, Westerners have a very low
power distance and expect these sorts of interactions to be on a level playing field. While
Papua New Guineans have a very high power distance and expect one partner to be the
face and the voice of the partnership. Without even knowing it Westerners will often take
the place of prominence by talking first/quickly and not letting the regular village
decision making processes play out. Then when that happens they will be expected to
continue in that role and the rest of the village will expect them to operate in that position
as well.
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It is my opinion and the position from this research that Papua New Guineans are
quite capable of being the prominent partner in these interdependent relationships. They
should be granted these roles. The Western partner is still wanted and needed but they are
wanted and needed in a different capacity. Westerners need to move to the supporting
role in this relationship. As Fernando pointed out we can and should provide technical
support as needed when asked for. But we need to learn to be quiet and allow Papua New
Guineans to make the decisions. Even when we don’t think they are right we need to be
supportive and strengthen our partners as they move forward in the work of Bible
translation.
SIL-PNG, PNGBTA and PILAT have all recognized the importance of
interdependence and have taken serious steps to strengthen their relationships through
their partnerships. There is still work to be done and movement that needs to be made on
all sides. In Chapter 11 I will focus on the movement that needs to be made and some
tangible ways that different groups can move to meet the needs of their partners.
Conclusion
In this chapter I focused on the shift from dependence to interdependence in the
work of Bible translation in PNG. There is a tremendous amount of effort put into
creating sustainable independent movements throughout the world. This is not always the
desire of the people and may in fact be Westerners forcing their own cultural values on
the people they are trying to work with. The other important factor that was addressed
here was, even if an organization is willing to enter interdependent relationships they
must be aware of their role in the relationship. Westerners want every partnership to be
equal. Low power distance egalitarianism is not a value in many parts of the world and
often there is an expectation of one partner being the lead partner. This is especially
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dangerous when Westerners, who are often seen as the lead partner, follow their typical
pattern of speaking quickly and trying to resolve problems as fast as possible. When they
do this, they do not allow conversations to take place in a culturally appropriate manner
and they affirm to everyone involved that they are the lead partner.
At this point in mission history it is imperative that expatriate missionaries take a
step back and let their national counterparts take the lead roles in their countries. This is
not to say that we are not wanted or needed it is to say that our partners are capable of
doing the task, often better than we are, and we need to take a support role behind the
scenes. We have not come for our own fame and glory but for the fame and glory of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
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Chapter 11
Moving Into the Future Together
Part of the value of this research is that it has the potential to shape the way
people and organizations interact in the future. Just because the past was marked with
problems does not mean the future has to be. One of the great things about the human
race is we have the capacity to recognize our mistakes and change our behaviors, so we
don’t repeat them. In this chapter I will make some suggestions for changes that can be
implemented in Pacific Institute of Linguistics, Arts, and Translation (PILAT), external
funders, Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association (PNGBTA) and SIL-PNG (an
expatriate language development organization in Papua New Guinea) to help all of these
organizations work together in a more harmonious way.
Julie Green and Sherwood Lingenfelter are coauthoring a new book called
Mission with Multicultural Teams: Clumsy Solutions for Wicked Problems (Green and
Lingenfelter 2018). They build on the work of Keith Grint who identified three levels of
problem: critical, tame and wicked (Grint 2005, 2010). Green and Lingenfelter define a
critical problem as one with a minimal level of uncertainty and the problem can be
resolved with command and control authority. They define a tame problem as, “more
complex, involving degrees of uncertainty, but management processes are in place to
lower or mitigate the risk of the unknown.” Finally, they say, “the essence of a wicked
problem is that, due to the multiplicity of personal, value and vested interests in a
situation, both the problem and the solution are essentially unknowable” (Green and
Lingenfelter 2018, 34–36).
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A good portion of this chapter will focus on wicked problems confronting PILAT,
external funders, PNGBTA and SIL-PNG. If one only looks at Green and Lingenfelter’s
definition of wicked problems it would seem like a fruitless exercise to address these
problems but, they do offer some hope in the form of “clumsy leaders” and “clumsy
solutions”. They define a “clumsy leader” as,
a person who recognizes a wicked problem when she or he encounters it and understands that she or he does not know the solution but must begin by listening and learning. Further, a clumsy leader knows that she cannot depend upon her leadership skills, and there are no possible solutions in her leadership toolbox. Rather, she must embrace the suffering and chaos that surfaces when the values and preferences of teams collide. (2018, 38)
Though they do not give a clear definition of a clumsy solution Green and
Lingenfelter do give some traits of a clumsy solution. The first is there is not a single
easy solution that will fix all the problems. A clumsy solution is fractured and messy. A
clumsy solution is not quick, it takes time to sort all of the issues and values out. A
clumsy solution is not a command solution. It requires a great deal of listening and
facilitating discussions to reach a clumsy solution (2018, 51–56).
As I work through this chapter I will refer back to Green and Lingenfelter’s work
and the ideas of wicked problems and clumsy solutions. Since most of the problems
outlined here are wicked problems there will be very little in the way of elegant solutions
offered. I will point out some initial steps each side might consider taking to move
towards a clumsy solution but in the end all of the sides need to be willing to listen well
to the other and not try and come to the table with an eloquent solution in hand. God is
capable of solving all of the issues I will talk about and it is my firm belief that He wants
to solve them as it means furthering His kingdom and fostering unity among His people.
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Pacific Institute of Languages and Translation (PILAT)
In many ways PILAT has come to a crossroads in its history and some critical
decisions have to be made which will affect its future and how it is shaped for the years
to come. Some of these decisions are going to be difficult and possibly painful, nearly all
of them are going to require clumsy solutions, but in the end, I believe God will be
glorified in them. Three of the decisions we must consider are (1) Does the Papua New
Guinea Bible Translation Association (PNGBTA) need to take on a larger/more active
role in PILAT? (2) Does PILAT need to shift how it does Curriculum Development? and
(3) Should PILAT take on a more active role as a “bridge organization”?
Greater PNGBTA Involvement
The Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts and Translation (PILAT) is a joint
venture between SIL-PNG and PNGBTA. Its primary purpose is to train Papua New
Guinean Bible translators. These translators come from 3 sources. The largest source of
PILAT course participants is PNGBTA. Nearly all of their active teams have participated
in some sort of PILAT training. SIL-PNG expatriate teams also regularly send Papua
New Guinean translators from their language teams to courses at PILAT. The last source
of participants is independent teams (those who are not a part of SIL-PNG or PNGBTA)
they make up the smallest portion of participants.
The Training Centre is the name of the group of buildings where PILAT is
housed. It is located on SIL-PNG’s primary base of operations in Ukarumpa in the
Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. The building and infrastructure
associated with the Training Centre are wholly owned by SIL-PNG. This is the result of
an agreement between SIL-PNG and PNGBTA when the Training Centre was being
established. At that time PNGBTA was a fairly new organization with a limited amount
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of resources. They did not want to take on the added responsibility of maintaining the
infrastructure of the Training Centre and so SIL-PNG agreed that ownership of the
buildings and infrastructure would fall under their purview.
PILAT’s teaching and administrative staff is a mixture of SIL-PNG and PNGBTA
members. Currently there is one member of the PILAT Administrative team who is a
member of PNGBTA and the rest of the team is from SIL-PNG. The teaching staff is a
better mix of the two organizations. Because of limited staffing most of the teachers from
PNGBTA are part time and fill other roles in their organization.
Tony Kotauga, the Executive Director of PNGBTA, views the PNGBTA and SIL-
PNG partnership in PILAT as,
The JV (Joint Venture) agreement with SIL to run PILAT is a success story, it underpins one of BTA’s primary purposes when the ministry was formalized in 1980. The pioneering leaders established the institute to train locals to participate in the art of applied linguistics work. Training was part of the plan for localization and sustainability of the work in PNG. Since PNG has 12% of the world’s languages, the institute is positioned to house research and training on language development and Bible translation. We want to see the school developed into a linguistics institute to conduct diploma to PhD programs while the certificate programs be relocated to regions as part of the field work. (Kotauga 2018)
I certainly agree with what he is saying here, and I think in principle PILAT is the
nexus of the interdependent relationship between PNGBTA and SIL-PNG. However, in
practice SIL-PNG has been the primary partner in this relationship. As I stated in the last
chapter, Papua New Guineans don’t have an expectation that both partners will be
completely equal. This expectation goes back to the power grid issues discussed in
Chapters 5 and 7. A Papua New Guinean has a high power distance/external locus of
control framework through which they understand partnership. They would say, “Of
course, one partner brings more to the partnership than the other and that’s ok. Doesn’t
the clan expect more from the older brother than the younger?”
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The Western expatriate sees partnerships through their low power
distance/internal locus of control framework that says, “we are all equal and if we are not
I need to do something about it to ensure that we are on a level playing field.” SIL-PNG
has been the primary partner in this relationship since its inception. I believe that was
initially by design mainly for capacity reasons and now carries on like that because it has
grown comfortable and accepted. The leadership of PNGBTA has expressed a strong
interest in playing a larger role in PILAT and its future and now the older brother may
need to become the younger brother.
In some ways this puts SIL-PNG into a difficult position because they have built
PILAT into their organizational structure and possibly assumed more ownership of it than
they should have. However, this is also an opportunity for SIL-PNG to take a step back
and start to let PNGBTA assume the primary partner role that they have been working
towards since their inception. This type of transition will certainly have a number of
wicked problems not the least of which is shifts in vision and organization of PILAT. I
don’t see any way past several clumsy solutions to make this happen. I am committed to
making this happen and intend to start by listening to both sides and then opening
dialogue through a training summit and joint taskforce to help us move forward.
Participant Driven Curriculum Development
One way that SIL-PNG has held power in PILAT is by being the sole partner
developing curriculum. Though there is a fairly good mix of SIL-PNG and PNGBTA
teachers, there has been much less input from PNGBTA about curriculum. The
Melanesian Program Planning and Management (MPPM) course (see Chapter 9) was the
first attempt at giving PNGBTA members large amounts of input into the structure of a
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curriculum. It is also the first time that this much emphasis has been put on incorporating
Papua New Guinean cultural values into the curriculum.
Though developing the MPPM course was more difficult and costly than our
traditional approach to course development, I believe the end product was much better
overall. It was certainly a vast improvement over the original Results Based Management
(RBM) course that we were running. At this point we have a large list of courses that we
would like to revise or develop. Though not all of these courses would be a good fit for
the type of course development I used for Melanesian Program Planning and
Management there are enough to warrant a course review in light of this new approach.
I believe a participant driven approach to curriculum development also falls in
line with giving PNGBTA more involvement in PILAT. This is a very relational
approach that requires a lot of personal interaction and processing. Chapters 3 and 7 deal
with the differences in Western expatriate and Papua New Guinean value approaches to
production verses relationship. A Papua New Guinean has a very relational approach to
life. They believe that good production happens because good relationships have been
nurtured. Western expatriates believe good relationships are fostered by good production.
As you can see these approaches are at opposite ends of the spectrum. This reason among
other has encouraged me to not only involve PNGBTA translators and Language
Program managers in the end user input but also in the development. I believe that I can
train PBGBTA teaching staff how to use this approach to revise or write many of the
courses in their areas or expertise.
Again, this is a place where we might run into a wicked problem because PILAT
has a system in place about how it does curriculum development. In many ways it fits
well with the Western cultural practices that have been outlined in previous chapters in
this paper, monochronic time orientation, linear cognitive processing, production
orientation and low power distance/internal locus of control. Asking for this sort of
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culture shift will surely meet with resistance from various sides. I do not think the
obstacles are insurmountable, but again, it is going to take a lot of listening to understand
the opposition. It will also take a great deal of work to overcome the existing PILAT
culture. Green and Lingenfelter say, “we must never underestimate the power of habits of
life that have been with us for so long” (2018, 29).
Being a Bridge Organization
As we have already noted it is very difficult to come out of one’s culture of origin
and operate in another way. This is even more true when a person is put into a stressful
situation. We will try our best to return to our default culture when stressed. One such
stress is being confronted with expectations that we find difficult or uncomfortable.
I feel that part of our role at PILAT is to be a bridge between organizations in
regard to culture. Most organizations are structured around their home culture and they
have expectations that things should function in that way. This is all very good until the
organization moves out of its home culture and into another. Expectations about things
like accounting practices, use of time during the work day and responsibilities to family
and friends can change very quickly from one culture to another while the expectations of
the organization remain the same. The fact that the people who are responsible for
making the final decisions for the organization are generally still in the home culture and
do not understand the cultural issues in the new country works to compound the issues.
I believe that in these sorts of situations it is critical to have someone who is a
bridge person or in this case a bridge organization. This person or organization is
someone who understands both cultures well and can help to bring about mutual
understanding. This person can give insight to both sides about cultural cues that they
might be missing or potential pitfalls. I think that PILAT has the ability and the
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responsibility to be this type of organization between SIL-PNG, PNGBTA and outside
funding organizations. We have a vested interest in the success of all the parties involved.
I am not sure what this will actually look like nor do I think it is static enough to
write out guidelines. I think this will look different in different situations depending on
what is at stake and who the participants are. It is my hope that by acting in this way we
can promote unity in the body of Christ and facilitate the furtherance of His kingdom.
External Funders
I should say that I have several biases that will inform this section that I would
like to state up front. The first is that the Common Framework funding model is a donor
driven model. I understand that some people would debate this statement but there is
ample evidence to support this claim and so I will work from this assumption. The second
is that the Common Framework funding model is constructed around a Western cultural
framework that suits the Western administrators and donors. This Western framework
includes cultural values like monochronic time orientation (Chapters 3 and 6), production
orientation (Chapters 3 and 7), linear cognitive processing (Chapters 4 and 6) and low
power distance/internal locus of control (Chapters 5 and 7). Again, this would likely be
debated by some but there is ample evidence in this paper and in other prominent sources
to suggest otherwise so I will work from this position.
When one starts from the position of a donor driven model constructed on
Western business assumptions then they very quickly arrive at a cultural impasse with
people and organizations that do not share the same cultural values. This culture clash has
been born out in PNG. Papua New Guinean led and run language programs with little to
no expatriate involvement are at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to receiving and
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retaining outside funding due to the Western cultural constructs inherent in the current
Common Framework system.
The system is based on a cultural model that is foreign to Melanesians and puts
them at an immediate disadvantage. This disadvantage becomes obvious when one looks
at the cultural divides between the two cultures in the areas of monochronic verse
polychronic time orientation (Chapter 6), production verses relational orientation
(Chapter 7), linear verses cyclical cognitive processing (Chapter 6) and low power
distance/internal locus of control verses high power distance/external locus of control
(Chapter 7).
There has been a good deal of discussion around this topic since 2015 with very
little compromise or movement from the Western funding side. I believe it is fair to say
that this situation has reached the point of a wicked problem. I do not think it is profitable
to point fingers at individuals for the current state of the problem, but I am willing to
accept my share of responsibility as a member of Wycliffe US, SIL-PNG and PILAT and
the strong working relationship I have with PNGBTA.
I have also come to the conclusion that I need to take on at least my share of the
responsibility for fixing the problem as a member of those same organizations. This
chapter is the first step to repairing the wicked problem and finding clumsy solutions.
The following suggestion are a first attempt at stating problems I see and helping the
organizations involved to move towards the clumsy solutions that we all need and that
God desires for us. I would urge the external funders, SIL-PNG and PNGBTA to read
this section and the rest of this chapter not as an indictment on anyone organization but as
helpful suggestions to move the conversation forward towards an amiable solution.
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There is Not a One Size Fits All Solution for Language Program Funding
One of the biggest problems with Western culture at this time is our sound bite
mentality. We want a quick easy solution for everything. We seek out the simple solution
that has the widest reach and application. Green and Lingenfelter call this an elegant
solution. They define an elegant solutions as,
those solutions that seem to be the right choice because they are exactly that—elegant. They sound perfect and obvious; their logic makes sense to the hearer. Leaders choose elegant solutions because, as they evaluate all of the known possibilities, one solution looks and sounds more like the best way forward. With tame and technical types of problems, this strategy may work reasonably well. However, in situations such as the one John faces, ignoring the competing realities within his team and choosing an elegant solution will only compound the problem and cause it to morph into an often, larger wicked problem. (2018, 51)
As has been demonstrated in this paper, cultural diversity makes a massive
difference in how people think about and approach Language Program Planning. It is not
a stretch to extend this line of thinking to cover language program implementation as
well. It would be my hope that this cultural diversity would lead to the same sort of
diversity in language program planning and implementation not the opposite. As the
name implies, Common Framework assumes that there is a “common framework” that
can be applied to all translation programs the world over. This is the very essence of an
elegant solution.
This solution presupposes cultural values like a production orientation,
monochronic time orientation, linear cognitive processing and low power
distance/internal locus of control. It is elegant because it assumes that everyone has the
same cultural values as the administrators and donors. If the assumption is not that they
have the same cultural values, then it is that they can and should bend their cultural
values to conform to this same group.
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Cultural diversity is one of the most beautiful ways that we can see the fingerprint
of God on the human race. It gives a glimpse into the breadth of His character that we
might not otherwise see or understand. When we ask people to conform to one set of
cultural values over others and use monetary incentives to do that we are devaluing the
image of God that resides in those people for the sake of our elegant solution. Bible
translation is not a simple task done in a homogeneous culture. It is an incredibly
complicated task preformed in an incredibly vast array of cultures across the world.
Applying such an elegant solution to this complicated task has created a wicked problem
with no simple solutions.
Willingness to Adapt to Solve Problems You had a Part in Creating
Again, I am speaking as a member of several organizations that sit on different
sides of this issue, so I have a strong interest in seeing the issue resolved in a way that
works for everyone. I hope that this research paper will have several different effects.
First, I hope it will change the way we do program planning in PNG. Secondly, I hope it
starts a conversation about culturally appropriate program planning in other parts of the
world. Third, I hope it imparts some cultural knowledge and understanding that was
previously lacking in all of these organizations. Nearly every person who I show my
research to says, “I had no idea that the cultural gap was that big. I have truly learned
something about the other culture.” Occasionally, people even said, “I never really
thought about my culture like that before, but now I see it is true.” Ultimately, I hope that
this new knowledge changes the way we all interact with each other.
It is this third point that I want to speak to now. It is my assumption that much of
the cultural information I have shared in this paper was lacking previously. I think this is
especially true of the PNG cultural elements. The other part that was lacking, that this
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research has helped to fill is making the comparisons across the cultural gap. So I have to
assume many of the decisions and steps that have been taken up until this point have been
done in the absence of appropriate cultural knowledge. I hope that in sharing this research
and the resulting data I have imparted some new knowledge to everyone involved that
will challenge their current thinking, cause them to reassess their current stances and
perhaps approach the problems in different ways. Green and Lingenfelter call this
uncomfortable knowledge and talk about it like this,
Uncomfortable knowledge is that knowledge that challenges our prior understanding of a situation, knowledge that makes a situation more complex than we want to believe, knowledge that overturns a value or principle we have taken for granted, knowledge that leads us in a direction that we do not want to go. Because our world is complicated, in order to make sense of it, leaders tend to simplify complex issues into self-consistent versions of the world. This process automatically excludes any messy, inconsistent bits of a problem. Leaders and institutions must resist using the strategies of denial, dismissal, diversion and displacement to keep uncomfortable knowledge away from the forefront and bring the messy bit of the problem out into the open. (2018, 53)
It is true that some of the knowledge I gained in this process was uncomfortable.
That uncomfortable knowledge has helped me to push myself outside of my boxes, to
grow in relation to others and to advocate even more vigorously for Papua New
Guineans. I hope that the readers of this chapter will take the time to go back over
Chapters 3 through 9 and all the uncomfortable knowledge that they gain there to inform
their current situation, to add wisdom in their approach to others and to shape their future
approaches.
Being the bearer of this knowledge and being a part of all of these organizations
puts me in an awkward position and leaves me feeling vulnerable and exposed but I am
also hopeful that this new knowledge can precipitate changes that will be beneficial to all
of the parties involved. It is my desire that Mother Tongue Translators (MTTs) are
afforded all of the same opportunities and privileges that their expatriates counterparts
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have, and I am willing to stand in the gap for them with all of the organizations of which
I am a part.
Now that each of you have this uncomfortable knowledge it is up to you as to how
you use it. I welcome more open and honest discussions about the state of Bible
translation, funding, planning and culture as they relate to MTTs and all of our paths
forward. I hope that all of the involved organizations will also welcome these
conversations with open ears and hearts, and that we can seek God’s will together as we
move forward carrying out his work.
Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association
It has been my distinct honor and privilege to work alongside PNGBTA Mother
Tongue Translators for the entire time I have served the Bible translation movement in
Papua New Guinea. I am constantly humbled and awestruck by their dedication,
perseverance and genuine love for the work that God has called them to. These incredible
women and men of God face trials and tribulations as a result of their work that most
Western Christians will never know.
One of my favorite things to do in PNG is to listen to stories. Fortunately, telling
stories is also a big component of life in PNG. I have heard countless stories about the
history of PNGBTA and the pioneering leaders of the organization. I have heard how
they moved the organization from a couple of members to one of the largest National
Bible Translation Organizations in the world. And I have heard how they have done all of
this while holding on to their cultural identity as Papua New Guineans. PNGBTA has
moved from the shadows of SIL-PNG to be a strong organization in its own right. I see a
bright future ahead for this organization.
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Be Strong in Your Cultural Values and Willing to Put Them Aside When Needed
One of the things that I truly love about PNGBTA is that they embrace who they
are as Papua New Guineans. They love to share their culture with others and to pour out
the love of Christ on everyone they come in contact with. At some point in the past
PNGBTA realized that much of what they do in Bible translation and interaction with the
broader Bible translation community operates on Western constructs and they decided to
follow those constructs rather than breaking out of them. Recently I have seen a
recognition by PNGBTA leadership of the value of their Melanesian culture and move to
operate in a more Melanesian way. I applaud that, and I think that it is the correct way to
operate. This is another reason I wanted to help create Melanesian Program Planning,
because I value their moves in that direction. God values all cultures equally and all
cultures reflect different aspects of Him that we must learn to recognize and appreciate.
We can look forward to that Revelation 7:9 moment when we will stand shoulder to
shoulder with people from every “nation, tribe, people and language” worshiping God
together.
I would like to encourage you to continue moving in a direction that emphasizes
attributes of God that are naturally present in your culture, it is valuable. But I would also
like to encourage you to step out of your cultural norms when you interact with
Westerners, especially organizational leaders who do not know your cultural context. I
understand that it is difficult to interact with Westerners on their terms but sometimes it
has to be done. I encourage you, as the leaders of PNGBTA, to try and speak more
directly to Westerners and tell them when they are blinded by their own cultural
practices. Tell them when they have asked something of you that can’t be done. Tell them
when they have crossed cultural boundaries. This is especially important when you are
dealing with leaders from other organizations who don’t have experience in your cultural
context. How can they know what they do not know? How can they know if you do not
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tell them? In doing this you will be helping yourself and your teams as well as the
Westerners.
Don’t Look for the Elegant Solution
The lure of elegant solutions to wicked problems is very appealing but it is
generally not practical or feasible. One great example of this was the statement by PNG
27 that was discussed earlier, “I have been looking at these charts for some time now and
I have realized that though the Westerners are a #1 on top and a #5 on the bottom and we
are a #5 on the top and a #1 on the bottom, we both have #3 in the same place. Why can’t
we both move to a #3 and work together” (PNG 27). What a completely simple and
elegant solution to the very difficult problem of differing cultural values. At first glance,
there seems to be no reason why both parties should not move to the middle and operate
there. In fact, it seems like a very reasonable request but there are probably countless
numbers of reasons why this is not possible. I can imagine one of the first responses
would be that “our systems don’t work like that.”
As I stated earlier we build our organizations and systems around our cultural
values. Once these organizations and systems are in place they are very difficult to
change. These systems include things like financial and accounting practices, and
reporting and human resource management. A wholesale shift in the way a system works
takes manpower, money and most importantly the will to change. Generally, there is not
a tremendous will to change things that are seen as working.
So, it is probably not realistic to expect both parties to move to the middle
because they both have systems in place and both are likely adverse to change their
systems. A more realistic approach might be the one suggested by PNG 37, “a balanced
use of monochronic and polychronic time” (PNG 37). This sounds like a difficult and
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cumbersome solution that would take a lot of conversations and agreements to figure out
how it would work but that is exactly what Green and Lingenfelter were getting at with
their clumsy solutions. The fact is this may not be the best solution for either side, but it
might end up being the best solution for both sides. Figuring out ways to bridge these
sorts of cultural divides is never easy but, in the end, it is worth the effort.
SIL-Papua New Guinea
SIL-PNG has a long and storied history in Papua New Guinea. Modern translation
and linguistics work in PNG was started by SIL-PNG. PILAT and PNGBTA were both
partly born out if SIL-PNG. It would be hard to overstate their importance to this field.
Because of its history SIL-PNG tends to take a longer view of problems than most
organizations and I believe that affects how they respond to problems, especially wicked
ones. One of my key takeaways for SIL-PNG is that they need to recognize thier default
responses and work to be more inclusive of other default responses.
As the elder statesman of the Bible translation movement in PNG, SIL-PNG has a
responsibility to understand how its primary partners see their relationships and try its
best to live up to those expectations. This is particularly important in light of the power
grid issues that have been raised in Chapters 5 and 7. Even as they move to a supporting
role in their interdependent relationships it is critically important that they understand the
expectations of their partners. It is critical to understand our partnerships from the
perspectives of our partners. We have to understand how the power grid issues affect how
both sides interpret the partnership.
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Recognize Your Default Response to Wicked Problems
One of the very interesting things that I have noticed through my time with SIL-
PNG is the tendency for the organization to wait out problems. At first, I was confused by
this behavior but eventually someone pointed out SIL-PNG has existed for a very long
time in relation to most Bible translation organizations and they take a very long view on
problems. Often this long view approach means they will sit, wait and see what happens.
Sometimes nothing happens and there is no need for a response. When problems do arise,
they will often wait them out. The approach is something like, “This is the latest great
idea, it will fade, and we will still be here.” Green and Lingenfelter would call this an
elegant solution from someone with an ‘Individual’ way of life. They don’t see the
problem as a real threat and therefore do not see the need for action (2018, 51). Often this
approach works for SIL-PNG because the problem does not rise to the level of a wicked
problem.
However, when it does rise to that level it is critical that SIL-PNG recognize its
default response pattern and move out of it. They need to be able to understand others’
perspectives and empathize with them in order to foster unity and cooperation. Green and
Lingenfelter say,
Leaders of multicultural teams need to be able to understand and empathize with the values underlying each way of life embraced by their team. They must also be adept at helping their members negotiate and do the same…Team leaders who stubbornly seek and impose one solution to a wicked problem will only make the problem worse as they alienate team members and make cooperation among them very difficult. (2018, 52)
Recognition of their default response patterns and corporate cultural values is a critical
first step in being a good team member in the PNG Bible translation movement. Many of
SIL-PNG’s corporate cultural values are the same as the Western cultural values outlined
in this paper.
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Interdependence with Your Primary Partners
A second critical step is to look at relationships from your team members
perspective and try to understand what they expect from you. This is especially important
in cross-cultural relationships like the ones being discussed in this chapter. The sorts of
cultural divides that have been brought to light in this research make this sort of
understanding much more difficult and much more critical.
If we think back to the example of time, though both groups were using the same
words to talk about time the underlying meanings were completely different. This has
been a problem for all of the organizations mentioned in this chapter in the past. They
were talking and using similar language, but the meanings were not the same. It is
critically important that SIL-PNG take the time to stop and listen to what is being said as
well as what is not being said. PNG is a high context culture and it is very easy for
Westerners to miss out on the high context meaning that is hidden between the lines. The
most important things are often left unsaid in PNG.
If SIL-PNG can be slow to speak and listen well these partnerships can grow and
be even more fruitful. I think this statement actually applies to all of the organizations
mentioned in this chapter that are made up primarily of Westerners.
Come to the Table with Open Ears and Hearts
This final thought applies equally across the board for all of these organizations.
Though there have been difficulties in the past between these organizations as a result of
wicked problems I, as the leader of PILAT, am going to come back to the discussion
table with open ears to hear my sisters’ and brothers’ concerns and an open heart to
empathize with their situation. I would like to urge the leaders of the rest of these
organizations to do the same. Green and Lingenfelter give these last words of advice,
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In order to find a viable, reasonable clumsy solution to a “wicked problem,” multicultural team leaders must first resist the temptations to search for singular answers and of pride in simple or elegant solutions. In their place, they must lead their teams so that members 1) tolerate those who disagree with “my” simple, even elegant solution, and 2) embrace the discomfort of contrary views about knowledge, and about logic that leads to ‘nonsensical’ responses to the crisis. Such tolerance and listening does not come naturally to any person, since our upbringing and cultural values provide us with hidden (to us) preferences, knowledge as to what constitutes a good solution, and abhorrence for how not to solve problems. (2018, 52–53)
Let’s come together in the unity of our Heavenly Father to carry out the work that he has
given us in a way that all who see will glorify His name.
172
Appendix A
Phase 1 Four Vignettes in English and Tok Pisin with Questions
Vignette 1
English One day a man was working on his house and he needed some plumbing fittings
so he went to the hardware store in town to buy them. When he entered the store, there were lots of people inside and all the people working behind the counter were busy helping other people.
1. If you were this man what would you do? 2. If you noticed that you knew one of the people working in the store what
would you do? 3. What would you do if you needed four fittings but you only had enough
money to buy 3 with a little left over? Tok Pisin
Wanpela de wanpela man ben wok long haus bilong en. Em i sot long sampela
parts long joinim ol paip. Em i go long taun long hatwer stua long kism parts bilong em. Taim em i kamup long stua em i lukim planti manmeri stap pinis long stua na ol wokman bilong stua bisi tru long helpim ol arapela manmeri.
1. Sapos yu dispela man bai yu makim wanem? 2. Sapos yu lukim wanpela wokman na u save long em bai yu makim wanem? 3. Sapos yu nidim foapela fitting na mani bilong yu enup long baim thripela
tasol, bai yu mekim wanem?
173
Vignette 2
English
There was a man who had a very old blanket that was full of holes. It was getting cold at night and he found it hard to sleep because he was so cold. So, he decided to go to town on a bus to get a new blanket. He lived a long way from town and it took nearly 2 hours by bus. Along the way the bus got a flat tire and it had no spare. It took the driver several hours to find someone to fix the tire and it was late in the afternoon when the bus arrived in town. The man knew that he would have to hurry to make it to the store before it closed. As he walked along he saw his oldest uncle, who he had not seen in a while and he knew that he would want to talk about all the things that had happened since the last time they had seen each other.
1. If you were the man going to the store what would you do? 2. If you were the uncle how would you feel if your nephew did not stop and
talk? Why? 3. If you were the man is there any way you could get your blanket and keep your
uncle happy?
Tok Pisin
Blanket bilong wanpela man em i pulap long hul na bugarup pinis. Nait em I kol no gut tru and em i pilim hat long slip. So, em i kisim bus long go long taun long kisim nupela blanket. Em I stap longwe long taun na bus em i takem tupela aua long go long taun. Taim ol i ran long rot taia bilong bus pans na nogat spea. Draiva na boskru hadwok long painim wanpela lain long stretim taia. Taim ol stretim na putim em i go bek tupela aua go pinis na ol i kamap long taun long apinun. Man i save pinis sapos em i no hariap na go long stua em bai pas na em bai no inup kisim nupela blanket. Taim em wokabaut i go long stua em i lukim numba wan kandere bilong em. Em i save pinis em i no lukim kandere longepela taim na em bai gat bikpela laik long stori.
1. Sapos yu dispela man i go long stua bai yu mekim wanem? 2. Sapos yu kandere bilong dispela man bai yu pilim wanem sapos em i no stap
na toktok wantim yu? 3. Sapos yu dispela man yu got rot kisim blanket bilong yu na hamamasim
kandere wantim?
174
Vignette 3
English A man had been working very hard to start a school in his community and finally
had the community’s support, land, and volunteers to build the school. The one thing he lacked was money to buy the building materials. He submitted his plan and budget to the local member’s office to request funding. He had been to the office many times to check on his proposal and each time he was told to return another day. One day he was in town and saw the member. He decided to stop him and ask about his proposal. The member remembered his proposal and apologized to him for not getting back to him. The member liked the plan and asked the man to stop by his house. Later that afternoon the man came to the member’s house it was obvious that they were having a family gathering but the member took the man to his car where he pulled out a large envelope of cash and gave it to the man for his project. He then invited the man to join them for a meal.
1. If you were the man who wanted to build the school how would you have felt
when he gave you the cash? Why? 2. What would you have done if you were the member? 3. Did the member or the man do anything wrong in this story?
Tok Pisin
Wanpela man em i ben mekim planti hatwok long kirapim wanpela skul insait long ples bilong em. Olgeta lain insiat long ples tok ol bai sapotim dispela wok. Ol givim graun pinis long mekin na ol tok olsem ol bai wok bung long wokim skul haus. Tasol em I nogat mani long baim kapa na samting long wokim haus bilong skul. Em ben wokim wanpela plen na baget. Em ben givim long opis bilong memba bilong ol longtaim pinis. Em i ben wok long go i kam longpela taim na olgeta taim ol lain bilong opis tokim em long kambek behain. Wanpela de dispela man em i stap long taun na em i lukim memba wokabaut raun. Dispela man tinktink olsem, “mi mas i go na askim memba long koins bilong projek bilong mi.” Em i askim memba na memba bekim em olsem, “Sori tru mi no bekim yu hariup tasol mi lik helpim dispeala projek. Nau apinun yu kam long haus bilong mi na mi bai helpim yu.” Long apinun dispela man kamap long haus bilong memba. Em i luk olsem ol mekim femli bung tasol memba kisim man go long kar bilong em na givim em wanpela bikpela evelop I gat mani stap insait bilong projek bilong em. Na memba tokim dispeal man long kam, sindaun na kaikai wantaim em.
1. Sapos yu dispela man i laik wokim skul, yu bai pilim olsem wanem taim memba givim yu koins long wokim dispela skul?
2. Sapos yu dispela memba bai yu bihainim wankain rot long helpim dispeala man or bia yu bihainim arapela rot?
3. Taim yu harim dispela stori yu tingim wanem, memba o man mekim sampela rong o nogat?
175
Vignette 4
English A woman worked at the driver’s license office, lunch time came and she closed her office so she could go to lunch. As she left she saw six people come up wanting to get a license. She told them to wait there and she would return by 1:30. She went to the market to buy some vegetables for her family. While she was there she saw her cousin, who asked her to help her carry some things back to the bus stop so she could go back home. When she got there, she saw several friends and stopped to talk to them. The conversation went on for a long time but she was enjoying herself. She realized it was getting close to time to return to work and when she looked at her cell phone it was 1:35pm. She said goodbye to her friends and as she turned to go back to work a bus pulled up and her mother’s cousin got off she was very ill and could hardly walk she was going to the hospital.
1. If you were the woman what would you have done? 2. If you were the person waiting to get a license what would you do? 3. Is there some way that she can help her aunt and the people waiting for her at
the office? Tok Pisin
Wanpela meri wok long opis long kisim laisens bilong draiv. Em i kamap belo na
em i pasim opis long wokabaut raun. Taim em lusim opis em i lukim sixpela man meri wokabaut kam long kisim laisens. Em i tokim ol long sindaun wetim em kambek 1:30. Em i go long maket long baim kaikai long femli bilong em. Taim em stap long maket em i lukim wanpela susa belong en na dispela susa askim em long helpim em karim kargo bilong en go bek long bas stap long go long ples. Tiam em i kamap long bas stap dispela meri lukim sampela poro bilong em stap long bas stap and em I stap na stori wantaim ol. Ol i stori longpela taim na ol i hamamas. Dispela meri tingim malolo taim bilong em mas klotu pinis na em i sekim taim long pon bilong en. Pon tok olsem 1:35. Em i tok gutbai long ol poro bilong en na redi long go bek long wok. Tasol tiam em tanim long go wanpela lapun anti bilong en kamdaun long bus na em i sik nogut tru. Sik winim em na em i painim hat long wokabaut. Em i laik go long haus sik.
1. Sapos yu dispela meri bai yu mekim wanem? 2. Sapos yu dispela lain wait stap long kisim laisens bai yu pilim wanem? 3. Dispela meri I gat rot long helpim anti na ol lain long kisim laisens tu o nogat?
176
Appendix B
Full and One Year Melanesian Program Planning Tools
Full MPPT: English
Melanesian Program Plan: English
Community Discussion
Planning Resources Activities Results
Vision:
177
Risks
178
Glossary
This section will give the English term followed by Tok Pisin and then Motu. These terms will be followed by a definition. Vision – Driman – Ura Badana The end goal of the project. This should be one statement that defines what change the project hopes to achieve. The RBM equivalent is Impact. Community Discussion – Komuniti Toktok – Hanua Hebou The very early stages of the discussion. The entire language community is involved in this discussion about program direction and selecting the participants. Planning – Wokim Plen – Gaukara Dalana The translation team and committee comes together in this section to make concrete plans about what they will do and how they will do it. Resources – Olgeta Samting Bilong Kamapim Wok – Gaukara Gaudia The physical and human resources that make a project possible- the people, equipment supplies and other ingredients. The RBM equivalent is Input. Activities – Lista Bilong Wok – Gaukara The main things that you want to do the in the project. No more than 5 to 8 statements. The same term is used in RBM. Results – Kaikai Bilong Wok- Gaukara Anina ia vara The key changes you want to happen. Directly related to the Activities. Each activity should have at least one result. The RBM equivalent is Outputs and Outcomes.
179
One Year MPPT: English
1 Year Melanesian Program Plan: English
Community Discussion
Planning Resources Activities Results
Risks
Vision:
180
Activity Budget
Activity Budget
181
Full MPPT: Tok Pisin
Melanesian Progrem Plen: Tok Pisin
Komuniti toktok
Wokim Plen
Olgeta samting bilong kamapim
wok
Lista bilong wok
Kaikai bilong wok
Birua bilong wok
Driman:
182
One Year MPPT: Tok Pisin
1 Year Melanesian Progrem Plen: Tok Pisin
Komuniti
toktok Wokim
Plen Olgeta samting
bilong kamapim wok Lista bilong
wok Kaikai
bilong wok
Birua bilong wok
Driman:
183
Bajet bilong wok
wok bajet
184
Full MPPT: Motu
Melanesia Gaukara Dalana: Motu
Hanua Hebou
Gaukara Dalana
Gaukara Gaudia
Gaukara Gaukara Anina ia vara
Gaukara Hadikaia Gaudia
Ura Badana:
185
One Year MPPT: Motu
Lagadi Tamona Melanesia Gaukara Dalana: Motu
Hanua Hebou
Gaukara Dalana
Gaukara Gaudia
Gaukara Gaukara Anina ia vara
Gaukara Hadikaia Gaudia
Ura Badana:
186
Gaukara Monina
Gaukara Monina
187
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194
Vita
Matthew E. Crosland is a member of SIL and lives with his family in Ukarumpa,
PNG. He holds the present position of Academic Training Manager, SIL-PNG and
Principle, Pacific Institute of Languages, Arts and Translation (PILAT).
His educational background includes:
• BA (Biblical Studies and History w/ minor History of Ideas) from The College at Southeastern 2005,
• MA (Intercultural Studies) from Wheaton College 2008,
• Doctor (Intercultural Studies) Fuller Theological Seminary 2018.
Matt’s professional experience includes;
• Centre Manager, Ukarumpa Training Centre, SIL-PNG, Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea, 2014-2017
• Centre Manager, Pacific Orientation Course, SIL Pacific, Madang, Papua New Guinea, 2010-2014.
