+

Connie Sargent

Nail Techniciansin New York City

English for Specific PurposesVicki Hollett and Evan Frendo

November 2, 2010

+Industry Overview

Nail salons are often owned by highly educated immigrants whose skills are not valued for jobs in the United States.

There are over 10,500 licensed nail technicians in the New York City area, the majority of whom are immigrants from Korea and China.

New York State licensing requires a 250-hour course of study plus a written and practical examination.

+Industry Overview

Employees are under pressure to rotate customers through quickly while giving customers a feeling that the experience is relaxing.

This is one of the few times when diverse immigrant women have intimate social interaction with native English-speaking American women.

Interaction is made more complicated by physical contact.

+Industry Overview

M. Kang (2003) found that there are different expectations depending upon race and social class, and different language needs to go with them:

Upper-class white women in upscale neighborhoods expect physical pampering and emotional attentiveness. English language needs are high.

Working-class African and Caribbean Americans in low-income neighborhoods expect artistic technical skills and respect. English language needs are basic and technical.

Middle-class mixed races expect efficiency and courtesy with minimal emotional engagement. English language needs are basic.

+Needs Analysis Surveys and Interviews

My focus was on the basic, no frills nail salon where nail technicians usually speak limited English.

5 different sources were interviewed for information:

Nail salon owners

Non-native speaking nail technicians

Native speaking nail technicians

Beauty schools

Customers

+Results

All nail technicians and salon owners agreed:

There is no need to read or write in English.

All social and business interaction in the workplace is conducted in English as a lingua franca because employees speak many different languages (Korean, Chinese, Spanish, Russian).

Non-native speaking technicians also said:

They feel insecure speaking and understanding English, with their clients and their boss.

Their clients rarely speak to them and they rarely speak to their clients.

+Results

Native English speaking nail technicians all said:

Contrary to the non-native speakers, their clients come to relax and often talk about their personal lives.

Clients do all of the talking and nail technicians mostly listen and ask leading questions.

+Results

Nail salon owners, nail technicians, and beauty schools were all disappointing sources of information.

Non-native speaking salon owners and technicians did not have enough English to adequately express their needs.

None had the metacognitive ability or interest to analyze what language they use or need.

All were suspicious of my motives and extremely pressed for time.

+Results

Customer interviews provided a huge amount of quality information.

Customers felt that non-native speakers are rough, curt, and treat them like an object.

Every interview referred to a fear that nail technicians are talking about them to other nail technicians.

Some customers thought they would tip more if they felt more connected to the person doing their nails.

All customers wanted their nail technician to make basic small talk with them.

+Interpretation of Results

Coworkers: Learners need basic English skills for communicating among other employees and their boss.

Communicative needs: Nail technicians need safe opportunities to practice speaking and listening.

Customers: Even basic pleasantries in English would make technicians’ customers feel more relaxed and connected, and would increase their chances of making more money in tips.

+Curriculum: English for Co-workers

Learn concepts that will help communication with their boss.

Money and time: numbers, making change, understanding tips, telling time, prices

Learn vocabulary that will help them in their job.

Technical terms like: backfill, base coat, bonding, decal, foil manicure, gel wrap, glue, colors, linen wrap, quick dry, tips

Instrument names like: buffer, cuticle nipper, emery board, scissors, brush, clipper

Learn how to make pleasantries.

Small talk skills for making friends

+Curriculum: Communicative Activities

Create activities that are focused on speaking and listening.

Ask students to think about small talk in their own culture and language. See if the subjects are transferrable.

Review what is inappropriate in the United States to discuss in small talk.

Play games that require having to think quickly, change subjects, and speak often.

+Curriculum: English for Customers

Teach American ideas of relaxation and indulgence.

Practice small talk skills.

Learn how to compliment sincerely.

Teach American manners and gestures.

Review modals and how they can soften speech acts.

+Bibliography

Lofstrom, Magnus. "Labor market assimilation and the self-employment decision of immigrant entrepreneurs", Journal of Population Economics 15.1 (2002): 83. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 18 Oct. 2010.

Nussbaum, E. “A Stranger’s Touch”, New York Magazine, November 25, 2007,http://nymag.com/print/?/beauty/features/41280/, taken October 18, 2010.

Greenhouse, Steven. “At Nail Salons, Beauty Treatments Can Have a Distinctly Unglamorous Side”, The New York Times, August 19, 2007.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/nyregion/19nails.html?, taken October 18, 2010.

Pearce, Susan. “Today’s Immigrant Woman Entrepreneur”, The Diversity Factor, Summer 2005, New Frontiers, Volume 13, Number 3.

Pratt, M. “The ABC’s and 123’s of Customer Service”, Nails Magazine, Nails Career Handbook Supplement, 2009, http://www.nailsmag.com/careerHandbook/, taken October 18, 2010.

Kang, M. “The Managed Hand: The Commercialization of Bodies and Emotions in Korean Immigrant-Owned Nail Salons,” Gender and Society, Vol. 17, No. 6, December 2003. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3594672, taken September 29, 2010.