APLNG 597C

Yan Chang
DCT Report
United States has various religious beliefs and practices. The
majority of Americans (73-80%) identify themselves as Christians.
When I first came to Penn State University, I was invited to the local
Christian churches and met a lot of Christians. Then I gradually
interested in the use of oh my God toward certain situations
things that relate to fear and surprise. Since in China, nowadays,
people are tend to say oh my God under may circumstances. They
learned from the foreign movies instead of English class. After been
in United States for half a year, I also found people use this
expression in high frequency.
Goal: So the purpose of this DCT is to find what kind of situations
and to what degree do Christians and non-Christians think it is
appropriate to use the expression oh my God.
Method: The participants were asked to choose the number of
situations, which provided in the questionnaire (Appendix 2), that
they think is appropriate to say oh my God. I designed seven
situations in the questionnaire. Because usually oh my God is used
to express fear, surprise, I put the emphasis on the degree of fear
and surprise in each situation. So I made comparative situations
that can differentiate the degree of severity of the situations.
Situation 1 and 4, 2 and 6, 3 and 5 are three comparative groups,
situation 7 is independent. I also designed a survey to get the
participants background information (Appendix 1) in order to know
the whether or not there are some other factors that influence their
answers.
Participants: The total number of participants are 18, including 12
Chinese, one Australian, one Indian, one Germany, and 3 Americans.
All of them have at least five months of residence in United States.
According to the background check, there are 6 Christians, one
Buddhist among these participants.
Procedure: Participants did the survey individually within three
minutes. So it can exclude the possibility that they influenced by
some one elses opinion and avoid second thought, which may
cause variance in their answers. After finished the questionnaire,
they provided their background information.
Result (Appendix 3): through the responses from participants,
there are several findings. First one is that there is a salient
difference between Christians and non-Christians regarding to the
total number of situations that they think appropriate. Generally,
Christians chose much less situations (at most three situations) than
non-Christians. The only 3 non-Christian who had chosen less than
three situations turned out to have more knowledge about Christian
than other non-Christians. One person majored in Theology in his
undergraduate study and studied Christian for two semesters. The
other two had attended bible study for almost a year. The second
finding is that severe situations (situation number 4, 5, 6, 7) have

high possibility to be chosen by both groups. But the situation is

different in each group. For the non-Christian group, the percentage
of severe and not severe situations in their answers is almost half
and half. The reason may be that they choose most situations. So
severe situations are easy to be included. However, in the answers
of Christians, nearly all are severe situations. The third finding is
that the choice of non-Christians has no pattern lies in it. But there
seems like a pattern in Christian groups choice. Their chosen
situations have involved uncertain things, such as the 6 and 7.
Conclusion: In the light of statistic findings, I concluded that 1.)
Christians are more cautious than non-Christians when using the
expression oh my God. And Christians tend to say oh my God
when they in the situation that relates to life or they found the
things are beyond control. 2.) People who had exposed to diverse
religious things a lot or who have known Christian more are aware of
the sensitivity of using this religious expression. They wanted to
reduce misunderstanding as little as possible.
Pedagogical Implication: When teaching the L2 learners of
English, it would be better to address religious factors that influence
the language, because the use of some phrases or expressions may
cause uncomfortable or misunderstanding to religious people.
Limitations: the result is cannot truly and exactly reflect the
difference of using oh my God between Christians and nonChristians due to the following limitations. First of all, as to the
sample aspect, the sample size is too small and the percentage of
each group is unbalanced, only six Christians in the sample. (It
would be better to target certain groups.) So the result may not be
representative. Besides, the design of situations can mislead the
participants due individuals perception. And the design is not
comprehensive and accurate. In addition, these situations are
written on the paper, therefore, the reaction of the participants is
based on their imagination. We do not know how they would react in
real situation. And different people have different construction of the
situation in mind. Thus, it can be a variable to the result.
Appendix 1
Background Information Survey
1. What is your nationality?
2. Do you have religion? If so, what is your religion?
3. Have you ever exposed to a society that has a lot of Christian?
4. Do you know much about Christian?
Appendix 2
Questionnaire
In the following situations, do you think it is appropriate to say Oh
my God? Choose the situation number that you think is acceptable.
1. You accidently pour out some coffee without staining anything or

scalding anybody.
2. You suddenly see a spectacular view or phenomenon.
3. You happen to hear some strange things that are not relating to
you.
4. You accidently pour some coffee on your new clothes or your
important files.
5. You heard of some extremely sad things of your friends or
relatives.
6. You see some rare things that may cause panic.
7. You unfortunately encounter life-threatening events.
Appendix 3
Result
Situation Number
4, 5, 6, 7
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
4, 5, 6, 7
1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
4, 5
1, 2, 4, 6, 7
2, 4, 6, 7
4, 6

Religious
No
No
No
Buddhism
Christian
No
No
No

1, 4, 5, 6, 7

No

Im not sure
No
Yes, I learned it for
two semesters
No

1, 2, 3, 4

No

No

1, 2, 3, 6

No

No

Exposure to Christian
Seldom
Nearly not
No
A little

(none) Im afraid to No
say
it
in
any
situations because I
dont want to cause
misunderstanding to
religious people
4, 6, 7
Christian

I go to bible study
often

6, 7

Christian

Yes

6, 7

Christian

I attend bible study

regularly and parents
are Christian
Yes, a lot

Christian

Absolutely

4, 6

Christian

Yes, of course a lot

6, 7

Yes