英语世界中的“导师”概念及其职责辨析——兼论中西方“导师”用语及其职责的差别与当代启示

Different Roles of Daoshi,Mentors,Advisers and Supervisors in Coaching Graduate Students:A Cross-Cultural Comparison

借由日语进入汉语的“导师”一词在英语世界中有三个常被混用的词汇——mentor、advisor及supervisor。经词源考辨,这三个词的内涵分别侧重引导、建议和监管,其外延范围广泛且不局限于专指研究生导师。当“导师”作为研究生导师使用时,其职责主要体现在为研究生提供学术、情感和职业支持。mentor大致属于“高学术、高情感、高职业”支持型,advisor大致属于“中学术、高情感、中职业”支持型,supervisor大致属于“高学术、低情感、低职业”支持型。对比中国与英美国家研究生导师的概念及职责发现,双方“导师”的职责均涉及上述三个职责维度。但是,英美国家的研究生导师因其用词的变化常蕴含职责侧重上的微妙差别,而中国的研究生导师则对研究生负有全面的指导职责。这一研究对于研究者在研究生教育领域开展精准的学术对话,进而深刻把握英美国家的导师制度及其与中国的差别具有重要的意义。

The Chinese word“Daoshi”(or guiding teachers)has three English equivalents,namely,“mentor”“adviser”and“supervisor”.However,so far as coaching graduate students is concerned,these three words indicate overlapping yet distinct roles in English-speaking countries and cannot be used interchangeably.Generally speaking,mentorship is 3-in-1,an academic,a personal as well as a professional relationship at the same time,while supervision is mainly an academic one.On the other hand,advisership is a personal relationship to a large extent,though advisers also play a formative role in the academic success and professional development of their advisees.Daoshi(or guiding teachers)in Chinese context,by contrast,seem to play an all-encompassing role.Therefore,it is necessary for us to be aware of those different connotative meanings of similar words in Chinese and English when conducting comparative studies or communicating with international researchers.