The Impact of Culture On Learning with Natalie Richter and Scott Ruddick Schulich School of Business

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The Impact of Culture On Learningwith Natalie
Richter and Scott RuddickSchulich School of
Business
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Our Agenda

• Defining Culture
• Cultural Communications in Teaching
• Cultural Norms and Their Impact On Rote and
  Analytical Learning and Application to Critical
  Thinking To Learning
• A Case Study

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What Is Culture?

• Manifest Behaviour
• Expressed Value
• Basic Assumptions

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Why Is It Important?

• It should become increasingly possible to
  identify (a) those cognitive skills that can be
• considered consistent or general (skills that are
  found to be related to underlying
• information-processing mechanisms) and (b) those
  cognitive skills that can be considered
• as outcomes related to culturally specific
  experiences across populations
• source Moreno, V., DiVesta, F. (1991).
  Cross-cultural comparisons of study habits
  Electronic
• version. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83,
  231-239.

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Eliminating Like Bias

• Students whose learning styles are compatible
  with the teaching style of a course instructor
  tend to retain information longer, apply it more
  effectively, and have more positive post-course
  attitudes toward the subject than do their
  counterparts who experience learning/teaching
  style mismatches.
• Source Felder, R. Spurlin, J. (2005).
  Applications, reliability, and validity of the
  index of learning
• styles. International Journal of Engineering
  Education,V21(1), 103-112.

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The Role of Culture

• Students whose culture has taught them behaviors
  and beliefs that are different from the norms of
  the majority culture most often emphasized in
  schools can encounter a myriad of struggles.
  Source Guild, P. Garger, S. (1995). Marching
  to different drummers (No. ED426968). Alexandria,
  VA Association for Supervision and Curriculum
  Development.Association for Supervision and
  Curriculum Development.

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The Conflict Of Culture

• Students whose families value collaboration are
  told to be independent. Students whose culture
  values spontaneity are told to exercise
  self-control. Students who are rewarded in their
  families for being social are told to work
  quietly and alone. Source Guild, P. Garger, S.
  (1995). Marching to different drummers (No.
  ED426968). Alexandria, VA Association for
  Supervision and Curriculum Development.Association
  for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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• "Since the learning style is chiefly the result
  of the unique, culturally determined teaching
  styles, a culturally democratic environment
  should incorporate the critical elements of the
  teaching styles characteristic of different
  cultural groups"
• source Ramirez, III, M. Castaneda, A. .
  (1974). Cultural democracy, bicognitive
  development, and
• education. New York Academic Press.

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Stereotyping...

• Stereotyping is Effective When It Is
• Consciously Held
• Descriptive Not Evaluative
• It Is Best First Guess

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Some Common Differencessource Phillips, D.J.
(1990) Overseas Students and Their Impact on the
Changing Face of Professional Education in
Universities, paper presented at the Australian
Association for Research in Education Annual
Conference The Changing Face of Professional
Education, Sydney University.

• Asian and Middle Eastern
• ...Rote learning is common
• ...Non critical reception of information
• ...Students work hard to learn everything
• ...Students are inclined to seek clarification

Western ...Evaluative learning is
preferred ...Critical thought is
expected ...Students selectively learn the
central concepts as well as detail
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• Asian and Middle Eastern

Western ...Students are willing to seek
assistance as part of the learning
process ......Analytical thinking is
encouraged. ...Students are expected to support
opinions with logical argument

• ...Students are inclined to seek clarification
• ...Fewer initiatives are taken
• ...A willingness to accept one interpretation
• ...Overall concepts are seen as important to
  understanding

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LOW CONTEXT (explicit, direct) HIGH CONTEXT
(implicit, indirect)

• Low context communicators scan selectively,
  looking for discrete pieces of information.
• High context communicators take a holistic
  approach and look for meaning in a wide variety
  of cues.

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Halls High-Context and Low-Context Cultural
Framework
High-Context Low-Context China Austria Egypt
Canada France Denmark Italy England Japan Fi
nland Lebanon Germany Saudi Arabia Norway Spai
n Switzerland Syria United States
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Finding meaning across cultures

• When individuals from high context cultures
  communicate they attend to
• Location
• Status (of speakers)
• History (context)
• Relationships

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Finding meaning across cultures (2)

• When individuals from low context cultures
  communicate they look at
• The words used

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Awareness and leveraging diversity

• When is it advantageous to be a high context
  communicator?
• When is it advantageous to be a low context
  communicator?

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What kind of communicator are you?

• Think back to the cultural context inventory
• What questions stood out for you?
• What questions pertain most to the classroom
  environment?

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Memorization and the reproductive approach

• In their investigations into the learning
  behaviour of Chinese students, Beaty, Dall'Alba
  and Marton (1990) identified clear links between
  learning, memorizing and understanding.
• In a further study, Marton, DallAlba and Tse
  (1993) identified two types of memorizing in
  which Chinese participants engaged mechanical
  memorizing and memorizing with understanding.
  They suggest that in the Western context,
  repetition and memorizing are generally viewed as
  learning strategies that do not lead to
  understanding, whilst in the Asian context these
  strategies are viewed differently and tend to be
  intertwined with understanding.
• There is a strong cultural dimensions to
  memorizing in that it is a significant part of
  learning in the Confucian tradition and precedes
  understanding, and should not simply be equated
  to rote learning. Clearly, the distinction
  between deep and surface learning approaches (as
  defined by Biggs, 1987a 1987b) are not as
  readily differentiated in these cultural contexts

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Comparing The Frameworks

• Represent average behavior within a culture
• Countries classified similarly may still be very
  different
• Reliability may vary
• Range of differences on any dimension exists
  within the population of a single country
• Can explain differences in individual peoples
  behavior within the same country

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Hofstede's Dimensions of Cultural Values

• Focuses specifically on work-related values
• Developed in 1980 with data over 116,000
  employees in 72 countries
• Average scores for each country used to develop
  national profiles to explain differences in work
  behaviours

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Individualism/Collectivism

• Individualistic
• People have concern for themselves and their
  immediate families
• Collectivistic
• People value the overall good of the group

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Individualism

• Individualistic tendencies that favour personal
  goals over the collective, self-sufficiency and
  task orientation and focus can...reduce students
  ability to take part in the creation of a social
  learning context
• -Source Bridging cultures in our schools new
  approaches that work. Wested.org

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Individualism

• On the other hand, individualistic characteristic
  that rely more on words to interpret meaning
  (Hall), a greater competence for earning group
  membership and an ability to establish non
  intimate, short term relationships factor
  positivity into forming the needed interactions
  in a learning setting
• -Source Cultural influences in personality,
  Annual Review of Psychology, 53 pgs 133-160

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Collectivist

• The importance of group identity over individual
  identity, a focus on social obligations and
  acceptance of communal interpersonal relations
  all provide support for collaborative
  interactions necessary in a learning environment
• -Source The many dimensions of culture. The
  Academy of Management Executive, 18(1), pgs88-93

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Collectivist

• However, a lack of skill for entering into new
  groups and a focus on more intimate and longterm
  relationships can create barriers to effective
  learning when it is necessary to enter into short
  term team learning arrangements

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Individualistic and Collectivism

• Individualistic
• USA
• Canada
• UK
• Germany
• Israel

• Collectivist
• Japan
• Thailand
• Middle Eastern region nations

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Students With A Tendency...

• ...towards a more individualistic, lower context
  approach do best and feel most comfortable in a
  learning environment that is
• self directed
• Asynchronous
• More text based
• Less structured

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Some Examples...

• Some Of Mine...
• Posting course notes on line
• Making use of a number of complimentary articles
  and handouts
• Assigning individual cases and work
• What Are Some You Can Think of?

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Students With A Tendency...

• ...towards a more collectivist, higher context
  approach do best and feel most comfortable in a
  learning environment that is
• Team Based
• Synchronous
• More Structured

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Some Examples...

• Some Of Mine...
• Using video and audio case studies
• Creating team/partner based activities
• What Are Some You Can Think of?

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Power Distance

• The extent to which less powerful members of
  organizations accept that power is unequally
  distributed
• Small
• Less comfortable with power differences
• Large
• Differences among people with different ranks are
  acceptable

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Uncertainty Avoidance

• Indicates preferred amount of structure
• Strong
• People prefer more structure
• Weak
• People prefer unstructured situations

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Masculinity/Femininity

• Extent to which people prefer traditional male
  or female values
• Masculine
• Tough values dominant - success, money,
  status, competition
• Feminine
• Tender values dominant - personal
  relationships, care for others, quality of life,
  service

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The Chinese Value Survey

• Reaction to the Hofstede study
• Developed in Chinese based on traditional
  Chinese values
• Translated and administered to students in 23
  countries
• 4 dimensions, 3 match Hofstede (PD, I/C, and
  M/F) plus Confucian Work Dynamism

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Long-term/Short-term Orientation

• High Confucian work dynamism/Long-term oriented
• Concern with future, value thrift and persistence
• Low Confucian work dynamism/Short-term oriented
• Oriented toward past and present, respect for
  tradition but here and now is most important

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Trompenaars Dimensions of Culture

• Dimensions represent how societies develop
  approaches to managing problems and difficult
  situations
• Over a 14 year period, data collected from over
  46,000 managers representing more than 40
  national cultures

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Universalism Versus Particularism

• Universal
• Judgment of what is good or true applies to every
  situation
• Particularist
• Circumstances and relationships influence
  judgments of what is good or true

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The Car Accident

• What Right Does Your Friend Have To Ask You To
  Lie?

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Individualism Versus Communitarianism

• Individualist
• Focus on self, personal freedom, and
  competitiveness
• Communitarian
• Emphasizes group membership, social
  responsibility, harmonious relationships, and
  cooperation

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Achieved Status Versus Ascribed Status

• Achievement
• Emphasize attainment of position and influence
  through a demonstration of expertise
• Ascription
• Believe people are born into influence, and who
  you are, your potential, and your connections are
  all important

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Sequential Time Versus Synchronous Time

• Sequential
• Do one thing at a time, make appointments and
  arrive on time, and generally stick to schedules.
  
• Synchronic
• Do several activities simultaneously, the time
  for appointments is approximate, and
  interpersonal relationships are more important
  than schedules

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My years in Asia A Case study

• The Course Intercultural Business Communication
• The syllabus
• Introduction to cultural concepts and their
  impact on business
• Presentation skills
• Meetings
• Negotiation skills
• People management skills e.g. feedback

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The students

• 100 Hong Kong Chinese
• Full-time business people taking evening classes
• 50 worked with non-Chinese in multinationals

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The Learning Objectives

• Understand and manage the impact of culture on
• Daily Business Communication (meetings written
  documentation e.g., e-mail)
• Negotiations (what is a win-win in different
  cultures? How to show respect in these cultures
• Presentations (developing an awareness of who
  they are presenting to and tailoring their style
  to suit their audience)

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Using cultural dimensions to design the class

• High Power Distance
• High Uncertainty Avoidance
• High Collective Mentality
• High Context Communicators
• Relationship driven
• Discomfort around expressing dissent (face
  issues)

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Role of Professor

• Hierarchic classroom
• The professor is the holder of the knowledge
• Lecturing is mandatory
• Questioning the teacher is unacceptable
• Thinking through the questions is important as
  students will ask many clarifying questions
• Key values involved Respect, Face (giving and
  sensitivity around losing face), loyalty

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Uncertainty Avoidance

• Samples are crucial
• Clear understanding of the expectations
• Openness to questions (alleviate their fear)
• Build up to the final task (break the skill down
  and give students many opportunities to practice
  with your feedback without the stress of
  grades.

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Classroom dynamics

• Group work is preferred (challenges with time
  management)
• Beware of existing relationships and therefore
  conflicting loyalties
• Challenge of uneven distribution of work in
  groups
• Values involved Loyalty, Face, Group Harmony

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High context communication in classroom

• Understanding is negotiated so questions around
  comprehension are important
• Challenge if the students are uncomfortable
  checking in with the professor (can lead to
  interesting interpretations)
• Relationship management is key while
  collaborating on tasks
• There is a lot of shared understanding since they
  all come from the same culture
• High context people are apt to get impatient and
  irritated when low-context people insist on
  giving them information they dont need and low
  context people are at a loss when high context
  people do not provide enough information (Hall,
  1990, page 9)

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Understanding the Hong Kong context

• British colony until 1997
• Mix of Western and Asian influences
• Role of first language (Cantonese)
• Do not hear intonation
• Different discourse structure
• Present thesis at the end
• Tendency to present both sides of the argument
  throughout their papers
• British influence
• Spelling
• Expressions (many Victorian words no longer in
  use in North America)
• Prepositions

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What Does All This Mean?

• How can we take an understanding of culture and
  incorporate it into our own educational efforts?

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• Q A

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Let's Keep In Touch!

• Scott Ruddick
• I sruddick.wordpress.com
• P 905 592 1852
• E scottruddick_at_gmail.com
• S sruddick

• Natalie Richter
• I www.NatalieRichter.com
• P 416-454-5254
• E Natalie_at_NatalieRichter.com