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To submit an article of Intercultural Interest, please contact Andrea Brooks
Submitted by Patricia Golemon
Culture is defined as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another" (Hofstede). Michelle Duryea adds an important note that cultural differences "are commonly thought to be associated with race and ethnicity but . . . may flow from age, gender, socioeconomic status, national origin, recency of immigration, sexual orientation, and disability." So intercultural communication occurs when people of different cultures come together: we and our grandparents, our children, our immigrant neighbors, and especially our students.
Intercultural communication is an emerging discipline having roots in the fields of linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and psychology. We must recognize its importance-our capability for intercultural communication will determine our future well-being and that of our planet. For educators, understanding this equation should prompt us to re-examine our classroom approach. Knowledge of a student's culture can make us more effective teaching them, and can serve as a model in how to communicate across cultural barriers.
My interest in this topic springs from my school, the University of Houston Downtown, an urban campus. Our roughly 10,000 students are 33% Hispanic, 29% black, 25% white, 11% Asian, and .5% American Indian. Our students come from Mexico, Cuba, Central and South America, Spain; Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq. The students are 59% female and 41% male, and their average age is 26. More than 52% are part-time students. Recently our campus was reported as the most culturally diverse in the U. S. by The Houston Chronicle.
In their book Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace, Iris
Varner and Linda Beamer note that cultural values affect the way individuals
judge the behavior of others. Not understanding students' cultures will certainly
result in lack of understanding their behavior. In this discussion I will
suggest some major differences in intercultural perception and how these
might appear in students' classroom behavior. Different cultures misunderstand
each other because they have varying views on basic human problems that each
society must solve to continue as a coherent whole: their relation to authority;
the relationship of individuals to society and between genders; and their
ways of resolving conflict, including controlling aggression and expressing
feelings (Inkeles and Levinson, 447). The following are some areas where
intercultural knowledge can be helpful to teachers.
Time
Views of time vary from time as linear or monochronic (Hall's term) to time
as circular or polychronic. People with a monochronic view of time emphasize
schedules, segmenting activity, and promptness. People on polychronic time
do several things at once. They value involving themselves with others and
completing tasks over keeping schedules. People in Latin America, the Middle
East and around the Mediterranean tend to be on polychronic time, as well
as American Indians and Blacks . They don't queue up in an orderly fashion;in
fact, they do very little in any sort of order discernable to M-timers. They
ignore appointments or come very late. They change their schedules constantly.
All this is very distressing to order-loving, schedule-keeping monochronics.
Now consider how a person on P-time, as Hall calls it, might approach a class
in a culture on M-time. This person might show up days or even weeks late for
the beginning of the term. Due dates on assignments might seem quite flexible
to this person, particularly if a work schedule is being balanced simultaneously.
Even the class's beginning time might not seem very important; after all,
traffic or another responsibility might well interfere. The student feels no sense of urgency about such things, and is
puzzled by those who do-the teacher, for example.
Power Distribution
Geert Hofstede's first and arguably most significant cultural category describes
how power is shared in a culture- whether a culture operates mostly vertically,
with power aggregated at the top and a large distance between the powerful/rich
and the peons, or whether power is shared and operates somewhat
horizontally. Countries with large power distances include Malaysia, Guatemala,
Panama, the Philippines, Mexico, Venezuela, Arab countries, Equador, Indonesia,
India, West Africa, Yugoslavia, Singapore, Brazil, France. Countries with smaller
power distances include Austria, Israel, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Ireland,
Britain, Germany, Canada, and the USA. Children in large power distance cultures
are expected to obey their parents and respect elders. Parents retain their
authority over children as long as they live; even an adult child retains
close contact and defers to parents and grandparents. In contrast, in small
power distance environments children
are encouraged early to become independent. The parents' goal is to allow the
children to control their choices and experiment; children learn to say "no" early
and often. In such cultures one's status does not depend on age or family,
particularly, and formal respect and deference are not automatically accorded
to others. Grown children may become friends with their parents, but they do
not defer to them. In a classroom, students from large power distance cultures
will be hesitant to offer opinions. They defer to elders, and obey, but don't
initiate activity or consider their opinions or ideas important. They will
not participate in a class discussion unless addressed directly. They expect
the teacher to transmit knowledge to them, primarily in lectures, where they remain silent. They will not interrupt even if they don't understand what is
being said.
Individuals/Groups
Most people live in societies where the group interest prevails over that of
individuals; these can be called collectivist societies. In such societies
families often live in large groups, called extended families, which may
include the primary family group, parents and children, as well as aunts,
uncles, grandparents, or cousins. Children grow up thinking of themselves
and their families as "we" and those not related to them as "they." As
Hofstede notes, the "'we' group (or in-group) is the major source of
one's identity, and the only secure protection one has against the hardships
of life. Therefore one owes lifelong loyalty to one's in-group, and breaking
this loyalty is one of the worst things a person can do" (1991, 50).
Examples of collectivist societies include most of those in Central and South
America, as well as Indonesia, Pakistan, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore,
West Africa, and Hong Kong.
The remainder of us, the minority, live in cultures where the individual's rights are more important than those of the group. These individualist societies live in primary family groups, called nuclear families, consisting of one or two parents and children. Children in these families learn to think of themselves as "I." Their "I" is their personal identity, distinct from the "I" of others, who are also seen as individuals. Children choose their companions by personal preference. Since the purpose of education is for the child to become independent, they leave home as soon as they can. After leaving home, individuals often greatly reduce or break off contact with family members. Being dependent on a group is decidedly unhealthy in individualist societies such as the US, Australia, Great Britain, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scandinavia, South Africa, France, and Ireland. In a collectivist culture harmony is the primary goal. One can see how this would be necessary with large groups of people living under one roof. A person who directly confronts another is rude and antisocial. For example, if asked to perform an unpleasant or unacceptable task by a parent, the 'good' child will agree to do so. Whether the child actually completes the task is less important. People in these cultures seldom or never say "no." They may say "we'll think about it," or "you may be right," but they will not say "you are wrong" or even "no" when asked to do something inappropriate. The other person must understand that unspoken "no" and avoid confrontation. Students from such a culture, who likely speak English as a second language (ESL), will not say to a teacher "I don't understand" because that is saying both "no" and "you have not explained this adequately," two statements impossible to make. The teacher must continue to offer help until the student demonstrates understanding in responses or work products. Schooling in a collectivist culture prepares students to live in groups; skills necessary to a valuable group member are important.
Tradition is valued more than new ideas (usually perceived as negative). Learning is a one-time process reserved for young people about to begin their lives needing to know how to be socially useful. Collectivist students will be reluctant to speak in a group without a teacher present, especially if the group contains strangers. However, some will contribute to work in small groups when they are allowed to choose their co-workers. Perhaps as members of a group, albeit small, they feel comfortable in speaking and even in presenting the opinion of their small group to the larger one.
Names
Students from other cultures have names very different to ours which may seem
difficult to pronounce. However, the teacher must pronounce the name properly
to accord respect to the student. Students will help you learn their names,
and many adopt western names to avoid the embarrassment of having their name
mispronounced. Further, many cultures do not use the family, or surname.
When they come west they append a surname because it's required in our identification
systems. For example, Vietnamese do not use surnames. Those who immigrate here
take one representing their family, but the country has very few surnames from
which to choose. This is why so many Vietnamese, and other Asians, have the
same surname. Don't assume they are related. Nguyen (pronounced win) is the
Vietnamese equivalent of Smith or Jones.
Truth/Fairness
Scholars maintain that Latin Americans believe the societal norm is inequality (Hofstede, Castaneda). What this means is that the law, or any policy
or regulation, is applied differently to each person depending on that person's
social standing. "This particularism creates in Latin America what legal
and social scholars label 'dual morality'" (Thatcher, 370). This dual
morality, found in many cultures with high power distances, creates different
expectations about the application of law between the familiar group and outsiders.
These different cultures' approaches to writing reflect their attitudes towards the law. The Latin American culture values discussion, by which they
can explore every scenario they can imagine to arise in a given situation.
They do not write down procedures because their experience with written rules
has been unpleasant and restrictive: they cannot act to manage variations
when written directives covering them don't exist. In contrast, the US culture
embraces written guidelines, within which a person is expected to use personal
initiative to accommodate variations.
Some theorists have argued that "the major difference in interpersonal
relationship in the US and Latin America is that Latin Americans require 'personal,
individualized attention rather than being treated in a standardized way'" (335,
Rosita Albert). What this can mean in a classroom is that some students will
need individual explanations of a written assignment, no matter how clearly
written. Others may feel the rules do not apply to them.
Phrasal Verbs
This aspect is part of our culture troublesome to students learning to speak
and write English. As Emily Thrush explains, international students have
problems with verbs followed by a preposition, a very common English usage.
These essentially are idioms but are not taught as such and are much more
difficult to learn than a one-word synonym. Even advanced non-native speakers
of English will not know these usages. These verbs are unfortunately recommended
in many "plain" or "simple" English practices.
Examples include
A bid set out in ... Turn in your papers . . .Fill out this form
Stir up the batter.. Turn down the claim..
Put up your poster
Students will understand teachers much better if teachers avoid such usages both in printed and spoken instructions, or always accompany them with a one-word synonym.
How do people learn to communicate across cultures? Milton Bennett (1993)
studied the progression people make as they are exposed to cultural differences,
and proposed a continuum of intercultural sensitivity. At either end are the
opposing beliefs of ethnocentrism-all cultures are like mine-and ethnorelativism-all
cultures are relative to each other. He posits six steps in the progression:
1. Denial of difference, the inability to construe cultural differences;
2. Defense against difference, recognition of difference and negative evaluation
of variations from individual's own culture;
3. Minimization of difference, recognition and acceptance of superficial differences
(eating, dress), while insisting that all people are essentially the same;
4. Acceptance of difference, recognition and appreciation of cultural differences
in behavior and values, and the beginning of ability to interpret phenomena
within context;
5. Adaptation to difference, development of communication skills enabling intercultural communication, effective use of empathy to understand
and be understood across cultural boundaries;
6. Integration of difference, internalization of bicultural or multicultural
frames of reference, having an identity marginal in any particular culture, seeing oneself as "in process."
While one need not go all the way to the sixth level of intercultural awareness, one must get at least to level four, and preferably to levelfive, to successfully communicate across cultural barriers.
Possible Inferences
No one can be expected to remember the various differences for each country,
and even if one could, every student from a culture is not the same. However,
teachers should understand these general differences and recognize them so
they can use different tactics when needed. For example, my classes in our
Professional Writing program are in
classrooms with computers and are operated as workshops; I spend a short time
going over the assigned reading material and then students work in small groups
(between 3-5) on assignments using that material. While the students work I
walk around to each group, watching them for a minute, then ask for questions
or offer help. We began having students work in groups at UHD after employers
noted that many can only work alone, and very seldom does a person in a large
company work entirely alone. The practice has had many benefits:
* students who won't ask questions are grouped with those who will
*students experience working with individuals from other cultures,
*non-native speakers learn idiomatic English from the natives.
This kind of interaction can best be accomplished if one can spend
individual time with students. However, using computers to augment in-class
time, as in Web CT courses, might accomplish the same end. Teachers should
keep trying to find what works best, and use their intuition. Forget logic.
No culture is logical, not even yours.
Submitted by Patricia Golemon
Patricia Golemon is an Assistant Professor in the Professional Writing program at UH-Downtown. She is a student of Intercultural Communication at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
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