Researching Cultures of Learning

International Perspectives on Language Learning and Education

Lixian Jin, M. Cortazzi

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781137296344
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Comparative Education

This edited book examines cultures of learning from the perspectives of education, applied linguistics and language learning. The concept can be used to explore socio-cultural features of language learning and use contexts in educational institutions, and cultural practices of pedagogic activities and classroom interaction.

Part 1

Some Issues of Research and Its Application

1

Cultures of Learning: An Evolving Concept and an Expanding Field

Yuan Yuan and Qun Xie

Cultures of learning, as a concept, suggests that learning is cultural (as well as psychological) and that people from different cultural groups might therefore learn in different ways. The concept focuses on the cultural values, expectations and interpretations relating to learning which are shared within a cultural community. Further, it proposes positive strategies for teachers and students to learn from each other about learning, and to recognize, appreciate and value different approaches, especially in intercultural contexts in which participants who use different cultural ways of learning engage with each other. This goes beyond ‘learning how to learn’; it asserts a need for both teachers and students to learn from different ways of learning and thus implies the value of different voices. Cultures of learning is a positive concept for both learner development of their individuality, social identity and awareness of others, and for teacher development of professional insights into alternative ways of learning.

The related concept for cultural synergy stresses reciprocal learning between and among different students and teachers through raising awareness and engaging in reflection. It suggests the importance of a dialogue about ways of learning: such a dialogue becomes more than the sum of the differences and will develop local, contextualized ways of learning. In contexts of the globalization of learning, this allows a strong role for local voices and values.

In this chapter we trace the research related to cultures of learning carried out by Lixian Jin, Martin Cortazzi and others between 1990 and 2012.

1.1 The context: Stereotyped Chinese learners

Briefly, the context of the proposal for the concepts of cultures of learning and cultural synergy stems from an encounter with a predominant misunderstanding of Chinese learners in the literature about international students. The central purpose of the concept of cultures of learning is to counter the stereotypes about Chinese learners in the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) profession by portraying their ways of learning using insider voices. Since the 1980s, the developments within the global economy, with greatly increased migration patterns and international movements of students and teachers, has resulted in an increasing interest in understanding ESL learners (using English as a Second Language) in Western classrooms. The large number of Chinese students studying in Western classrooms provokes a research interest in Chinese learners; in applied linguistics there has been an emerging discourse on ‘Chinese learners’, ‘Asian learners’, or sometimes ‘East Asians’. These discourses have constructed Chinese learners as a stereotyped group who are obedient to teachers’ authority, passive in class, lacking in critical thinking and adopt inadequate learning strategies (Atkinson, 1997; Ballard & Clanchy, 1991; Carson, 1992; Flowerdew, 1998; Fox, 1994). Meanwhile, some scholars have observed that stereotyping Chinese or other Asian learners can have a disastrous effect on pedagogy. Alast Pennycook (1998), in a critique that includes data from mainland China and Hong Kong, argues that colonial stereotypes of the ‘Other’ continue to resurface in public discourse such as travel writing and the media, thus influencing the ways in which Western educators form opinion about, position and ‘fix’ their students. Likewise, ‘Some unreflected response might take all these testimonies from the Chinese learners as an easy ideological proof that they are more immature, passive, illiterate and less sophisticated than [W]estern learners’ (Klitgard, 2011: p. 177). The overwhelming conclusion sets the relationship between educators and students as one of power status, which in fact results in anxiety among students in the classroom (Tsui, 1996). Such a misunderstanding of Chinese learners could result in an impasse of teaching and learning in international contexts. A two-fold solution is to examine insider perspectives on learners from China and take the diversity of Chinese learners into consideration.

1.2 Phases in investigating culture of learning

Based on a series of empirical studies on Chinese learners, Jin and Cortazzi point out how the traditional perspective of the isolated and distinct Chinese learner is a fallacy. The negative attitudes towards Chinese learners, as apparently held by some Western educators, should not be attributed to the students’ or educators’ personalities; instead, educators should recognize the cultural orientations to learning in language and in other subject classrooms. Jin and Cortazzi argue that a different cultural orientation, whether a particular Western or a Chinese one, should not imply in itself either inferiority or superiority, but needs to be understood empathetically as something from which educators can learn. If, when and how Chinese students may adapt, modify or transform this orientation (say in Western educational institutions) is a separate question which can best be examined when we have a research-based understanding of the two (or more) cultural orientations. In order to argue for this perspective more convincingly, Jin and Cortazzi explore three phases: first, awakening cultural awareness by providing snapshots of the cultural gap between Chinese learners and British academic staff; second, proposing solutions after critically examining the relative models of learning; and, in the third phase, developing possible solutions by scrutinizing the key elements of cultures of learning from various angles, using several research methods. Based on findings from a series of studies, they criticize the stereotyping of Chinese learners and argue for respect and greater equality in multicultural and international contexts (by definition, TESOL is inevitably situated in such multiple contexts).

The underlying questions, as exemplified in relation to Chinese learners, that Jin and Cortazzi have asked are:

(1)Chinese learners of English are constantly measured against native speakers, for example as passive versus active learners. What are the appropriate cultural standards for investigations in applied linguistics and education research?

(2)What kinds of features in classroom interaction are crucial in understanding Chinese learners’ behaviour in language learning and language use?

(3)What kinds of stance or attitudes should educators take in encountering the diversity of Chinese learners internationally?

1.3 Awakening cultural awareness

To awaken cultural awareness, Jin and Cortazzi first explored cultural differences in attitudes and behaviour between Chinese postgraduate learners in the United Kingdom and their British academic tutors and supervisors (teachers). Drawing on data gathered through questionnaires and interviews with a sample of 101 students, Jin and Cortazzi (1993, 1996) outline some major features of the cultural orientation of Chinese postgraduate students and visiting scholars studying at six British universities and one polytechnic (which later became a university). They focus on the students’ experiences and beliefs about academic culture, their expectations of learning and teaching, their academic language use (ALU) and their orientation to teacher–student relationships. This is contrasted with the cultural orientation of 37 British academic staff, who taught the students and also completed questionnaires and were interviewed.

The results of these studies demonstrated that there was an academic cultural gap between Chinese students and their British teachers. Such a cultural gap is exemplified in the two parties’ perceptions of the tutor–student relationships; in asking for help or expecting an offer of help; in being independent or dependent; and in discourse patterns in writing.

For example, Chinese students show great respect towards supervisors, who are expected to be moral and social leaders and, therefore, their relationship is considered similar to parent-and-child relationships; students expected to be offered help and to receive care in the community whereas, for the British teachers, offering help unasked was considered intrusive: students should show independence rather than rely on a kind of parental guidance; academic leadership is separated professionally from social and moral leadership (which is more likely a personal matter). This relationship can explain some reasons why Chinese students seldom report their difficulties to teachers and why British teachers rarely ask in detail about the students’ difficulties in learning and living. Meanwhile, Chinese discourse patterns in writing were often different from the ones expected in English. These findings interpret difficulties and problems that Chinese learners have in English academic writing and in studying in Britain in terms of academic–culture gaps, which participants on either side often felt but were unable to make explicit easily because they were not fully aware of the differing perspectives and cultural orientations.

This work on culture awareness created the groundwork to develop the concept of cultures of learning.

1.4 Cultures of learning

A series of papers published in the 1990s by Jin and Cortazzi provided the needed theoretical support for differing conceptions of cultures of learning. In the concept of cultures of learning, the word culture is central. In the TESOL and applied linguistics literature, culture is a term that often has been overlooked or taken for granted. Jin and Cortazzi defined a culture of learning through combinations of a wide range of features:

A ‘culture of learning’ might be defined as socially transmitted expectations, beliefs and values about what good learning is, what constitutes a good teacher and a good student and what their roles and relationships should be; about learning and teaching styles, approaches and methods; about classroom interaction and activities; about the use of textbooks; about what constitutes good work. (Cortazzi & Jin, 1996a, 1996b; Jin & Cortazzi, 1993, 1995)

Thus, the concept of cultures of learning includes a cluster of values, expectations, attitudes of both learners and teachers within the teaching context. To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of what the concept of cultures of learning means in practice, Jin and Cortazzi, in different contexts, adopted various research methodologies and approached the key elements in terms of expectations: of learning; of good teachers; of good students; of asking questions in classrooms.

Jin’s and Cortazzi’s survey-based study (1998c) indicates significant statistical differences in the perceptions of Chinese, British and Japanese students concerning the expectations of a good teacher, a good student and students’ explanations of why students do not ask questions in class. This survey shows that for the Chinese and Japanese students, a deep knowledge, warm heartedness and understanding are considered as dominant expectations of a good teacher; these contrasted with a British emphasis on various personal qualities and professional skills with which teachers relate to learners. Based on such results, Jin and Cortazzi infer a teacher knowledge-pedagogy contrast in which ‘the Chinese and Japanese students’ cultures of learning seem more knowledge-centred, while the British culture of learning centres more on skills, methods and organization’ (p. 46).

The implication is reinforced by the differing perceptions of a good student. The survey results about student perceptions of good students reveals that being hard working and showing respect to the teacher are highly valued by the Chinese students, while the British students emphasize paying attention to the teacher, and Japanese students value the development of good character and asking questions in class. The results are intriguing: both the Chinese and Japanese students place significantly more emphasis than the British do on answering teachers’ questions, on asking questions after class (rather than in class), and place significantly more emphasis on asking questions in class and volunteering comments in class. These results are in contrast to the comments often heard from Western teachers that East Asian students are ‘passive’ and that it is difficult to stimulate them to engage in ‘active participation’. For the Chinese students, however, ‘being active’ includes paying close attention, listening well, and thinking about what the teacher is saying. Jin and Cortazzi (1998c) conclude that expectations of teachers and students clearly affect learning in intercultural classrooms. ‘Cultures of learning define the ways in which learning takes place, they define how teachers and students deal with the curriculum and with each other, they define how classroom participants learn intercultural communication’ (p. 57).

The evidence was extended in studies comparing Chinese, Malaysian, Japanese, Turkish and British students (Cortazzi, 1998, 2000; Cortazzi & Jin, 2001, 2002; Jin & Cortazzi, 2002); these studies show there can be some dissonances and tensions between cultures of learning, while (importantly) there are also shared common elements. The researchers also considered practical ways in which awareness of cultures of learning and communication can be raised (Cortazzi, 1990, 1993; Cortazzi & Jin, 1996c), ways which were developed for student workshops and teacher development programmes they conducted in China, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Turkey and Lebanon.

In order to achieve a more comprehensive picture, they developed the use of various innovative methodologies, including narrative analysis and metaphor analysis. In narrative analysis, Cortazzi and Jin (1992) apply William Labov’s model of narrative to analysing cultural perception. According to Labov (e.g., Labov, 1972; Labov & Waletsky, 1967), there are two main functions of an oral narrative of personal experience: a referential function and an evaluation function. The evaluation function is the key in applying this model to culture studies. In this function, ‘the teller communicates the meaning of the narrative by establishing some point of personal involvement. This is the evaluation: the speaker’s perspective on what it all means. Within most personal stories, one part, at least, can usually be clearly identified as having and evaluative function’ (Cortazzi & Jin, 1994, p. 77). Based on this consideration, Cortazzi and Jin believe that if we analyse large numbers of stories, we can extract the story tellers’ observation and understanding of culture by analysing evaluations in, of and through narrative (Cortazzi & Jin, 2000). For example, Cortazzi (1991) analysed around 1,000 classroom stories from 123 primary school teachers in order to reveal the teachers’ cultural perceptions about their work. Adopting a similar narrative approach, Jin (1992) analysed the British supervisors’ and Chinese students’ cultural orientations with regard to each other, and also their perceptions of British and Chinese academic cultures. Her study illustrates how personal autonomy is highly valued in British academic culture but not necessarily emphasized in other cultures of learning. A further paper by Cortazzi and Jin (1994) aims at introducing narrative analysis in culture studies: they focus on the procedures of applying narrative analysis to cultural observation and understanding, especially how to extract a culture of learning model from the stories. Later, their framework was elaborated within ethnography, comparative education and qualitative research in education (Cortazzi, 2001; Cortazzi & Jin, 2006, 2012) to develop a framework of 19 questions which researchers can ask about narratives.

In more recent work, Cortazzi ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Introduction: Researching Cultures of Learning
• Part I   Some Issues of Research and Its Application
• Part II   Exploring Changes in Cultural Heritages and Learning
• Part III   Learners’ Perceptions and Expectations of Teachers
• Part IV   The Dynamics of Socialization and Motivation in Cultures of Learning
• Index