I directly
involved in an intercultural conflict when I was in high school. It happened in
my English class in an English education center in Hanoi. My teacher is
American. Students in the class are mostly high school students, undergrads and
postgraduates. The conflict happened during the discussion session in class. When
the teacher asked the class for their opinions, none of the students said anything.
The teacher kept asking but no one dared to speak. He stopped asking and his
face was so red. The awkward silence lasted for few minutes till the teacher
said “Excuse me” and went out of the room. We were all shocked and decided to
have the oldest student in the class to go talking to the teacher. Still, the
class at that day was canceled. In the following lesson, the teacher shared to
us that he had talked to his Vietnamese friends and understood why we did not
speak during the discussion. However, he encouraged to be more active and participated
in the discussion, at least just in our class. Afterwards, the situation got
better. Although we all were still quite shy, we eventually spoke more in the
class.
The reason
for the conflict is the difference between Vietnam and US education. In Vietnam,
education is teacher-centered. Teachers are gurus who transfer personal wisdom
and initiate all communication in the class. Students are expected to respect
teachers by listening and doing what they are told to do. Also, discussion
between teachers and students is not encouraged in class. On the other hand, US
education is student-centered according to what the teacher shared with us. Teachers
and students are equal. Students can initiate some communication in the class. And
teachers are experts who transfer impersonal truths and their main role is to
help students to learn.
What I
learned from the conflict is adaptation. In intercultural communication, it is
not about which is better or what is right or wrong, but it is how one person
can adapt to the situation that counts.
Hi Jung,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I've heard about the US education before. For example I heard that one teacher at Harvard came to the first lecture and asked the students:
"Hi, do you have any questions?"
And if no one asked any questions then he said
"Lecture is over for the day, see you next time."
In Sweden I think we are somewhere in between. We are encouraged to ask questions and answer questions from the teacher, but most of the time the teacher has a presentation.
Hi Jung,
ReplyDeleteI guess most us here in Singapore can relate to that particular incident seeing that we are Asians too.
Asians in particular are submissive to authority. We tend to have a high power distance in our Asian society as compared to our western counterparts. Due to this high power distance, relations in classrooms tend to be more autocratic and paternalistic. Westerners, on the other hand tend to have relations that are more consultative and democratic, which is why they value class participation and openness.
To add on to Patrik’s comment, I feel Singapore is in between as well. Although we are Asian and we value authority, however it is increasingly becoming more participatory than in the past. This is evident in the shift of emphasis on more communicative skills n the classroom where students are encouraged to speak up and add value to the class discussion. Many of our grades are now determined by ‘class participation’ marks.
I spotted some mistakes
1) He stopped asking and his face was so red. >> His stopped asking and we noticed his face was getting redder.
2) We were all shocked and decided to have the oldest student in the class to go talking to the teacher. >> ….oldest student in the class to go out and talk to the teacher.
3) The reason for the conflict is the difference between Vietnam and US education. >> The reason for the conflict due to the differences between the Vietnamese and American education culture.
Hi Jung,
ReplyDeleteI was very surprised to read your post. I duly understand the fact that Asians respect their elders and do not interrupt or contradict them. However, don't you agree that it is disrespectful not to respond when someone is speaking to you?
I see that no one speaks in a class in Vietnam when the teacher is teaching or when he/she is not asked, but what about answering questions if the teacher asks you?
I may be wrong in addressing this issue and might also be affected by my own cultural understanding, but I am happy that your situation got better. Both the parties understood the reason for the awkwardness and moved on with it.
Consider changing:
1) Still, the class at that day was canceled.
>> Still the class on that day was cancelled.
2)However, he encouraged to be more active and participated in the discussion, at least just in our class.
>> However, he encouraged us to be more active and participative in the discussion, at least for his class.
Jung, to make your post more effective take care of the tense you are using. It should be constant throughout the part you describe the situation.
Thanks for sharing this experience, will help me if I visit Vietnam..
Aditi
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bringing up an interesting issue in this post, Jung, that of classroom expectations, both those of a teacher and students. You do a fairly good job of describing the scenario, although like Aditi stated, your verb tense usage is not consistent. Despite the language issues though, your message is clearly and concisely communicated. I can easily relate to what you have described because in some of my previous teaching situations I've had similar experiences: a deathly silence from students. However, I discovered that as a teacher I too need to adapt, and I have. Rarely do I now simply pose a question to students. Instead, I would now put students in small groups (such as a blog group) or a class team and have them address my questions amongst themselves first. Or I might even have those groups develop their own questions (like in our research project). In fact, that is truly student-centered, or not?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your teacher in Hanoi ever adapted...
Hi Jung,
ReplyDeleteA very interesting post. You pointed out the differences between the student centric and teacher centric system clearly. I do agree with you on how a teacher centric system inhibits students from being open about doubts and questions. And silence is usually a mark of respect.
Infact the Indian system is modernizing. It is trying to move towards a student centric system. So currently a balance of both now.
Hello Jung,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I can really relate to the incident you described as my country's education system is also teacher centric. Teachers rarely encourage student discussions and it's mostly a one way communication process and not interactive at all. This is indeed a big cultural difference between schools in the West and schools here.
However, if a teacher is your guru and you must do as he commands, shouldn't you also answer when he demands an answer? I know students in Asia are not used to speaking in classrooms but if the teacher asks a question then students must answer even if it's out of respect for the teacher. To me, being silent while the teacher is waiting for an answer is equally, if not more, disrespectful.
Apart from the few hiccups in language I think your post was very interesting. I can clearly see you improving as a writer as you were able to convey your thoughts so well and clearly through this post. All the best for the next post!
Thanks