Different cultures of learning and its influence on teaching and

China and England

Cortazzi & Jin developed a definition for cultures of learning which is widely used by researchers into the area of cultures of learning (Kato 2001, Kennedy 2002, Parris-Kidd and Barnett 2011).

By the term ‘culture of learning’ we mean that much behaviour in language classroom is set within taken-for-granted frameworks of expectations, attitudes, values and beliefs about what constitutes good learning, about how to teach and learn, whether and how to ask questions, what textbooks are for, and how language teaching relates to broader issues of the nature and purpose of education. In many classrooms both teachers and learner are unaware that such a culture of learning may be influencing the process of teaching and learning. A culture of learning is thus part of the hidden curriculum (Cortazzi and Jin 1996b; p. 169).

This definition acknowledges that learners and teachers bring with them a certain culture to language classroom, which might shape how teachers and learners perceive language learning and how they evaluate each other’ roles and

classroom performance (Jin and Cortazzi 1998a, Parris-Kidd and Barnett 2011). Cultures of learning are shaped by the broader cultures within which they exist (Parris-Kidd and Barnett 2011). Chinese culture of learning is different from English culture of learning. Cortazzi & Jin (1996a; p.74) developed a table to illustrate the different emphasis in cultures of learning in China and UK as shown in Table 2.1. Flowerdew and Miller (1995) demonstrates similar

explanations about the difference between Confucian and western culture. This is a very relevant issue to my research because a culture of learning is likely to influence teachers’ and learners’ goals and strategy (Cortazzi and Jin 1996).

Table 2.1 Different emphasis in cultures of learning: China and UK

(Cortazzi and Jin 1996a; p.74)

CHINA UK

Knowledge from teachers & textbooks

Skills

in communicating & learning Collective consciousness

co-ordination, group support, social & moral learning

Individual orientation personal needs, attention,

talent, uniqueness Teaching & learning as performance

pace, variety, presentation, virtuosity

Teaching & learning as organization pairs, groups, activities, tasks Learning through practice &

memorization towards mastery, preparation, repetition,

confidence building

Learning through interaction & construction

experience, activities, tasks, initial creativity

Contextualized communication, listener/reader responsibility

Verbal explicitness speaker/ writer responsibility

for communication Hierarchical relations,

agreement, harmony, face, respect

Horizontal relations discussion, argument, informality Teacher as model

expert, authority, parent, friend, teacher-centred

Teachers as organizer

mentor, guide, helper, learner-centred

Confucian education philosophy has exerted significant influence on Chinese conceptions of education (Hu 2002a). It is well recognized that Confucian values are significant for modern socio-cultural attitudes which affect learning and communication practices (Bond 1991, Watkins and Biggs 1996, Gao and Ting-Toomey 1998, Yao 2000). Chinese significant traditional respect for education and learning is deep-tooted in Chinese people (Jin and Cortazzi 2011a). Education is perceived as both cultivating people and strengthening the nation. Therefore it has become a goal in itself accepted by all members of Chinese society, even by those people who themselves have not received any education

(Cheng 2000, Hu 2002a). Hence in China there is saying ‘everything is low, but education is high’ (wanban jie xiapin weiyou dushu gao) (Hu 2002a). Confucius saw education not only as a means to the satisfaction of full personal

development, but also as social recognition and material reward, offering the possibility of upwards social mobility for everybody, even those from obscure origin (Llasera 1987, Zhu 1992, Lee 1996). Chinese children have been educated when they are very little about the importance of education in their life and this deep-rooted belief that education can change their life has motivated many Chinese children to work hard (Jin and Cortazzi 2011a). That is why the Chinese parents are willing to invest a great deal of time and money to support their children’s studies in secondary and higher education (Jin and Cortazzi 2011a). Hence the importance of English in China has become a key drive for the Chinese parents to send their children to weekend schools to learn English (Gao 2006).

Learning is seen in Chinese culture as a process of knowledge accumulation than as a practical process of constructing and using knowledge for immediate

purposes (Hu 2002a). True knowledge is believed to reside in written texts , especially classics and authoritative works (Scollon 1999, Wang 2001). The learning process in Chinese culture is the unquestioning acceptance of the knowledge transmitted from the teacher and books (Hu 2002a, Jin and Cortazzi 2006). Hence it explains the centrality of textbooks in Chinese education and textbook- based pedagogy in ELT in China which is focused on achieving knowledge of grammar and vocabulary (Jin and Cortazzi 1998a). Another factor related to this is in more collective cultures of learning like China the teacher and

other sources of information, such as textbook are the medium to transmit

knowledge to students (Jin and Cortazzi 1998a, 2006). The environment in which teachers operate has been defined by some researchers (Johnson 1989, Nunan and Lamb 1996, Davidson and Tesh 1997) as two contrasting extremes, i.e. “high structure” environments and “low structure” environments. Chinese teaching environments belongs to the former in which teachers are supposed to follow a comprehensive, pre-specified curriculum, a textbook and examination prescription. Teachers and learners do not have, or very few, curriculum obligations (Wette and Barkhuizen 2009). This working environment does not encourage communicative competence in language learning. This is a factor which might contribute to the lack of communicative competence of the Chinese English learners. In FL learning the deep-rooted perception of education will not lose its impact on the Chinese learners which may help to explain partly why the Chinese learners are reluctant to speak and air their views in class (Cortazzi and Jin 1996a, Wette and Barkhuizen 2009). This hinders the teaching and learning of speaking and listening in English language classes.

In Chinese culture, face saving and maintaining harmony play a very important role in the interactions of Chinese people. People would avoid challenging other people’s statements or pubic disagreement in order to save face for themselves and others (Hall 1976, Hofstede and Bond 1984). Therefore Chinese students are “tolerant and avoid situations where they may cause anybody (both themselves and others) to lose face” (Jin and Cortazzi 2006; p.112). Chinese culture values modesty and standing out will be seen as showing off (Hu 2002a). This might help to explain Chinese students’ reticence in language classes for fear of losing

face in public (Liu and Jackson 2011). The face saving norm prevents Chinese students from being actively involved in discussion and challenging teacher’s opinions which is not helpful in developing communicative competence in MFL learning (Edwards 2007a).

The core theme of Confucius’ idea of benevolence is “Order” which Confucius took it as the basis of a society and the existence and prosperity of a nation. Such ideas of “Order” have exerted influence on the relationship between teachers and students (Cai 2006). Another important feature of traditional Chinese culture on education is its emphasis on maintaining a hierarchical but harmonious relation between teacher and student. Students are expected to respect and not to

challenge their teachers. The reverent status of teacher is reflected in the saying ‘being a teacher for only one day entitles one to lifelong respect from the student that befits his father’ (yiri weishi zhongshen weifu) (Hu 2002a;p.98).” Because of the perceived roles of teachers as authority, model and expert it is difficult for Chinese teachers and students to accept any imported pedagogy that tends to put teachers on an equal position with their students and detracts teacher from authority (Hu 2002a). Hence the teacher-centred approach in English language teaching will not create an environment in which students will discuss, argue with teacher and thus develop a critical thinking and speaking and listening ability in language learning (Cortazzi and Jin 1996b, Hu 2002a).

In the Chinese perception these elements are assumed to be of value in students:  A positive attitude towards learning (Salili 1996) and persistence in

 Unquestioning and respectful acceptance of knowledge received from teachers and books (Cortazzi and Jin 1996b) no judgement should be made from insufficient knowledge (Brick 1991)

 Aspiration to the highest possible academic achievement for the glory of their family and usefulness to the society (guangzong yaozu) (Lee 1996, Salili 1996)

Therefore to achieve all these goals students should treat learning seriously and sacrificially, even when learning seems boring to them. A strong belief in Chinese culture is that a person’s ability is a controllable factor in education and can be achieved through hard work (Salili 1996). Confucius said: “I was not born with knowledge, but being fond of antiquity, I am quick to seek it.” (Lau 1983; p. 153). Confucius believed that it is not innate ability that accounts for success or failure in education. What does matters is effort, determination, steadfastness of purpose, perseverance, and patience (Lee 1996, Biggs 1996a, Biggs 1996b). Thus hardworking is very much valued in Chinese culture. There is a traditional saying which emphasizes that if you put enough effort, you can grind a piece of iron into a needle (Jin and Cortazzi 2011c). The norm of hard working

characterizes many Chinese students with a sense of optimism and confidence in the future combined with a belief in success through hard work (Jin and Cortazzi 2011a). All the above mentioned factors of Chinese cultures of learning and exam-oriented educational system and the washback effect of the National Matriculation English Test (Xiao, Sharpling et al. 2011) have exercised a broad impact on the current ELT pedagogy in China which is still “teacher-dominated, text-book-based and transmission-oriented” (Hu 2005; p. 19). This pedagogy

does not provide a favourable environment for developing learner’s speaking and listening ability in MFL learning.

English cultures of learning, as part of Western culture, have different set of norms, perceptions and ideals (Jin and Cortazzi 1998a). As the classification mentioned above English cultures of learning belong to “low structure”

environment which provides flexible and minimal curriculum pre-specification, allowing teachers and learners freedom to negotiate the curriculum (Wette and Barkhuizen 2009). In such a working environment (Wette and Barkhuizen 2009) and individualized society (Parris-Kidd and Barnett 2011) teachers share

horizontal relations with students (Cortazzi and Jin 1996a) which will foster a learner-centred pedagogy which encourages students to develop their own meaning from the information and experience they come across rather than reproduce the knowledge they have learned (Ngwainmbi 2000, Parris-Kidd and Barnett 2011). Such a culture inspires and encourages originality and creativity and pays attention to learning context and task-based problem solving ability. Many classrooms focus strongly on interaction and student participation

(Parris-Kidd and Barnett 2011) because verbal activity is favoured (Cortazzi and Jin 1996b). In Western culture of learning people believe that ability is fixed, therefore teachers should meet individual needs and students are expected to work at their own level (Cortazzi and Jin 1996b). Teaching and learning as

organization will encourage the use of pair work, group work, activities and tasks. Hence teacher as organizer will serve the role as mentor, guide, helper or

facilitator which is different from Chinese cultures of learning (Cortazzi and Jin 1996a). This underpins the prevailing post-communicative language teaching

approach in England and is enshrined in the policies for language teaching.