INDIVIDUALISM vs. COLLECTIVISM
AND EFL/ESL CLASSROOMS
Studying a little bit about individualist and collectivist cultures makes me think how challenging can be to be a teacher. It is not just to know what to teach, and how to assess the students' knowledge. It is a mission. Students are complex creatures living in a complicated world, and we, the teachers, need to help them to survive.
When we analyze the individualist and collectivist cultures we can learn important differences. Countries where individualism is predominant, values as self-sufficiency, self-determination, self-competence, self-direction, self-reliance, and self-responsibility are encouraged. Children are heard and their opinions are considered, and students are encouraged to be creative. On the other hand, countries where collectivism is predominant, students are encouraged to memorize information and to study to get high scores. Citizens are a part of a whole. Success is attributed to all, as well as failure.
Professor Ivers exemplified the situation above through the story of the Japanese baseball players. They were all punished for a car accident because the driver was drunk. And after that, their parents and coach publicly apologized to the community. In an individualist country, the driver would be the only one punished.
Individualist and collectivist characteristics can cause misunderstanding in our classrooms. For example, if an Oriental student did not look at me while I was talking to him/her, I would consider it disrespect. However, now I know that Oriental students show respect for elderly not looking in the eyes during the conversation. This knowledge is as important to teachers as to other students. As teachers, we must show these differences to our students and connect them to other realities.
How can we manage individualistic and collectivistic characteristics in our EFL/ESL classroom?
I believe respect and knowledge can help teachers involve all students in a successful teaching-learning process. Teachers must know these differences, teach and respect them.
It is true Isabelle, we have a lot of students from different cultures in classroom. I agree in part with Brother Ivers about Japanese Culture. I had a class with 4 Japanese students, and they did not fell responsible of other fellows. They focus in their goals individually. They said the new generation is too different from the old ones. I thin Western culture has influenced a lot other cultures. What do you think?
ResponderExcluirI think so. With internet inside our lives, it is difficult does not succumb to some influences.
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