Problem Statement
Understanding the impact of culture on student learning is very critical to the provision of good quality education to learners. The global population is made of people with different cultures. In learning institutions, it is common to find a class made up of students and instructors from different communities with different cultural perspectives. Culture defines people’s way of life and comprises beliefs, knowledge, symbols, values, and behaviors. In a learning environment, there is a student’s culture, instructor’s culture, and the culture of people in the surrounding environment. Culture in such a case can be homogenous (where students, instructor, and people of that locality being of the same culture) or heterogeneous (culture not the same in at least one component of learning environment). A study on the effect of culture on student learning is an important aspect of understanding of how an instructor should ensure all students are provided with quality education irrespective of their cultural background. In addition, a study would lead to the identification of strategies or policies that teachers, as well as learning institutions, can employ to facilitate the provision of high-quality education in a multicultural learning environment. Failure to consider the impact of culture on learning may lead to a disjoint between a learner and the instructor or between what is being learned and students’ perception of it.
This paper is going to investigate the impact of culture on student learning by answering a number of questions. (a) Is there a relationship between culture and education? (b) Does culture affect student learning and academic achievement? (c) Can cultural differences have a negative impact on the process of perception and assimilation of information while studying? (d) Are there any similarities and differences in student learning among the representatives of diverse cultural backgrounds? (e) Does culture affect the learning style patterns and characteristics used by students while studying? Answers to these questions will provide a clear understanding of the effect of culture on student learning.
Literature Review
Relationship between culture and education
Education has been described as a process which involves either receiving or giving systematic instructions. In the context of a school environment, this can imply a tutor giving instructions to the students or the students receiving systematic instructions from the teacher. It can happen that the tutor and the student can be of different cultural backgrounds. It can also happen that the students themselves are also from different cultural backgrounds. In school, the interaction between a teacher and a student takes place for a prolonged period of time. Culture can play a role in the nature of the interaction between the teacher and the student. Depending on their cultural backgrounds, the interaction can be positive or negative. Certain teacher’s behavior motivated by culture elicit different views from the learners who are not from that culture. Similarly, certain student’s behavior rooted in culture may elicit different views from the instructor who comes from a different background. It is expected that the nature of the interaction between a teacher and a student of the same cultural background should not affect much on the education because both are used to the accepted norms, values, beliefs, language, symbols, and morals in the community. However, when the teacher and the student are from different cultures, what is accepted in the student’s cultural background may not be acceptable in the teacher’s cultural background. Such a disjoint in cultures may have an impact on education.
The impact of culture on education has attracted a lot of interest. Studies have been carried out to understand the impact of culture on the interaction between a student and a teacher and overall impact on education. It has been found that students’ perception of their teachers can vary depending on their cultural backgrounds. Certain teacher’s behavior associated with his/her cultural background can either motivate or demotivate a student. When a student is motivated, he/she becomes more interested in understanding what is being taught. However, when he/she is demotivated, there is a lack of interest in getting instructions. Ultimately, it is clear that the nature of interaction can influence the student’s achievement. The Cultural background of a student has been studied in relation to both the perception of the interpersonal behavior of their teachers and the context of the learning environment. The students’ performance in a particular subject has been found to be associated with the attitude of the tutor teaching the subject. Previous studies have also linked teacher’s dominance and cooperation with student’s performance. Koul and Fisher (2005) investigated the association between a student’s cultural background and the perception of the teacher and its impact on the class performance. The subjects comprised students and teachers from diverse cultural backgrounds. Koul and Fisher examined aspects such as students’ cohesiveness, teacher support, involvement, investigation, task orientation, cooperation, and equity. Their findings suggest a positive correlation between the students’ cultural background and their interpersonal relationship with the teacher and performance. Their findings were consistent with results of investigations conducted in other countries. Based on these research findings, teachers should, therefore, consider cultural backgrounds when interacting with their students. When the teacher happens to be from a cultural background which is different from that of the learners, he/she should be aware of student’s perception of him/her. The teacher should avoid behaviors which tend to demotivate students and focus on the behavior and attitude which motivate students.
Culture, learning, and academic achievement
Numerous studies have been conducted with a view to understanding the impact of culture on student learning as well as academic achievement. Documented results revealed a number of things. For example, some findings suggest that schools reward learners according to their cultural capital. For example, in one study, the researchers found out that teachers communicate more easily with students who take part in elite status cultures. Further, the teachers not only give them special assistance and attention but they also regard them as more gifted or more intelligent than students who are lacking in cultural capital. Investigations by DjMaggio (1982) confirm that there is a strong association between a learner’s cultural capital and academic success. However, DjMaggio noted that the results were more pronounced in non-technical subjects. Based on these findings, a teacher planning to enhance academic success among the students can modify their behavior and attitude towards students. Such a teacher should not demonstrate bias in the way he/she interact with students. Students lacking in the cultural capital might feel dejected if they find out that the teachers provide more support to children from elite status cultures. DjMaggio’s findings also provide an important idea to teachers who are teaching non-technical subjects that they should be very aware of the impact of culture on the success of their students.
Cultural differences, perceptions and assimilation of information during learning
Teaching a student whose way of viewing the world has been reinforced by cultural beliefs, and practices could become challenging to a teacher. Students might fail in certain subjects, not because of their intellectual ability but because the concepts being taught are not consistent with their cultural beliefs. Given that the cultural beliefs are everyday experience in student’s community, they can become so reinforced in their minds that convincing them to accept a different view could be a challenging endeavor. Ultimately, if such a students are assessed on the subject or topic they view . Differently, they will fail if the answers they provide are not based on what was taught but what is acceptable in their community. This observation is well documented in the works of Sharma (2014). Sharma (2014) sought to find out the impact of the cultural background of learners on their performance in the subject of statistics. Previous studies show that students tend to have perceptions about probability and statistics which tend to affect their ability to learn. There has been a notion that such perceptions are due to the students’ beliefs, attitudes, and values. Sharma sampled 400 high students and presented them with questionnaires and also interviewed some on various topics of statistics. Instead of basing their answers on statistical principles, Sharma found out that the students’ explanation were based on their everyday experiences and beliefs. For example, in the statistical chance of tossing a coin, the student’s explanation of the outcome was based on luck and not statistical explanation. Students mention that the outcome depended on either bad luck or good luck. Further, students associated good luck with white pigeons, and bad luck with owls. Students are also associated other outcomes with religious beliefs. The students were of the opinion that God is in control of everything and that nothing happens by chance. Their explanations show that the students had difficulty in linking what is learned in class to real-world problems. Consequently, such students have problems appreciating statistical concepts or application of statistical knowledge.
Sharma’s studies have great lessons for teachers. It shows that teachers should judge their students on the basis of their results alone. It suggests teachers should be aware of the impact of culture on the student’s view of the topic or subject. Having known that, teachers can identify effective strategies which they can use to effectively enhance student’s success.
Diversity in cultural background of students: similarities and differences in studying
One of the impacts of globalization is the globalization in the education sector. Students from one country migrate to study in other countries where the cultural setup is different from their home culture. In such a multicultural learning environment, it pays to know if there are any similarities or differences in the way the learners study. The presence of similarities would make teaching easier, but any differences will complicate the teaching. It becomes even complex when the students population is comprised of many cultural backgrounds. Advancements in IT has enabled even virtual interactions between learners and their tutors and in the same platform, learners can also interact with each other. In a global network, this implies students from various backgrounds can attend the same virtual class. For example, we can have students from Canada, Finland, Japan, Uganda, Nigeria, Egypt, China, Japan, Australia, Russia, UK, India, Brazil, USA, and Chile among others enrolled in an online course. Such students would comprise a great diversity in multicultural setup. Noting the importance of understanding contextual similarities and differences in a learning environment characterized by multicultural composition, a number of researchers have carried out investigations.
Yang, Olesova, and Richardson (2010) investigated the impact of cultural differences on the students’ learning. In their study, they examined student’s participation behaviors, communication style, and the effect of cultural difference on their learning, communication, and participation in an online course. The findings of the researchers confirm that cultural backgrounds of the learners have an impact in their online learning. For example, in their study, students from Asia and Europe exhibited different participation behaviors in their online postings. While the students from European countries responded to the discussion postings in a more direct and straightforward way, their Asian counterparts appeared less self-expressive and more conservative. Asian students also tend to be more diplomatic and on many occasions they were more likely to provide positive feedback and acknowledgment prior to proposing a different opinion or ideas or asking a question. Previous research has shown that culture has a great influence on communication style, and that might explain why the two group of students exhibited dissimilar communication styles. The researchers also found out that the European students had a higher score in their weekly discussions compared with their Asian counterparts. This demonstrates that the communication style might have played a key role in influencing the learning behaviors of the students. Yang, Olesova, and Richardson research findings provide an important lesson for a teacher whose students are from different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, tutors or instructors need to coach or model their students to approach online discussions in a more direct approach and also adopt ways which can avoid potential cultural conflicts or distractive communication styles.
Culture and effect on the learning style
Understanding the relationship between one’s cultures and learning style is paramount to the identification of effective strategies needed to create a conducive learning environment for students. De Vita (2001) pointed out that the failure to engage the learners happens when there is a mismatch between the students’ learning style and the teacher’s instruction style. Sadler-Smith and Smith (2004) argued that there has been a flawed assumption that learners have the same uniformity in the way they process and organize information. Valiente (2008) added that the notion that collaborative patterns, motivation, and communication work the same across cultures is flawed. Valiente suggested that instructors ought to be aware so that they employ the right approach in the classroom.
It has been argued that education systems reflect the cultural aspects in which they are embedded in and that instructor ought to be aware of the context in which learning takes place. This is because students from various cultural backgrounds have been shaped by their culture in various ways, and this might have an effect on their learning style. According to West (2007), culture has an effect on the way people think and view the world. Faced with a similar problem, the problem-solving methodology can vary from one culture to another. This is due to their difference in cultural perspectives. It is this view that a number of researchers have tried to understand whether there is a relationship between culture and learning style.
Charlesworth (2008) pointed out that the environment in which one develops provide one with tools to adapt; and such tools are facilitated through the process of acculturation. To him, education is an integral part of the process. This view is reinforced by Hofstede (1986) who contend that all social interactions are culturally mediated. This includes social interactions prevalent in higher education. Such relationships have been found to have a great influence on the learning style of students. Further, Joy and Kolb (2009) individual culture dimensions play a significant role in shaping one’s learning style preferences. For example, in countries with high in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, institutional collectivism, and gender egalitarianism, students prefer abstract learning style. However, in countries with high assertiveness, uncertainty avoidance, and in-group collectivism, individuals prefer a more reflective learning style. According to Novera (2004), learning styles in a country like Indonesia are products of reinforcement by the way Indonesian classroom environment operates where the educator occupies a position of deference and authority. Learning style can also be influenced by language barrier due to one’s culture. De Vita (2001) and Derderian-Aghajanian and Cong (2012) found out that language can influence student’s learning style due to a student’s cultural background. For example, while native English speaking students prefer verbal instructions, their international counterparts whose English is the second, or third language prefer visual presentations. In such a class environment, a truly inclusive approach is the one where an instructor uses a combination of verbal and visual instructions. Non-native English speakers can find it easier to follow visual presentations.
There is national culture, and there is culture specific to a particular community in a country. The way both cultures influence learning style may be different. Millard (2013) assessed the extent to which the national culture and student’s learning style influenced classroom participation. From the research findings, he concluded that there is no relationship between the national culture and learning style. Students’ distribution of their preferred mode of learning was uneven across all cultures suggesting that their national culture had no influence on their preferred learning style. And on the extent of the relationship between national culture and learning style on class participation, Millard found out that there was no significant relationship.
Beyond understanding learning styles, educators might need to know more. Manikutty, Anuradha, and Hansen (2007) contend that it is more important to focus more on the approaches to learning more than the learning styles. This view suggests educators need to concentrate more on a practically understanding of how students in a new environment learn, the challenges they encounter, the extent of cultural impacts on their assumptions, and preparatory work which is suitable for the students. Such a preparatory work include coming up with effective training programs, aimed at minimizing culture shock among the learners so that they can adjust quickly to the new environment.
Discussion
On the basis of the information gathered from the various sources, it has been shown that there is a strong relationship between culture and student learning. It has been further shown that there is a strong relationship between culture and education. Sources have indicated culture has an impact on student’s academic achievement. Due to the cultural differences, it is clear that there exist differences in the ways learners assimilate information and knowledge while studying. Finally, sources reveal that there is a link between student’s cultural background and learning style. Understanding all these relationships between culture and various aspects of student’s learning environment is very important to stakeholders including policy makers, students, teachers/instructors, and college/school administrators. Each can use this information to foster a conducive learning environment for students whose learning environment is characterized by cultural diversity.
The finding that culture has an impact on education has a lot of implication for the teachers. Teachers’ main role is to impart knowledge and skills to the student. This role is rendered useless if the students cannot conceive what their instructor is teaching them. In a context of the multicultural learning environment, the teacher ought to be very sensitive when it comes to cultural matters which can impair or demotivate the learners’ ability to conceive the content. For example, if the student’s culture does not allow certain behaviors, the teacher should avoid them in class. Further, a minor issue like showing more support towards a particular culture over another may be viewed by students as a sign of bias and students from other cultural backgrounds may get demotivated. The teacher should identify areas where student-teacher-interaction can be enhanced and treat all students neutrally. When assessing student’s performance, teachers should also investigate whether the students’ performance might have been contributed by cultural differences which can manifest in various aspects like values, language, norms, morals, and so forth.
Teaching certain subjects may be easy. However, teachers might find it difficult teaching other subjects or topics because the students’ way of assimilating knowledge has been impaired by culture. It is important for teachers to be aware of challenges students encounter in assimilating knowledge. It pays to develop personal interaction with learners. It is equally important to get students’ views and feedback on various topics which are deemed controversial so that the teacher can find better ways of delivering the content. During the assessment, teachers ought to be keen about what the student write. The way students answer questions could be influenced by cultural background, and teacher should note this in time.
Cultural background has been shown to have an effect on the learning style of a student. This is very important especially for a teacher in a multicultural class. Teachers should not assume that there is a one-fits-all model of learning style. A good understanding of the culture might help enhance the student’s learning style by identifying best practice approaches. For example, in a class comprising students from various parts of the world and others whose native language happens to be the language used by the instructor, the international students might find challenging to follow instructions. This is the case if the instructor assumes that all students have the same level of fluency. Such a scenario might require the teacher to employ a combination of verbal and visual methods of instruction. Besides teachers, education stakeholders too need to be aware of the impact of culture on learning styles. Administrators and policy makers aware of this can formulate policies and provide resources which can facilitate conducive learning in a multicultural environment. For example, they can help new students cope with a new culture and provide resources to facilitate training programs which accommodate a wide spectrum of learners.
Conclusion
Culture affects learning in various ways, and the impacts can be direct or indirect. In a learning environment, culture has an impact on the interaction between a student and a teacher. The nature of this student-teacher interaction can determine the student’s academic performance. Culture also affect learning and student’s academic achievement. A negative impact of culture on learning leads to poor academic success. To improve student’s performance, the focus should be improved student-teacher interactions and fostering of behaviors that enhance student’s academic performance. However, a positive impact of culture on learning enhance academic success. The way in which students assimilate information in a learning environment is influenced by cultural background. Although there are similarities between impacts of culture on learning, there are also some differences. The idea is for instructors to not the differences and identify effective approaches to teaching. Culture also plays a key role in learning the style of a student. Each student has a learning style which could have arisen out of their home culture. Knowledge of the impact of culture on education is very important for various stakeholders including teachers, students, policy makers, administrators, and government officials.
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