06/03/21; Week 7: Culture and Psychology

 Culture and Psychology

Have you noticed how culture and psychology are connected? When we stop to think deeply about the effects our cultural paradigms have on our minds, we realize that much of the prestige or shame we experience in life comes from the influence that culture has on our psychology.

 According to the Professor of Languages and International Studies at BYU-Idaho, John J. Ivers (06 Culture and Psychology, 2015) culture has a significant effect on our self-esteem by exalting or diminishing our talents and producing to different aspects for our lives: the ought self and the real self (the cultural expectations and the reality). It seems that to be happy and fit in a given culture, the more people's real self corresponds to the ought self, the higher their self-esteem and joy will be. However, it's not uncommon for the real self not to match the expectations, making people's life miserable.

What does your culturally-created self tell you?

In Brazil, for example, people are expected to have completed academic formation by their thirties, at least. Attending school or university later than that is not customary. I have already got a bachelor's degree in Languages, but I wasn't satisfied with my background. I decided to resume studying, so I enrolled Pathway Connect Program. I was the oldest student in my class. At first, I felt a little uncomfortable because my culturally-created self was telling me that I was too old to be there.  Later, I watched a testimony of an American mother of four children who graduated from BUY at age 50. This video encouraged me to pursue my goals, ignore my cultural irrational voice and work hard to get an international degree.

My home culture also resonates with stereotypes and irrational assumptions such as Latin people are always happy and friendly, Asian students are shy and the most intelligent ones, and that learning a second language is a matter of individual's effort and practice. I must be aware of these assumptions and any other, to avoid misunderstands and embarrassment in a cross-cultural classroom. 

Students will also come to class with their cultural expectations and contrast them with reality. As a teacher, I  have to be ready to demystify irrational expectations or thoughts about the course, the teacher, their classmates' culture, or themselves. My role is to help them to see that reality doesn't have to correspond to cultural expectations. Cultural expectations can blur the obvious and prevent students from achieving their best.

The reality doesn't have to correspond to cultural expectations. 

Reference

06 Culture and Psychology. (2015, March 12). BYU-Idaho - Ivers Video. https://video.byui.edu/media/06+Culture+and+Psychology/0_s4h3d6bc

6/01/21; Week 7: Difference in Manners.

 Watch your manners!

How many times you have heard the following pieces of advice from your parents or close relatives - "Don't chew with your mouth open." "You shouldn't do that. It's not appropriate." "Watch your manners!".  Immediately after hearing those phrases, you would try to correct yourself to not cause any embarrassment for your beloved one or yourself in a social situation.

In a TESOL classroom, the concept of manners becomes vast and blurry, because what is acceptable and polite for some people, can be seen as rude and inappropriate for other, from other culture.

People's manners can tell much more about them than their level of politeness. How people display their manners can tell us many things about their culture such as hierarchy level, high or low tolerance for emotional expressivity, respect for the opposite sex, curiosity regarding outsiders, respect for people in public places, interest or lack of it, sanitary behavior and so on.

For example, according to the Professor of Languages and International Studies at BYU-Idaho, John J. Ivers (06 Difference in Manners, 2015), in Bolivia people are used to staring at outsiders with curiosity. Although it is a common practice in Bolivia, in the United States it is awkward and disturbing. In the United States, if a person needs to blow the nose in public, it's not a problem, he or she can use a handkerchief. While in Japan, it's highly recommended only to blow the nose in public if it's a real emergency. Even though, it needs to be done most discretely as possible.

There are differences in manners that can bring disastrous misunderstandings. In China, belching is considered a compliment to the chef and a sign that you have eaten well and enjoyed your meal (the Editors of Publications International, Ltd., 2021). In most western cultures, it is belching at a table is considered disgusting and very indelicate.

So, what to do when sharing an environment with people from different cultures and manners?

First, we have to be open-minded and understand that people do things differently from us, even when their attitudes sound inappropriate for us, we should seek understanding and tolerance. Second, it's important to remember that our actions also can be judged by other people, so observing people's reactions is a good start; we may explain what we are doing and why. Finally, being out of our country, when experiencing other cultures we should observe and follow the patterns, as my mom would advise - "monkey see, monkey do". When in when in Rome do as the Romans do!

Reference

the Editors of Publications International, Ltd. (2021, April 13). 13 Examples of Good and Bad Manners Around the World. HowStuffWorks. https://people.howstuffworks.com/13-examples-of-good-and-bad-manners-around-the-world.htm#page=0

06 Difference in Manners. (2015, March 19). BYU-Idaho - TESOL 378; Ivers Video. https://video.byui.edu/media/06+Difference+in+Manners/0_xc0a34gb

6/01/21; Week 7: Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom.

Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom... 

Is it a big deal?

How much should a teacher know about other cultures?

Dealing with cross-cultural students in the classroom demands teachers much more than getting to know about different cultures, their worldviews, or how they behave at the table. It includes having an open mind and a never-stop willingness to promote integration and make the classroom a place for learning, sharing, respect, and tolerance.

To be successful in a multicultural classroom, teachers have to be aware of how students express themselves. Their expressivity can be different even they are from the same country.

When the teacher's expressivity is different from the students', there can be significant misunderstandings with disastrous consequences for students and teachers. For example, according to John J. Ivers, Professor of Languages and International Studies at BYU-Idaho (06 Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom, 2015), African Americans have high expressivity tolerance and, they're very expressive, and very often white teachers consider them to be bad, rude or even aggressive students when their African American paradigms are informing them that they're not being any of this. They're just acting by their cultural rules. Therefore, being an open-minded teacher leads us to avoid stereotypes of any kind, labeling students, or student's behavior.

In a TESOL classroom, if a student is acting in a way we at first consider awkward or inappropriate, we should first ask ourselves the reasons for such behavior (maybe it is weird only for us!) and give the students the benefit of the doubt. We have to seek to understand them, instead of jumping to conclusions.

                           "Never assume.

                        Learn about cultures.

                        Ask questions.

                        Educate yourself before making a blunder out of a situation!"

It's also important to point out that all of us should pay attention to the fact that people from different cultures from ours will pay attention to details that we usually don't notice. Professor John J. Ivers reminds us that "outsiders can sometimes see the real culture better than insiders can". It allows us to think about our own culture and values, evaluate them, be proud of the good things we have been doing well and reflect on things we can improve. We have the opportunity to teach and learn from others, and maybe repair some behavior that we have been perpetuating.

Reference

06 Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom. (2015, March 12). BYU-Idaho. https://video.byui.edu/media/06+Cross-Cultural+Students+in+the+Classroom/0_r2lcaswt

Corina Stretch. (2018, September 9). Cultural Misunderstanding. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8VjSVavt4k

W06 Blog: Attributional Tendencies in Cultures

 The credit is mine! The fault is yours!

... Or vice versa!...or...

When things work out for us whose credit is? What about when facing failures, whom to blame? 

Attributional tendencies can be defined as assumptions people make about success and failures in the personal and general fields. The attributions can be internal, in which people believe that he or she is responsible for their success or failure in question. Or external, a situation in which people believe that success and failures are someone else's responsibility.

Attributional tendencies change from culture to culture, some of them can be reasonable, others can sound even irrational because sometimes circumstances are not taken into consideration.

In a TESOL classroom, as teachers of students from diverse cultural backgrounds, we need to be aware of how students attribute their language learning success and failures. These attributional tendencies can vary in each culture, in different ways.

For example, John J. Ivers, Professor of Languages and International Studies at BYU-Idaho (05 Attributional Tendencies in Cultures, 2015) stated that in Hong Kong and India, people use internal attributions to explain both personal successes and personal failures. On the other hand, Americans use internal attributions to explain their success and external attributions for what went wrong.

Depending on the student's attributional tendencies, the teacher will have to think of creative ways to show students the "real reason" for their success or failures or their classmates. As teachers, we may help them to see that, contrary to their attributional tendencies, the reason for their failure is due to circumstances and not their fault. Or that, their success comes from working in a group, not relying on their personal efforts only. It is the teacher's role to make it clear that, regardless of their cultural attributional tendencies, circumstances can produce different results in the classroom and that things are more complex than they sometimes seem to be.

References

05 Attributional Tendencies in Cultures. (2015, March 17). BYU-Idaho - Ivers; TESOL 378. https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Attributional+Tendencies+in+Cultures/0_u45682wd

Social Psychology: Attribution. (n.d.). SparkNotes. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/socialpsychology/section3/

5/29/21; Week 6: Personal Space Differences

         Personal Space Differences:
         Am I too close?

                    How close, physically talking, can a teacher get to a student in a classroom? What level of formality or informality would be acceptable? How to manage differences regarding personal space when students from different cultural backgrounds work in pairs or groups?

            These are excellent questions to ponder when teaching students who have different values regarding personal space. The concept of personal space will differ according to the place the person belongs. There are places where people lack personal space and, for them, it's not a big deal. In other places, personal space has to be respected if individuals desire to be accepted by the community. 

            In one of his talkings about cross-cultural differences, John J. Ivers  Professor of Languages and International Studies at BYU-Idaho (0 Personal Space Differences, 2015) mentioned that in Mexico it is ok having a little gentle elbowing and pushing to get in the bus, or when trying to get the attention of a clerk. These actions would be considered a violation of personal space in the United States.

            People can infer different conclusions from the short or long distance we keep from others. Let's contrast the following two cultures: North American a Brazilian, regarding personal space.

            According to the information published at Westsidetoastmasters.com (Body Language - Personal Space Ownership, n.d.) people from places North America, Northern Europe, or countries where the culture is "westernized" have a rule for personal space. They divide their personal space into four zone distances that go from the closer to the most distant personal space. They are the intimate zone, for close people as family, the friend zone for personal conversations, the social zone for strangers, and the public zone for public speaking. When these zone limits are not respected, people feel very annoyed and uncomfortable, there is a reaction of rejection towards the infraction.

        On the other hand, In Brazil, the sense of personal space is completely different. Most people tend to stand and talk closer to everyone in all kinds of social situations. There is a lot of touching during conversations with friends, acquaintances or, even strangers!. When in a line, Brazilians get close enough to read what people are reading, overhear their conversations, and even more, make part of it, giving hints or information (that were not asked). They are not being rude or nosy, instead, they are helpful and friendly. It's cultural.

            Brazilian sense of personal space can be a little offensive for North Americans, and Northern Europeans. On the other hand, Brazilians may not understand why they would get offended. It is a huge plate of misunderstandings!!!

            To avoid confusion that the contrast of cultures like above can bring when together, is mandatory to get to know students' cultures regarding personal space for teaching in a multicultural classroom. The more we, as teachers, get to know the students' values, the better we will be able to understand their actions and reactions. Avoiding any personal disagreement, group misunderstandings, we can promote a place for learning and sharing, full of respect and tolerance.

References

05 Personal Space Differences. (2015, March 12). BYU-Idaho - Ivers Video; TESOL 378. https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Personal+Space+Differences/0_yz4lk5f0

Body Language - Personal Space Ownership. (n.d.). Https://Westsidetoastmasters.Com/. Retrieved May 29, 2021, from https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap9.html

5/27/21; Week 6: Individualism vs. Collectivism

 Individualism vs Collectivism

The term culture is comprehensive. One of its definitions published by NCSER (National Center on Secondary Education and Transition) states that "Culture refers to the patterns of values ​​and learned behaviors that are shared and transmitted from generation to generation by the members of a social group." Values ​​"as used here include beliefs, assumptions, and attitudes. (05 Individualism vs Collectivism, 2015). Every culture has its values ​​that determine what is acceptable in a group and define how people live their lives. 

Observing different cultures and their values, we can see that they can be individualistic or collectivist oriented. In an individualistic culture orientation, a person is considered a single and independent individual, who has his or her responsibilities and rights. Praise and individual achievement are not only acceptable but also encouraged in this culture.  Notably, individual mistakes are also better tolerated, even when they may harm the group.

On the other hand, in a collectivist culture orientation, the individual makes part of the group building a relation of interdependence. They develop group-oriented values and skills to work together and help each other. There is a great sense of commitment towards family and society.

Although these two cultural values are very distinct, it is possible to find some aspects of culture oriented to individualism in the collectivist one and vice versa. For example, in an individualistic culture society, an individual can join a group of team supporters and build a connection with them, sharing the same feelings when their team wins or loses a match, having a sense of collectivism.

How Does it Work in a Classroom?

According to John J. Ivers. Professor of Languages and International Studies at BYU-Idaho (05 Individualism vs Collectivism, 2015) while children and young people in America are encouraged to think and speak for themselves and be independent, in other countries, some parts of Asia for example, they are taught differently, not to express their opinions or not disagree with older people. It means that we as ESL/EFF teachers may come across to learners who can and feel comfortable expressing themselves and giving their opinions openly to us, adults because they had been taught to in their culture. But, we also may find students who are not used to say what they are thinking or disagree with any adult or even their classmates, for example. 

Identifying what kind of group orientation students belong to, individualistic or collectivist culture orientation is essential for teachers to avoid misinterpretation and conflicts in the group and between students and the teacher.

We may face challenges when working in groups because this activity can have a different meaning to students, depending on their cultural values. A student from an individualistic culture may look for individual success, while another student from collectivist culture may be less tolerant with a group member's mistake and seek for the group's achievement.

Both cultures have positive and negative aspects. There isn't any perfect place at all. However, recognizing the negative aspects of each culture orientation allows us to repair what is not good and make it better, to improve our society.

But it still remains important questions for us to ponder: Are we all, teachers and students, open-minded enough to embrace our differences and learn from them, from each other? Will students be willing to practice tolerance and patience with each other? How to bring this issue to the classroom avoiding stereotypes that can harm the students' relationship even more?

References

05 Individualism vs Collectivism. (2015, March 12). BYU-Idaho - Ivers Video; TESOL 378. https://video.byui.edu/media/05+Individualism+vs+Collectivism/0_ojon0rjc

Part III: Continuum of “Individualistic” and “Collectivistic” Values. (2005). National Center on Secondary Education and Transition. http://www.ncset.org/publications/essentialtools/diversity/partIII.asp

Ravitch, D. (2020, July 23). The Myth of Chinese Super Schools | by Diane Ravitch. The New York Review of Books. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/11/20/myth-chinese-super-schools/

5/25/21; Week 6: Differences in Emotional Expressivity

Different Cultures...Different Ways to Express Emotions!

We, human beings, have much more in common than we can think of. Even though, it seems that over time, we prefer to focus on differences and believe it is a bad thing, instead of learning from each other ways of understanding the world and having the chance to enhance our own culture.

When we are not willing to understand or aware that people from different cultures will act and react differently from what we are used to, we open the doors of misunderstanding, intolerance, and unfriendliness.

Cultural differences embrace several aspects, including emotional expressivity. You may be thinking that the way we express ourselves emotionally is quite the same everywhere and that recognizing it in different cultures is not that difficult. The fact is that different cultures express their emotions differently and, getting to know how they do that helps individuals lead more harmonious relationships in a multicultural context.

In Brazil, for example, when we are happy, we usually display it openly through big smiles, being talkative, willing to share this good feeling with people around us. That's not a rule of thumb, but at the highest level of happiness, a Brazilian can hug a stranger in a euphoric moment.

Hey, you got it wrong! 

A Cultural Emotional Misunderstanding!

My first cultural emotional misunderstand occurred when I traveled abroad for the first time. I was heading to Canada, alone. I was euphoric with the chance of experiencing the English language culture. While waiting in the airport for my connection flight, an airline employee, an American young man, came to see if I needed anything. I started a friendly conversation with him. As you might know, Brazilians are not aware of this idea of personal space, so I was probably talking very close to this guy, smiling and telling him about my feelings and expectations about my adventure. We even exchanged personal information. I was excited about making friends abroad! Afterwhile I got a message from this guy, Josh, and reading it, I could see that he had misinterpreted our conversation, thinking I was signaling availability to be on a romantic date, even being married. In a nutshell, we managed the misunderstanding and laughed at his interpretation of my happiness and body language. In the end, we became good friends.

Once we deal with people with a different cultural background or from another cultural environment, it is paramount not to read the person's behavior superficially or wear our "cultural glasses" to understand it. We can make a better effort to promote understanding and tolerance than we have been doing so far. Instead of focusing on how people act and react differently towards emotions, what about learning from them and enriching our knowledge and cultural skills?

Brazilians are affectionate and emotionally expressive.

References

Lifey. (2013, July 23). Brazilians are affectionate and emotionally expressive [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oITtDE8wxzU