Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 65

It is important for you to note at this juncture that no learning style is better or worse than another. When students are permitted to learn difficult academic information or skills through their identified learning style preferences, they tend to achieve statistically higher test and aptitude scores than when instruction is dissonant with their preferences. In this section we will examine four dimensions of learning styles subject to cultural variations: (1) cognitive, (2) communication, (3) relational, and (4) motivational styles.

1. Cognitive Styles. Earlier in this course of lectures, we discussedthe Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and the influence culture has on language and thought. This impact carries over into the education context because people from different cultures may perceive their environments and process information differently. These different ways of perceiving and processing information are known as cognitive styles. Although there are several recognized cognitive styles, culture plays a large role in determining individual preferences. Understanding the different ways people think and process information is essential to developing learning systems appropriate to a multicultural society. Hence, we will look at four common cognitive styles as they apply to the multicultural classroom.

Field independence versus field sensitivity refers to the manner in which people tend to perceive their environment and the emphasis they place on the field (the whole concept) or on the parts of the field. This is sometimes casually referred to as whether one tends to see the forest or the trees. Field-sensitive individuals have a more global perspective of their surroundings; they are more sensitive to the social field. Field-independent individuals tend to be more analytical and more comfortably focused on impersonal, abstract aspects of stimuli in the environment. Field-sensitive students prefer to work with others, seek guidance from the teacher, and receive rewards based on group relations. In contrast, field-independent students prefer to work independently, are task oriented, and prefer rewards based on individual competition. Low-context, highly industrialized, individualistic societies such as the United States are predominantly field independent, whereas high-context, traditional, collectivistic societies like Mexico and Japan are field sensitive.

Cooperation versus competition describes a cognitive style denoting whether learners prefer to work together in a cooperative environment or to work independently in competition with one another. Latino cultures, for instance, teach their children cooperation and to work collectively in groups. North Americans, on the other hand, teach their young to work individually and to compete with each other. Cultures vary in the degree to which they stress cooperation or competition.

Trial and error versus "watch then do" refers to people's preference to learn by engaging themselves in a task and learning to do it by trial and error or whether they prefer to observe first and then attempt the task. Students from the mainstream American culture usually prefer to solve problems and reach conclusions by trial and error. They practice over and over, expecting and accepting mistakes, until they become skilled. In other cultures, individuals are expected to continue to watch how something is done as many times and for as long as necessary until they feel they can do it. Many Native American students, for example, prefer to watch until they feel competent to engage in an educational activity.

Tolerance versus intolerance for ambiguity indicates how well people deal with ambiguous situations. Some cultures are open-minded about contradictions, differences, and uncertainty. Other cultures prefer a structured, predictable environment with little change. American culture has a low tolerance for ambiguity in the classroom. As such, the school day is highly structured and students move from subject to subject based on the clock. The level of tolerance or intolerance for ambiguity also affects what is taught in the classroom. For example, American culture emphasizes right/wrong, correct/incorrect, yes/no answers. Native American cultures, on the other hand, have a high tolerance for ambiguity and give little regard to truth in absolute terms.