Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 67

3. Relational Styles.The manner in which people relate to each other is called their relational style. As with other aspects of human behavior, relational style is yet another activity that is subject to cultural diversity and culturally learned preferences. Individual response styles carry over into the classroom context and can affect the way in which interaction occurs within the culturally diverse classroom. Of the various relational styles, we will examine five that have the greatest impact on multicultural education.

Dependent versus independent learning reflects the degree to which students rely on the support, help, and opinions of their teachers. Compared to European American students, many but not all non-European American students, especially Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Filipino Americans, and Southeast Asian Americans, tend to be more interested in obtaining their teachers' direction and feedback. When teachers are aware of this issue, they can develop an effective support strategy in the classroom for students who show little initiative or independence.

Participatory versus passive learning describes how students prefer to participate in the learning process. In some cultures, students are taught to participate actively in the learning process by asking questions and engaging in discussion. In other cultures, the teacher holds all the information and disseminates it to the students, who passively listen and take notes.

4. Motivation Styles.Cultures provide diverse reasons why it is important and desirable to learn. These reasons are the motivational bases that prompt students to participate and excel in the educational process. Here, we will discuss two types of motivational style that impact on the multicultural classroom.

Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation is concerned with the source of motivation. We have seen how cultures vary in their orientation to education. As such, motivation is a primary concern for the multicultural teacher who must employ a variety of motivational techniques that coincide with the students' cultural backgrounds.

Intrinsic motivation implies that the locus of motivation is found within. Extrinsic motivation reflects outside forces that impact upon the learner. Some students are motivated intrinsically to succeed, whereas others are motivated extrinsically. European American students generally are motivated to learn for intrinsic reasons. For example, many European American students desire to succeed academically so that they can secure a good position and earn a great deal of money. In contrast, Asian students are often motivated extrinsically. Asian children are often found to be motivated extrinsically by their parents and relatives. They study hard because they want to please their parents and impress their relatives. Native American students are often motivated to learn so that they can please others rather than offend or hurt them.

Learning on demand versus learning what is relevant or interesting describes whether learning proceeds best based on a set curriculum or whether students should be permitted to learn about what is of interest and immediately relevant to them. All cultures require children to learn many things whether they want to or not. Some cultures, however, emphasize learning what is useful and interesting rather than learning information for the sake of learning. The Japanese culture, for example, requires that all students memorize information such as dates, complex sequences, and lengthy formulas in mathematics, science, and social studies. Each student is also required to learn how to play a musical instrument, regardless of his or her musical ability, and instruction often begins in first grade. In contrast, the Hispanic and Native American cultures stress the importance of learning what is relevant and useful. They prefer to learn information that is personally interesting to them; therefore, interest is a key factor in their learning. When these students are not interested in a subject, they do not control their attention and orient themselves to learning an uninteresting task. Rather, they allocate their attention to other ideas that are more personally interesting, thus appearing detached from the learning situation.