A QUALITATIVE INQUIRY OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY'S IMPACT ON ASIAN PEDAGOGICAL SYMBIOSIS: A RECONCILED SOLUTION?

Richard Cornell
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Cheng-Chang Pan
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Ming-Hsiu Tsai
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Yedong Tao
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Learn as if you were following someone you could not catch up to, as though it were someone you were frightened of losing (Confucius, Analects, 8:17, as quoted by Beck, S., 2002)

Abstract

For the past three years the authors examined the impact of technology interventions on students and teachers – from cultures where English is a second language. We hypothesize that students and teachers from non-English speaking nations suffer severe disadvantages when we superimpose technological interventions on existing “traditional” pedagogical models. This is the latest in a series that examines extent pedagogies, primarily in Asia, and the pressures of having to re-conceptualize what has been tradition for centuries. It traces significant educational origins to their cultural roots and examines contemporary initiatives that may well disrupt. It offers possible solutions that, if approached with reconciliation as its focus, might offset catastrophic results and, in fact, achieve pedagogical symbiosis.

Introduction

Fourteen years ago, the fourth author climbed a mountain named Alishan on a cold December morning, to see the sunrise over Central Taiwan. This mountain holds special significance for all who make the journey and experience the sunrise, for it is both a physical and a spiritual renewal of one’s inner self. The mountain we describe is, barring any major cataclysmic event, not likely to move, much. From this, we draw our own parable to other events that merit connection to our analogy. We refer to the plight of an international student coming from his or her country to another for study, and finding that nothing is as it should be. We are also concerned, not only for the time when our students return to their Asian homes, but to the kinds of pedagogy that prevails, especially in light of current technological initiatives.

This article traces the pedagogical roots of a specific group of international students from either China or Taiwan who have come to one university, the University of Central Florida in Orlando, and have enrolled in one graduate program, the master’s degree in Instructional Systems (http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~instsys/, 2002).

Its premise is that 1).Culture does make a difference, especially when two cultures have the possibility of engagement and that 2).They are generally 180 degrees opposite to one another, sometimes while on a near-collision course. Into this mix we also add the changing linguistic model wherein English has now become the “lingua franca” for students from across all of Asia.

The Problem

Instructional Systems graduates must develop competencies that allow them to communicate to a variety of audiences, both verbally and in writing. They must be able to deliver presentations using a wide array of technologies. They must write papers that reflect both eloquence and conviction. They must work well as a member of a multi-cultural team. Above all, they must develop positive assertiveness. The competencies expected of them are in the first Instructional Systems course, Survey of the Application of Instructional Systems (Cornell, 2001) and reiterated in Piskurich & Sanders (1998).

Western students, particularly those in North America, are generally adept at using these skills, given their innate tendency toward achievement (judged on what one has accomplished and one’s past record), both professionally and socially. Other cultures function more on ascription (status attributed to one by birth, kinship, gender, age, one’s connections, and educational record), a phenomena often seen in Southern Europe, Latin America, and Asia (Tropenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998, p. 9).

For Asian students, acting on many of the competencies found within the Instructional Systems program is unnatural, uncomfortable, and often induces considerable stress. The result – silence, both orally and in written documentation.

In this research, we use the word “Chinese” to refer to students who came to UCF from either China or Taiwan. We use the same word when referring to teachers’ ethnicity. The overarching descriptor that guides our approach, we take from two works of Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner (1997, 1998), “reconciliation!” The authors imply neither domination by others nor acquiescence but rather, “…through an integrative process, a universalism that learns its limitations from particular instances, for example, and by the individual voluntarily addressing the needs of the larger group (p. 53, 1998).”

In this instance, the “larger group” consists of the Asian students’ Western peers, who number a little over half. In the coming years, this ratio of Asian-to-Western students may well change, with the numerical balance favoring Asian students! Then what? The larger group’s needs were not immediately apparent, as the infusion of Asian students into the Instructional Systems master’s program was not a single event but gradual. We recruited one student at a time, until the critical mass gradually increased to where it is now at almost half the number of new students in the program. A similar trend is already apparent in the doctoral program in Instructional Technology where the critical mass of Asian students exceeds 50%!

This new pedagogical life heretofore has been mostly unknown, by both the Asian students and their Western professors (2002, International Institute). Many professors know little about the basics involved in coming to the United States as an international student; they know even less as to the specific logistics; and have even less than less in-depth knowledge about the countries from which our international students have arrived!

Our North American students remain mystified by the silence of their Asian peers. They look to professors to encourage their Asian peers to communicate because they have little success, at least initially. Many professors remain perplexed for they also find their Asian students to be mute. How to evaluate muteness – that poses their immediate challenge!

The professors, and often the students, silently ask themselves, “How did these students ever get accepted to UCF? They can barely speak English!” A disablement? Yes, for a while, but not a permanent wound. The task is to release the sounds from within our Asian students, to hear them speak, to read their written words, and ultimately to sense their discovery of new ideas, just as these same professors are accustomed to doing with their North American students. But how to do this…how to understand the pedagogical culture that they bring with them and the degree of symbiosis between that culture and the one found at UCF – that’s the challenge! And yet, we insist that these students learn and study “our way.”

Our research is an attempt to understand what is happening with our Asian students so we can reduce the time lag between the time a student arrives at UCF and the time they begin to feel comfortable in their classroom environments – a task that is formidable and complex.

Our aim is to seek understanding of what these students bring with them and so, we decided to “go to the experts,” mainly professors from both Taiwan and China, and ask them about their own formative education years. We asked them to describe how learning was for them when they were students, in grades anywhere from within their earliest memory of schooling to the time they completed their last degree. In this way, we obtained first-hand descriptions that may or may not validate what appeared in the literature.

Review of the Literature

It is tempting to label our Asian students as being passive, quiet, silent, submissive, respectful, intelligent, hard working, introspective, disciplined, and many other descriptors. For some, these are accurate in their assessment (Tu, 2001, p.5). Hampden-Turner and Trompenaars (1997, op cit., p. 10) identify values differences between the West and Asia in the business sense as having differing historical roots.

We include these values sets because there is a continuing relationship between instructional systems designer competencies expected in the West by business and industry and the extent conditions the Asian students bring with them.

It is also tempting to label our North American students as being Type A, competitive, brash, aggressive, loud, spontaneous, wild, lacking in respect, superficial, ego-centric, lazy, having little discipline or motivation, etc. and for some, these are accurate assessments.
Let’s remove the silk gloves and tell it like it is – there are students from China and Taiwan that could easily pass for what we have described as being stereotypical North American students and…there are North American students who emulate many of the attributes seen in the literature as reflecting Asian behavior and values.

In the literature, we found ample evidence of how things are. We found little of help as to what to do about it, especially as relates to ways in which we might make the lives of the Chinese students in our program more positive. We identified a number of categories wherein we gained insight as to what beliefs the students bring with them. As Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner assert, however, “you can never understand other cultures (1998, p.1) and so, while it is our intent to provide clarity as to Asian thinking, understanding might lie beyond our grasp. The most we can hope for is to create sensitivity toward the problems raised, and to identify strategies that may make life better for the students.

An admitted concern is the silence of Chinese students in our classes, especially during their first or second semesters. Is silence always “bad?” Dr. Haiyan Hua, Senior Research Associate of Harvard University’s International Education Group asked this question at an Orlando conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). We were quick to respond in the negative, that no, there are many times when silence is, in fact, “golden.”

We found evidence of why our Chinese students were silent in Brooks (1997) quoting Yum (1994): ‘…the Chinese communication process places the ‘emphasis …on the receiver and listening rather than the sender or speech making’ “(p.83). Brooks emphasizes Yum’s point that Chinese are receivers of messages, listening, rather than being senders. She provides a pedagogical blueprint as to the nature of how Chinese students are educated:

Confucius believed that…a hierarchal system was essential to the harmonious well being of society. This, in turn, is reflected in the Chinese classroom. Chinese students regard their teacher as all knowing, and the absolute authority on the subject matter. Due to the rigid teacher-student relationship, Chinese teachers are under severe pressures not to make mistakes, not to misguide students, and not to be criticized, in order to maintain their “all knowing” and “ever correct” status. It is the duty of students to give utmost respect to the teacher. To ask questions of the teacher, or to question the words of a teacher is tantamount to questioning the position of the teacher, and therefore is not a feature of Chinese classrooms. Since the teacher is the sole authority in the classroom, rigid order and formality are the main features of the Chinese learning environment (Su, 1995).

Zhang, Sillitoe, and Webb (1999), quoting Ballard & Clanchy (1991) compare Western and Chinese differences in attitudes toward learning:

“…in Western culture, tertiary education is oriented towards extending knowledge. Therefore, the teaching approach used and learning approach encouraged are designed to develop analytical and speculative abilities of students. By comparison, in more ‘traditional’ cultures, for example Chinese culture, the education systems are mainly oriented towards conserving knowledge, and the learning approach fostered emphasizes the reproductive ability of students.

Tu (1999) reinforces these findings stating, “Chinese teachers have been accustomed to teaching where there was only one-way communication and a quiet environment. This no longer exists. All subjects are discussed, even the teacher’s private life. Teachers fear the loss of their authority and the pressure of public opinion (p. 3).” In a later work, (Tu, 2001), he adds that, “Chinese collect information from non-verbal channels and perceive more exact information than has been delivered (p. 5).”

Lin and Yi (1997) add more pieces to the puzzle when they describe further issues faced by Chinese students that compliment those already discussed:

International students from Asian countries are often stereotyped as quiet, reserved, and non-assertive. These cultures place an emphasis on harmony and respect for authorities. Therefore, many of them are reluctant to share their feelings or emotions, express their opinions or oppositions to anyone, especially to authority figures. Thus instead of emphasizing personal rights and assertive communication, Asians tend to emphasize the importance of patience, harmony, respect and deference. Asian cultures tend to place a high value on team efforts of collectivity whereas Western culture tends to emphasize individualism. Asians are also modest about their accomplishments. Many Asian international students feel uncomfortable with the individualism and the competitiveness associated with the American culture.

This is not to suggest a caveat, a series of excuses to fall back upon, rather, a reflection of reality for many. We cannot stereotype our students so easily, be they from Asia or Central Florida, having had students from both these sets of stereotypes. It is our intent to continue surveying the literature continually to better gain understanding of our own Chinese students.

We are in the process of developing a methodology to enable us to understand (at least partially) the implications implicit in teaching our Chinese students. We hope our findings prove useful to other North American institutions where Instructional Technology programs exist.

Research Questions

The researchers established two basic questions to which they sought answers from the Chinese and Taiwanese subjects. The subjects in three groups were teachers or professors from China and Taiwan. The fourth group was comprised of UCF Asian students enrolled in the Instructional Systems/Instructional Technology graduate program areas. The questions were:

1. When you were going to school (meaning any time between your primary school and graduate education), how were you taught and what were the recurring values that your teachers instilled in you?
2. Now that you are a teacher/professor, what strategies do you use when you teach and what values do you feel are important to instill in your students?
3. In addition to question 1, we asked a fourth group, UCF Chinese and Taiwanese students, “How are the instruction and the values you are learning here at UCF different than that you received at home?”

Methodology

The researchers interviewed four separate and distinct groups of individuals, both composed of either teachers/professors or students from China and Taiwan. By using these individuals as SME’s (subject matter experts), we were authentic in our selection of subject class. We then differentiated between the groups to provide focus on differences that might exist between them. We used four groups of ten, an N of 40 consisting of the following:

1. Teachers/professors who had been educated in Taiwan or China and had not studied abroad. We anticipated that the demographics of this group might be those who were more experienced and whose teaching would mirror much of the methodology they learned from their own teachers.
2. Teachers/professors educated in Taiwan or China who had completed additional study in the West, be it in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc. and had since returned to teach in their homeland.
3. Professors currently teaching at the University of Central Florida from China or Taiwan.
4. Students from China or Taiwan studying at the University of Central Florida, enrolled in the graduate Instructional Technology programs.

What we are trying to do is to get a clear picture of how our Chinese and Taiwanese students learned and what values they brought with them when they came to UCF. All subject responses were video recorded. The sessions were relatively brief, given that there were two basic questions asked.

The subjects could reply in either Chinese (Mandarin) or English. If Mandarin was selected, the interviewer also spoke in Mandarin. Transcripts of each interview are now being produced and analyzed. Where the interviews were in Mandarin, closed-captioned English is inputted on those interviews and English narration provided. An analysis is being made of key words across all groups and recorded in terms of similarity, frequency of use, and by category of interviewee. A matrix will depict the relationships between key words used and group type, thus profiling group differences in a more visible manner. An edited tape of relevant excerpts abstracted from the raw footage highlights the results of the taped interviews.

Upon analysis of Asian (Confucian) pedagogical methods, comparisons between those methodologies and those employed within Western university classrooms are made, specifically of responses made by the Instructional Systems design students.

Research Questions

1. Are there elements of the valued Confucian pedagogy that might be compatible with those employed in the West?
2. Are there elements of Western pedagogy that might be in harmony with Confucian pedagogies?
3. Are there implications that this research might have for students from other cultures?
4. Are the findings of value to technology-based commercial organizations who engage in multinational commerce, especially given the current and projected increase in such initiatives in East Asia?

Is there symbiosis or asymbiosis? That answer is what we seek.

Preliminary Results

1. Giving students advance notice of written or oral reports with topics, dues dates, and expectations clearly identified.
2. Encouraging students to prepare and post individual Power Point slides on the class discussion board that introduced them to their North American peers and requiring the North American students to do likewise.
3. Providing a “safe harbor” for the first semester to allow all students increased latitude in terms of spelling, grammar, and punctuation during postings, especially while engaged in synchronous chat sessions and in class, regarding pronunciation, when oral discussion is being encouraged.
4. Encourage (but not initially requiring) Asian students to NOT work together in the same project groups, thus providing the Asian students with direct opportunities and challenges in using English.
5. Inviting students from both Asia and North America to professional meetings, social functions, even to the professor’s home, to provide a “mutually safe harbor” for differing cultures.
6. Development and production of a series of video-based modules related to assertiveness (Cornell, Pan, Rendon, Hutton & Sheehy, 2002a).
7. Development of courses related to international issues and the application of instructional technology (Cornell, 2001b, 2002b)

We plan to construct a matrix of the data collected will reveal the close correlation between what is found in the literature and statements from the subjects during their interviews.

Group 1: Teachers/professors with no overseas experience or degrees

A department head at an offshore island junior high school in southwest Taiwan with more than 30 years teaching experience.

"I went to a national normal university in Taiwan. The school was the only institution at that time to prepare any individual to become an effective teacher. During my studies there, I was taught to be disciplined. I was not allowed to be a rascal. It was close to being military training. When I was a student, I felt teacers were frightening; even more than my parents.”

A school principal with 40 years teaching experiences commented on the role of his mentors along these years.

“At that time the social economic status of the teacher was high. A Chinese saying goes like god, land, emperor, parents, and teachers are the five highest statuses in society. Teachers were respected regardless of the low salary. As a student, I was not only respectful but also fearful to my teachers. After class, I always began my sentence with Teacher said…as it was like what the Bible says”

Mr. Lo, a department head at Ku-hua Elementary

“Social-status wise, teachers were high above me. They were knowledge dispensers, and also they were experienced distributors…overall, it was a type of cramming instruction…”
“When I first started teaching, education reform became an issue. The interaction between teachers and students is considered a breakthrough in instruction. The instruction is student centered, instead of teacher centered.”

A female English teacher with 11 years experience, Ku Hua Elementary

“Teachers’ social status was high. I dared not say anything against them…Their teaching method does influence me a lot. I started out as a teacher centered instructor, but now I changed. There is no corporal punishment. What I can do is create more interactivities. We are like friends now. When I was a student, I wanted to get close to teachers, but I just dared not.

Mr. Huang of Ku-hua Elementary School

“Lectures were most commonly used teaching strategies when I was a student…They were monotonous…I thought of my teachers as persons of high social status…I couldn’t challenge them in the classroom until I went to university. There I could ask questions of instructors, but they remained superior to me in a sense.

Ms. Lee of Ku-Hua Elementary School

“I went to private school, and they were all lectures every class. The way I looked at teachers is they are out of touch, and high above me…I was a harsh teacher when I was a cub teacher. I reflected my own teaching and leading role over time…I will not allow my students to get too close to me, because they are still kids and they can easily jump on your head.”

Group 2: Teachers/Professors who received their terminal degree abroad

Professor of Social Studies Education at the Taipei Municipal Teachers College

“To be a Chinese student, all the teachers teach their students directly, just using an oral teaching strategy. There is no direct response. So we learned the knowledge from the teacher, just kept taking notes and no response, that’s it. But almost all the teachers they teach the Confucian value system. Such as, you have to be a good student, a good son, and a good daughter. You have to behave very well. My students now, they all can do some computer designs, they do the power point design to show. You know in the Confucian philosophy, there’s no student that you cannot teach to.”

Interview with Mr. Lin Shiaw-shin

“What I was taught when I was young, of course was in the Confucius style. We were taught all the Confucius values. We should respect our teachers, we should be humble, we should not speak too much. Just listen, don’t talk too much. And don’t try to raise too many questions, because some time we will think that you are not so humble to your teacher and we will train you so that silence is the god. So for most of the students from Taiwan, I bet it is also the same in China, it is ok for them to write the written test. But it is not being very creative. You just think alone.“

Group 3: Teachers/Professors at the University of Central Florida

Interview with Dr. Xin Li, Professor in UCF Mathematics Department

We always admire our teacher. They are our role models. Kind of respect to the teachers and there is distance between students and teachers. But here it's different. It's much closer between student and teacher. You can come to my office any time as a student. My door is always open. So I cannot assume too much here when I teach.

Here it depends on what courses you teach. I have to make sure at the beginning those students are about at the same level so that I can proceed. And because I don't know much about their background, how much math they learned in high school, I have to make sure at the beginning, give them some type of exam to see how much they know. The grades would not be counted but it's my way to access their background. And then I can adjust my pace to teach them.

The material in our low-level courses is tremendous compared to China where maybe they have three or four years to learn in high school or middle school. Here in one semester you have to learn all of the material, say in college algebra; it's pretty hard for the students, too.

See, you are the professor. You are the instructor. Some times, you have to make sure that you're not being too friendly to your students so you have to have some kind of authority. If you manage that, you can make friends with your students so they can talk and ask you questions and even ask for some of advice about their career.

Interview with Dr. Shiou-San Kuo, UCF Professor of Civil Engineering

In the Taiwanese colleges, they still carry on the high school tradition, following the same fixed, tight education and every thing and follow the professor who pushes you to study. Everyone tries to memorize. Teachers and professors probably learn from the past. They carry the tradition and give it to students. As I can recall, I don’t think I ever had any project during the four years in my college time. I remember one year during the summer we did a course survey; that's the only project where I was able to learn and apply the real stuff. Most laboratory work is quite different from the U.S. where students have more opportunity to get hands-on, individually they all have hands-on opportunity, but although in Taiwan, you have a chance to get hands-on but the lab instructor does not really enforce every student and say, “Hey, you have to do your own experiment!” Instead, they use a kind of group or almost presentation type of experiment. That makes the students say I can get by; I don't need to do any thing, I just need to write a little report and then I finish the lab.

I would say almost all the students from Taiwan come to the U.S. and, based on what they observed; most of the students from Taiwan are especially engineering area. If they are asked to study in certain practical fields or areas, they all feel unskilled. And a lot, I would say 80 percent, of students would prefer working on computers or something on paper without actually conducting the experiment. Now I encourage students from Taiwan or China to set up their own experiment. Or maybe think about what kind of equipment. From that, you can create your own thinking you can create your own idea. I think we have many students from Taiwan and China coming to the United States to study performing really well in school. Did well in tests and particularly in tests, they perform better than other students including some of the U.S. students do. But after they finish, they feel that everything is gone. You don't have much potential. You cannot develop your own feel, interest, or creativity. They stopped right there and, as ordinary people, they work in companies or to teach in schools. Of course, we do have many successful scholars in engineering area but we could've had it lot more.

Group 4: Instructional Systems Graduate Students at the University of Central Florida

Interview with David, a 2001 Instructional Systems graduate from China

I studied instructional technology when I was in China. I enrolled in 1995 and, in 1999, graduated with a Batchelor of Science in instructional technology major. In mainland China, instructional technology is classified as science. We needed to learn lots of physics, circuits and computer languages. After I came to United States, I continued in the master degree in instructional technology. In the States, it belongs to Education. It emphasized communication. Of course, it still has technology elements. I feel, here, they pay more attention to communication. It seems that the emphasis is different (between China and United States). In 2001, I got my master’s degree.

When some international students first come to the United States they have some accent and need help with pronunciation. Some are physically disabled, or some totally do not have verbal ability. They need our help. I studied for Communication Disorders for one semester. Later I changed to Industrial engineering. Studied some statistics, quality management, and flow control.

In mainland China, teaching is very traditional. The Professor sits and read to us, like an emperor. It was totally in one direction with no interaction, no communication. We had to take notes. I spent four years in the university taking notes. I never raised my hand and speak out in the class. As to stopping professor’s speech and raise my own opinion, that’s totally impossible. Therefore, we were used to that. After came here, we are not used to raise hand and speak out in the class. After all, it already became a habit for us that “listen in the class, and take notes”.

After I went to the university, no one speaks in the class at all. The higher the level, the less interaction. In the United States the situation is totally different. I found American students are really active; they dare to interrupt the professor’s speech and actively participate in the class.

In university, professors can hold your grades. If the professor did not let you pass, you had to take the class again in the second year. Therefore, the feeling towards professors is different. We were frightened. If you dare to speak a lot in class and these opinions are not compatible with the professor’s, I feel it is inappropriate and will cause some bad influence. Students are becoming more introverted. If you have different opinions, keep it in your head. No need to speak out.

I think lots of Chinese students are very shy. When I was in the university, even introducing each other will make them feel uncomfortable. If someone spoke a lot in class, other students would think that this guy is too noisy. The smart ones took notes, then understand. If someone did not understand, he or she dared not to ask the professor to say it again because he or she will feel they will lose face. It is also from the culture. Students are afraid of losing face. They are afraid of making mistakes and afraid of being wrong. In elementary school, everyone is naïve.

Our major was instructional technology. Theoretically, the professor should use media and technology in their own class as an example. My professors used very traditional ways to teach, black board and chalk. The reason might be lack of technology and funding in China.

For me, I did not really respect every teacher so much (as other students did). If some classes were interesting to me, I spontaneously like the teacher more. I will listen carefully. If some class was boring, and then I don’t care, I would sit in the last row, right? I won’t speak but do my own stuff in that kind of boring class.

I think my knowledge came from my own study. Gave you the textbook, you can learn by yourself. As to attending class, different persons had different perspectives. Someone like to learn from the teacher and listen carefully in class. For me, if I want, I listen some in class. If I don’t want to, I will read the textbook by myself.

In the university, most of the time, I learned from reading the textbook by myself. In the middle school and elementary school, I mainly learned from my teachers.

In American’s classroom, it is more open. Professors want their students participate more. Some times professors even will ask students to come up front to teach what he wants taught. This is student participation and students are motivated to be active. Thus, the interaction is much stronger (than in China). The professor does not really care about students’ crossing legs, chewing gum; the atmosphere is much more relaxing and unrestrained. American students are more creative. They may know less basic knowledge. However, on the application level, they are more active than students from China.

When I first came here, my English was not fluent enough to communicate. For this reason, I felt embarrassed to speak in class. Influenced by Chinese traditional teaching methods, I could not change to be active or creative immediately like the Americans do. Later, I changed a little; I can speak in class. However, after 2 years I still don’ t feel any significant changes. When I have a class now, listening is my first choice. Even now, there are lots of online class. What you need to do is watch the online video; there is no need communication with professors. Anyway, we (Chinese students) are used to that.

The “Art” (Education) professors give you more chance to speak, work in groups, and discuss. The “science” professors lecture more. If students have questions, the professor resolves it. They are still Professor centered classes. For example: the statistical class. Professor will mainly follow the book to lecture. Therefore, there are not lots of different opinions. Not enough time for interaction. However, still lots of students will ask questions in engineering classes.

Lots of jokes relate to the student’s culture background. Especially some young professor will use some erotic jokes to make the classroom atmosphere more active. When I did not understand I would ask my classmate and then understand. Sometimes we feel they are funny, sometimes maybe we don’t.

I like the professor using more media, like computers, projectors. And before class I wish he/she can give these material to us. Therefore, we can know what will going on in class and do some preparation. I wish the professor will give us those culture background information ahead of time which he will mention in class so we can prepare better. I don’t like it when professors ask students to speak; it makes some students feel uncomfortable. Some students, no matter Chinese or American students, are introverted and do not like to speak out in class. It depends on the student. Some students are more active. So we can ask them more questions and compose more in class activities. Some students are more introverted. So we can let them just study by themselves. These introverted students also can study. Being active in class, speaking out in class, and raising questions in class are not the only ways to study. Introverted students also can study by facing the computers and study by themselves. Therefore, we should meet their needs to teach. However, as a teacher, you should use more techniques, use more graphs, which make your class more interesting, active, and relaxed. Some time the interaction is not so important. No need to ask your students to speak out.

I do not think the participation is so important. I feel evaluating whether the students learned or not is the most important thing. For example, some class is talking about communication. After finishing the class, if no communication skills improvement was made, this student failed in this particular class. Even if he/she participated a lot, raised a lot questions, nothing was changed. Therefore, I think participation is not the only way to evaluate the student’s achievement. The most important thing is whether he/she learned or not. What does he/she feel. It is real. Someone may learn nothing, and still pretend being very active, and speaking out. He/She learned nothing. I felt lots of American students are that way. They are noisy and continuously interrupt class and learn nothing. Still, different persons have different perspectives. What was changed? Did I learn something after taking the class? All these depend on the student himself/herself. And this is the most important thing.

Interview with Ying Ying, a 2002 Instructional Systems graduate from Taiwan

I majored in educational materials science. This major has three sections, library management, multimedia, and I forget the last one. Most of the students in our major will chose two sections. I picked the first and the second sections. Therefore, my background quite matched what I am studying now, the instructional system major.

My teachers mainly lectured up front, following the textbook. Some teachers give you the syllabus, and notes and some times, they let you go home and study by yourself. Then you take the tests. By the way, homework was emphasized a lot when I was in University. Some professors who took American’s education and came back to Taiwan to teach, used American’s grading methods a lot. For example, 30% is homework, midterm is 30% and final is 30%, class attendance is 10%.

I feel some professors (those who did not go to U.S to study) only paid attention to the test. They are very traditional teachers. They only gave you tests. And you must reach the grade point to pass. They were only using the grade to decide your life. They seldom consider other things like in-class participation, or other stuff. I feel that traditional way to evaluate whether the student learned or not is the grade from the test. Some teachers only read the textbook. Really.

If I had such teachers, normally I would study by myself. There was no need for a teacher. And some times I can get better score (without such teacher). If the students knew this teacher only paid attention on the final scores, they will not attend the class frequently. They would choose to study by themselves and pass the test.

In public school the class formats and teaching methods were the same. However, I feel the motivation was different. When in high school, students needed to take the university entrance examination. Therefore, they had to take every class; otherwise, they won’t be able to graduate from high school. After they go to the university, the students felt more relaxed. The grades were not so important for them and the students began to take control of their own studies and lives.

After I went to the university in Taiwan, some teachers began to use PowerPoint, or video tapes, these media to teach. Some teachers need to teach Visual Basic, or Word. They had to practice before students. Therefore, some classes were held in the computer lab.

Before I went to the university, we had computer class in high school. However, at that time, they taught you about Chinese computer system. Later, the technology changed. What we learned in the computer class was different from the reality. In high school they taught computer class as a class. They taught you what the computer is. However now, computer is used as a tool. The equipments in high school was very limited. There were no computers and overhead projectors in every classroom. I still remember that the teacher needed to borrow the overhead projector. Some schools, as I know, now require every student to buy a laptop when they enter school. Nowadays, the school is equipped with a wireless network. Using media to assist teaching still depends on each school. This is a trend. I feel that students will be more self-reliant. And the role of the teacher will change. They will change to help you, teach you how to use (these tools), and provide related knowledge.

I feel traditional (as Confucius said), teachers are the persons who transfer morality, give knowledge, and resolve the questions. I am quite traditional, I respect teachers a lot. It is very tired for them to teach class. If you met a good teacher who had lots of patience, you can ask him/her questions and he/she can help you on these questions, thus the teacher did his/her job nicely.

I felt that there is no significant difference on external equipment. I felt the difference is my language and communication problem. Since you are sitting among foreigners, what you were hearing is English, not your native language. For me, the biggest difference is the language. As to teaching methods, teachers here like to ask questions and encourage students to speak. Of course, in Taiwan, if you have questions and raise your hand to ask, the teacher won’t resist. And some times in Taiwan, teachers will ask students whether or not they have questions. However, in U.S., students will raise questions without being asked by teachers. That’ s different. In Taiwan, only when the teacher asks students, then maybe one student will break the silence to ask the question. If the topic is interesting, then other students will continue to discuss it.

In Taiwan I didn’t speak up. I felt that’s the problem of personality. Taught in a very traditional way, I went to female high school. And we do what our teachers told us. Therefore, after I went to the university in Taiwan, I didn’t raise questions or speak out. Unless there is some extra credit on some questions; then I will purposely raise my hand to answer these questions.

Another thing is that I am afraid of losing face. I will feel embarrassed to speak out in class. Some times I understand, some times I don’t. My English was not good enough to fully understand what the teacher was saying. So when they asked me questions, I wasn’t able to answer it. However, another thing is that I am reluctant to speak out. I want to be perfect before other people. Therefore, I feel I will lose face to speak English. I can’t express myself fluently and accurately. Some times, American students will say what I want to say. I will feel “yes, that’s what I want to say”. I felt I can learn a lot from this way.

I felt that after came to U.S., I was willing to speak out in class and express my opinion, if English is not a problem. That’s the American way. Discussion. Exchange opinions, you can learn a lot. In Taiwan, we seldom discuss topics, even if we had to present, but that is different from exchanging opinions. I feel lots of freedom in the U.S. Lots of American students are very active. They will spontaneously raise questions and discuss them with teachers and classmates in class.

To tell the truth, I don’t like students to interrupt the teacher’s lecture. Sometimes, when the lecture was very interesting, it is interrupted suddenly by some student. That is not very good. I felt that the teacher then had to use extra time to answer the question. These questions should be held by your self and asked after class. In Taiwan, students are too shy to ask questions. However here, U.S. students ask any question on their mind, no matter what kind of question it is. In Taiwan, we felt that the class time is very valuable. If your question is good, that’s ok. If your question is stupid, that’s waste of time. Other classmates will think you are too noisy and they will avoid sitting around you. Raising too many questions in Taiwan would cause loathing from other classmates. Here, in U.S., if the students continuously ask nonsense questions, I also don’t like it. If he/she asked the question I also have, I like it.

Some times American jokes are quite funny. However sometimes, I cannot understand them, . so I need to be brave to laugh with others, then ask them what’s the funny part. Some students are very patient; they will tell you the details. If it related to some movie, they will write down the detailed information and recommend me to watch it. Therefore, I did not resist these jokes. I think you need to learn American culture by using it this way. That’s also the reason for us to come here. It will help you to communicate with Americans. There are many cultural differences. Some thing may be impolite in American culture. So I need to ask and learn. That’s the foundation needed to communicate and live with Americans.

Most of the time, I continue to communicate with Taiwanese students. My English is not so good. Therefore, when I am writing something, I still need help from American students. However, the class formats are different. Lots of classes are online. It is quite hard for me to communicate with American students in online classes since we did not see each other so frequently. However, most American students are very warm hearted. If you call them and email them, they are willing to help you. Even some times, you can meet with them to get help.

I still like the traditional teaching methods in Taiwan. I felt that if I paid the tuition, I want a good class. I want some teacher who can inspire me. Self-studying is not enough. Guidance from the teacher is quite important. The teaching format I like is when teacher does an interesting and good lecture in class. After class, we email him/her to ask questions. Raising questions in class will bother other students and will let the teacher get off track. I feel class time is very valuable for every student as compared to online classes. Questions should be asked at the end with class time left to the teacher to do lecture as he/she planned.

I wish everyone could have a computer. Two students or more sharing one computer is not enough. The teacher should have a bigger and clear screen. We can see what teacher want to show us. If the class related to use of multimedia, students can follow teacher’s steps. It still depends on different subjects. If it is a class about history, maybe such thing won’t be needed. I felt it is very convenient to take the test online. Anyway, the multimedia and network is basics.

Interview with Hongyi, a current Instructional Systems graduate student from China

My name is Hongyi. I studied English literature in China. Now I am studying instructional systems in U.S.. I learned a lot basic stuff in China.

Normally our teachers were always lecturing. Then we did homework. In university, since my major is English Literature, many of my classes were taught in English, which helped me to build the basic skills of communicating by using English. When we were freshman, we dared not to speak in English, even though our teachers were using English to teach the class. After 2 years, we naturally were able to speak in English without purposely taking some special class. I felt a lot of benefit from that. As to teaching methods, our Chinese teachers normally were lecturing. And we did our homework. Not like American teachers, they will ask “any questions?” periodically.

Some time, the Chinese teachers will ask once or twice. However, they won’t ask so frequently. And students did not have the habit of raising questions. Normally if the student has questions, he/she will ask the teacher after class, not raise them in class. If they raised some stupid questions in class, his/her classmates will laugh. That’s quite embarrassing.

I think, at that time, most of the students will use Chinese to ask questions. However, we had foreign teachers from the U.S. or Canada and there, the students had to use English to ask the questions. If the teacher is Chinese, even if the teacher uses English to teach, the students will still use Chinese to ask questions. Chinese students are used to asking questions after class rather than ask questions in class. They are afraid of being embarrassed.

We had a professor who went to the U.S. as a visit professor for one year. After he came back, he would show us the photos and videos. That was the basic media used at that time.

Since we were English Literature majors, there were some language labs. We used those lab to enhance our listening comprehension. And every week, we would watch English movies. We also had some classes that required us to watch the movie and talk about the movie. I think these were the basic media we used. At that time, computers were not so popular. Aside from movies, there was only chalk and blackboard. At that time, we didn’t have PowerPoint or Smart Boards.

I think, for Chinese students, we respect and are afraid of teachers. That’s common feeling among Chinese students; respect and fear. One thing is that the teacher is the authority. They are experts. We respect them. As to being afraid, I think every Chinese student has that kind of feeling. Some more, some less; it depends on different personalities. The distance between Chinese students and teachers are not as close as the distance between American students and teachers. At least, I felt that way. I, personally, like to study by myself.

I think the main reason Chinese students do not like to ask questions in class is the mental barrier. Chinese students are afraid of making mistakes in class and embarrassing themselves. They are afraid of losing face. That’s the mental barrier. Actually, Dr. Cornell frequently said that Chinese students do not like to speak out in class. The reason is not only the language problem. Even in China, Chinese students do not like to speak out in class. Not like American students. Still, the mental barrier in there, they are afraid of losing face. For me, I did not experience any embarrassment, because I was not so brave as to ask and answer questions in class. I did not laugh at other students either. Of course, some time if it is too funny, I will laugh with others. Especially for female students, it is worse because we are afraid of losing face.

I have two examples to show the difference between American and Chinese teaching methods.. Once, I went to a park in Miami, Parrot Jungle. Like lots of theme park shows, there was a presentation. The host asked the kids in the audience come forward to touch some kind of little animal. These American kids all wanted to come up front and do that. Chinese kids will be shy to get on stage. Another friend sitting beside me said “ See, that’s the difference between Chinese and Americans, American kids are very brave, they do not know how to be ‘shy’.”. Second story. I had a friend came from China and is working here now. He said, “after I came to U.S., my personality was getting released more and more. The forbidden personality finally was released.” That’s what he felt here. I think these two examples tell something.

I am not necessarily influenced by the classroom environment. When I am taking a class, I will suddenly have an impulse to ask questions and speak out. I won’t purposely forbid myself or hold myself back. I won’t wait until after class, I will speak out in class. I don’t think that was influenced by my classmates. I can feel the impulse to speak out. I think these change were happening gradually. At the beginning, I will feel a little shy. Later, I found that no one will laugh at you. So I now I am used to raising my hand in class, and speaking. However, I still feel some problem when communicating with my classmates. I do not have these problems with Dr. Cornell, since he is so nice and familiar to us. As to my classmates, it is hard to say. Maybe I still have some communication problems.

Of course, the teacher is very important. If you feel this professor is hard to communicate with, you probably won’t speak out too much in class. If you feel you are pretty close to the teacher, you probably will speak out more in class.

Some times, I can understand American jokes, some times, I can’t. Then I stand there feeling silly and watch other classmates laughing about the joke. I feel a little bit of embarrassed. If someone is willing to communicate, I will ask them. If they don’t, I won’t ask. It depends on the situation. I have a kind of “sixth sense” in communicating with the others. I feel I can handle speaking English; of course, not as good as Americans. I feel more comfortable being with Chinese-speaking students. Same language. That’s all. We will use Chinese to communicate. Like use chopsticks or fork to eat, I will choose the easy way to eat. That’s like habit. It is easy for me to use.

When it comes to other classes I will take, I think different students have different opinions. I like a comfortable environment to study and learn in class. I think a relaxed environment will help students and motivate them to learn. A good environment is one that lets students speak out in class spontaneously, not one that is forced, as that just increases the pressure. Different media should be used to meet the needs of the content. Mixed methods should be used. There is no need to pay special attention on one particular media.

Summary and Conclusions

It is hypothesized that there will emerge a reflection of Confucian pedagogy across all groups but that its importance will reflect the current environment of the subjects.

We hypothesize that a value set will emerge across groups that reflect Confucian pedagogy with a consistent series of key words that identify specific teaching and learning attributes.

The knowledge gained from the interviews will provide a past, present and most likely future portrait of the relationship between Confucian pedagogy and the needs of our UCF Chinese students, as well as their professors.

Significance and Need for Further Study

We view this research as being in its infant stages. Untold years of work lie ahead. We remain mindful of the delicacy of our undertaking. We are especially concerned that our actions do not “change these Chinese students to the extent that, upon their return to their home environments, their effectiveness has been culturally emasculated” (N. Ying, personal communication, April 4, 2002). Conversely, Chin-Ning Chu, in his work, Thick Face, Black Heart (1992), commenting on how one follows rules of what is right or wrong, states:

We seek an understanding of ourselves so that we will know what we ought to do in any given situation. You will gradually replace the beliefs you were taught with the truths you discover. It is not whether you turn the other cheek that is important. Why you do or do not is most significant (p.37).

These two points might appear diametrically opposed to one another but even here, there is symbiosis to the one who looks more deeply into these statements. We now understand far more what our Chinese students are thinking and how they process information.

The degree to which we either proceed toward cultural/intellectual emasculation or redefine what is “right or wrong” remains. Our research must be conducted with the utmost sensitivity and tact; of this, we are very well aware. Our proposed solutions are numerous; some have been tried and proved helpful; a few have failed; others are being tested at this moment. Indeed, perhaps Alishan Mountain may just move…a little bit at a time.

PowerPoint Summary

View a PowerPoint presentation that summarizes this paper. The presentation includes interview movie files of students and faculty. Click on some of the images to play the movies.
PowerPoint Presentation

TCC 2003 Online Conference
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