The Class Differences in the View of Chinese and American Cultures

【Abstract】The difference of culture is the rationale that leads to the class differences. This paper compares the class differences between China and America from the perspectives of class organization, teaching content and learning style, and analyzes the deep-seated cultural factors. It is expected that people can adopt alternatively good teaching methods with objective attitude towards educational differences and meanwhile recognize the importance of culture.

【Key words】class; cultural differences

【作者簡介】胡桦(1982-)，河南新乡人，新乡医学院三全学院，讲师，硕士，研究方向：理论语言学和应用英语教学。

I. Introduction

A class is the basic unit of teaching and the place where the educational ideas are carried out and reflected directly. This paper will compare and analyze the class differences in terms of class organization, teaching content and learning style, with the hope that people can recognize educational differences come from cultural differences, forming an appropriate view on Chinese and American classes and adopt alternatively those good educational models which are fit for our culture.

II. Differences of Class

1. Class Organization

Chinese class emphasizes instilment of knowledge. In some degree, the class is teacher-dominated, and the teacher selects points from textbook, interprets, analyzes and elaborates on these points for the students. The students are like “empty-vessels” or “pint-pots” whose task is to receive passively the knowledge transmitted by teachers. They listen carefully and write many notes with little chance of speaking let alone thinking independently and discussing freely. Therefore the focus of Chinese teaching is not on how teachers and students can create, construct and apply knowledge in an experiential approach, but on how extant authoritative knowledge can be transmitted and internalized in a most effective and efficient way (Hu, 2000).

American class, however, emphasizes the cultivation of ability. The class is student-centered and allows freedom, spontaneity and initiative. The teacher doesn’t instill much knowledge into students, but tries all means to guide students to surf the boundless sea of knowledge instead of forcing them to write down a lot of notes and memorize a great number of words and formulas mechanically, and the teacher makes effort to teach the students how to think and find solutions to problems. In such a class, the students’ interest, personality and creativity are noticed and explored by teachers. For example, the teacher selects some topics and games which the students are interested in and then arranges them into several groups (usually before class, the teacher has changed the position of desks and chairs from the form of totally facing the platform to the face-to-face form) to interact with each other. In this case, the students can really involve in the teaching activity through thinking independently, communicating and discussing freely and expressing their own ideas actively.

2. Teaching Content

Chinese education attaches great importance to learning basic knowledge, and views learning as a process of accumulating knowledge more than a practical process of constructing and using knowledge. Only when you learn and master the basic knowledge, are you in a position of using what you have mastered to solve all kinds of problems. Since knowledge-accumulating process is so important, what is the source of knowledge? In China, true knowledge has been popularly held to reside in textbooks, especially classics and authoritative works (Hu, 2000). So in Chinese class, the teacher delivers the same knowledge with similar methods according to the demand of teaching syllabus and the content of textbook.

On the contrary, American class cultivates the practical ability, encourages the suspicious and critical spirit on authoritative knowledge, and develops the ability to transform and create knowledge. It is well known that there are not absolutely uniform textbooks throughout America because it is considered that only the schools most understand the situation and the need of their locations, and only the students themselves clearly know their own interest and ability. Therefore every school has its own feature and every student can schedule his own study plans and courses.

3. Learning Style

The differences of class organization and teaching content also give rise to the difference of learning style. The learning style of Chinese is summarized as four R’s and four M’s. First, learning is essentially a process of reception. The students are expected to receive and retain the knowledge imparted by their teachers and textbooks (Paine, 1991). Second, learning is also a process of repetition, as is reflected in a Chinese saying “read one hundred times, and the meaning will emerge.” Third, review is also perceived as a key element of successful learning (Wang, 2001), as Confucius exhorted “by reviewing the old, one learns the new.” Last, learning is reproduction. Students are expected to be able to accurately reproduce the transmitted textual knowledge on demand (Hu, 2002). The four M’s represent meticulosity, memorization, metal activeness and mastery. First, meticulosity refers to attention to the smallest detail of knowledge. Second, the students must memorize much knowledge. Third, metal activeness rather than verbal activeness is valued. Finally, learning is never considered complete until full mastery is achieved (Hu, 2002).

Maybe this learning style will make American students surprised because they have never been fettered by knowledge of textbooks and the ideas of teachers, and oppositely they have their own thought and could schedule their classes from a catalogue. At the same time, American class stresses verbal interaction, observation and experiment, and encourages speculation and tolerance for ambiguity.

III. Differences of Culture

It is the culture differences that cause the class differences. First, China attaches great importance to ethics and collectivism for thousands of year. Collectivism means greater emphasis on (1) the views, needs and goals of the in-group rather than oneself; (2) social norms and duty defined by the in-group rather than behavior to get pleasure; (3) beliefs shared with the in-group rather than beliefs that distinguish self from in-group; and (4) great readiness to cooperate with in-group members (Samovar, 2000). Chinese people have been living in the environment of “we” consciousness, that is to say, identity is based in the social system; the individual is emotionally dependent on organizations and institution; the culture emphasizes belonging to organization (Samovar, 2000). Therefore, the teaching method in China emphasizes collective and uniform features, less focusing on individual characteristics.

However, the most important cultural pattern in America is individualism. It indicates that each individual is unique, special, completely different from all other individuals, and the basic unit of nature. And it manifests itself in individual initiative, independence, individual expression and privacy (Samovar, 2000). So in cultures that tend towards individualism, an “I” consciousness prevails: competition rather than cooperation is encouraged; personal goals take precedence over group goals; people tend not to be emotionally dependent on organizations and institutions; and every individual has the right to his /her private property, thoughts, and opinions (Samovar, 2000). In America, a little child is told by his parents which is his own private space and which not and individual rights are sacred by no means being invaded. As a result, the most prominent feature of American teaching method is to inspire individual development and notice individual ideas.

Secondly, China holds the belief of the Golden Age about concept of time, which points toward the past and considers the present time to be a degenerate period (Scollon, 2000). In China “to cope with all kinds of changeable things with a changeless truth” is very common cultural psychology. Therefore, in Chinese teaching method, learning basic knowledge and advocating classics are taken seriously.

By contrast, Americans place great importance on progress and change and hold Utopian concept of time which emphasizes the future rather than the past or present. It is said that American people always face the future leaving their backs point towards the past. We can find this orientation in American culture, that is, to approach to limitlessness, to surpass oneself and to change constantly. Likewise, this cultural psychology is reflected on teaching method. Therefore, we can see that American education doesn’t force students to rely on authoritative books but hopes that students can learn and use knowledge flexibly and propose new ideas.

IV. Conclusion

There is an old Chinese idiom “Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one”. We can try to learn the advantages of American class and take an eclectic approach, making chances for the students’ activeness, critical thinking, communicative competence and individual development. More importantly, we should realize it is different cultures that breed different educations.

References：

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[3]Samovar. Communication between Cultures[M]. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,2000.

[4]Scollon and Scollon. Intercultural Communication: A Discourse Approach[M]. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,2000.

[5]Wang, M. J.. The Cultural Characteristics of Chinese Students: A Study of Basic Attitudes and Approaches to Their English Studies[J]. RELC Journal,2001.