5/29/21; Week 6, Response to "Attributional Tendencies".

 

Attributions are inferences that people make about the causes of events and behavior. People make attributions in order to understand their experiences. Attributions strongly influence the way people interact with others.

Researchers classify attributions along two dimensions: internal vs. external and stable vs. unstable.  The attribution theory states that usually the attributions people make about events and behavior can be classed as either internal or external. In an Internal, or dispositional, Attribution, people infer that an event or a person’s behavior is due to personal factors such as traits, abilities, or feelings. In an External, or situational, Attribution, people infer that a person’s behavior is due to situational factors. Researchers also distinguish between stable and unstable attributions. When people make a Stable Attribution, they infer that an event or behavior is due to stable, unchanging factors. When making an Unstable Attribution, they infer that an event or behavior is due to unstable, temporary factors.

When people make an attribution, they are guessing about the causes of events or behaviors, and these guesses are often wrong. People have systematic biases, which lead them to make incorrect attributions. That's why it is important that as educators we are aware of the tendencies our students may have to be able to better understand them and their point of view. As we do so, we will develop a good relationship with them and they will trust us more.

For you, why is it important to understand attrbutional tendencies as a Teacher? Let me know in the comments section!

5/29/21; Week 6, Response to "Personal Space Differences".

 

Personal space is the region surrounding a person which they regard as psychologically theirs.
Most people value their personal space and feel discomfort, anger, or anxiety when their
personal space is intruded. Allowing someone to enter personal space and entering somebody else's personal space are indicators of perception of those people's relationship. An intimate zone is reserved for close friends, lovers, children and close family members. Another zone is used for conversations with friends, to chat with associates, and in group discussions. A further zone is reserved for strangers, newly formed groups, and new acquaintances. A fourth zone is used for speeches, lectures, and theater; basically public distance is that range reserved for larger audiences.

Although it’s important that Teachers recognize the necessity of a strong behavior management plan, they must also be aware of how culture influences personal interactions. This is especially when we consider that Teachers often come from different cultural backgrounds than those of their students. Without an adequate knowledge and understanding of how culture affects student behavior, a Teacher might misinterpret a student’s actions.

For example, a Teacher is talking to a student. The Teacher comes from a culture in which it is considered respectful to make eye contact when being spoken to by an adult. Jordan, on the other hand, has been taught that making eye contact is disrespectful to adults, and so he looks at the ground when his Teacher speaks to him. The Teacher’s understanding of culturally based responses is critical to interpret Jordan’s intentions. If the Teacher does not understand Jordan’s culture, a seemingly insignificant action like looking at the ground could be misinterpreted as defiance, apathy, or lack of respect and could result in the Teacher administering a negative consequence. This is the reason why it is vital to understand cultural differences regarding personal space.

And for you, how are space differences considered in your culture? Let me know in the comments!

5/29/21; Week 6; Response to " Individualism vs. Collectivism".

 

What are the differences between individualism and collectivism? Individualism emphasizes individual goals and rights., while collectivism emphasizes group goals and personal relationships.

Individualism stresses individual goals and the rights of the individual person. Collectivism focuses on group goals, what is best for the collective group, and personal relationships. An individualist is motivated by personal rewards and benefits. Individualist persons usually set personal goals and objectives based on self, and they are very comfortable working with autonomy and not part of a team.

The collectivist is motivated by group goals. Long-term relationships are very important. Collectivistic persons easily sacrifice individual benefit or praise to recognize and honor the team’s success. In fact, being singled out and honored as an individual from the rest of the team may be embarrassing for a collectivistic person.

The generalized geographic clusters of individualism may be found in Anglo countries, Germanic Europe, and Nordic Europe. Geographic clusters for collectivism are often located in Arab countries, Latin America, Confucian Asia, Southern Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

In most cases, culture, and specifically the characteristics associated with individualism and collectivism, have some influence on learners’ and instructors’ behavior, attitudes, and expectations. For example, in classrooms with collectivistically-oriented learners, face maintenance and harmony reign supreme so that neither teachers nor students should lose face and as such, any confrontations or conflicts are usually avoided or formulated in a manner so as not to hurt or cause any harm to anyone. Conversely, most individualistic societies have weak face-consciousness where conflicts are brought into the open with confrontation in learning situations being regarded as salutary. Coming to terms with these cultural differences can be difficult for language educators. It is commonplace for most language instructors from Western and individualistic cultures to endorse a communicative and active learning approach in the classroom where speaking and engaging in discussions is seen as a vital aspect of language acquisition. 

How have you seen individualism and collectivism in your own life? Let me know in the comments!

5/29/21; Week 6, Response to "Differences in Emotional Expressivity".

 

Emotional expressivity is the ability every individual has to communicate emotional states through nonverbal movements and gestures, including through the face. The emotional expressivity can change depending on the biological gender, culture, personality, social conventions and fear of disclosure. 

• Considering this, it is important that we create a positive environment in our classroom where our students can express freely what they are feeling without the fear of being judged or misunderstood. As educators, it is vital that we encourage them to express their thoughts during our lessons and do our best to understand their points of view.
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• What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments! 

5/22/21; Week 05, Response to "Culture Miscomunication".

 A cultural misunderstanding occurs when something—a word, gesture, object, social context, almost anything you can think of—has different meanings in two cultures. Sometimes the misunderstandings get resolved, sometimes they lead nowhere, and sometimes they can escalate to anything from love to war.

Here are some of the most common cultural misunderstandings a person may have to face:

1 - Hand Gestures: Pay attention to your body language when  you are in an unknown company, especially if you in a foreign country. Sometimes, the hand gestures you make can have different meanings than what they had in your country.

2 - Embracing: Embracing is one of the ways to greet in most parts of the world, but not in all parts of the world. There are some countries where trying to embrace might get you embarrassed. For example, in East Asia it’s advised to keep a respectful distance. If you are in a Buddhist country, don’t touch their head because it is considered sacred and if someone touches it is a serious insult to them. In Qatar, men and women are forbidden to publicly embrace one another.

3 - Mind your feet: In many cultures, especially Muslim people, sole of feet are directed very carefully. If you are pointing your feet soles to someone it is like disrespecting them.

4 - No Shoes: There are many places in the world where you must take your shoes off before entering. Masjids and Temples are the common example for this. However, in some cultures you are not even allowed to enter in a house with your shoes on. In the South Pacific or some parts of East Asia, you must remember to remove your shoes before entering a house as a sign of respect and cleanliness.

5 - Using Words Carefully: Words can be sharper than a sword, that's why they should always be used carefully even if you are in homeland. On an international level, they can create a great deal of confusion and awkwardness. Sometimes, wrong pronunciation can cause misunderstanding and often one word may have different meaning in different cultures or countries.

As Teachers, we help students from different cultural backgrounds. This means that misunderstandings can happen, so we have to be very careful and be aware of how we act and what we say. We should create a classroom that is a safe place for them when we solve problems and misunderstandings instead of create them. 

Do you have any experiences with cultural misunderstandings? Let me know in the comments!

5/21/21; Week 05: Response to "Culture Differences Concerning Time".

 

There are two different ways in which cultures around the world perceive time. A monochronic time system means that things are done one at a time and time is segmented into small precise units. Under this system, time is scheduled, arranged, and managed. 

 The United States considers itself a monochronic society, and the same happens with north European cultures such as Italy, Greece, Spain, England, and the Scandinavian countries. John Ivers, a professor of cultural paradigms at BYU-Idaho, states that "in the market sense, monochronic people consume time." 

On the other hand, a polychronic time system is a system where several things can be done at once, a wider view of time is exhibited and time is perceived in large fluid sections. Examples of polychronic behaviors are typing while answering telephones, or taking notes while participating in meetings. Some polychronic cultures are Latin American, African, Arab, and Native American cultures. People that belong to these cultures are much less focused on the preciseness of accounting for time because they concentrate on tradition and relationships rather than on tasks. 

When I had the opportunity to live in the United States, I remember that I was very surprised to see that meetings and classes started on time. Being from a Latin American country, I was used to meetings starting 10, 20 or even 30 minutes late. I also remember noticing how Americans talked about time, using terms like "spend" and "waste". In Spanish, time is not something we spend, is something we have. 

These differences can affect the way we see students, and also affect how they see us as Teachers. It is important that as educators we respect and understand what every one of our students brings to our classroom. Understanding the values and assumptions a culture places on these temporal dimensions is essential to create policies that improve the quality of peoples’ lives.

How do you see time in your culture? Let me know in the comments!

5/17/21; Week 05: Response to "Culture Paradigms".

 

Cultural paradigms are at the basis of human thought, action and interaction. They are the cultural role-concepts that we use to negotiate our notion of self and our relationships with others in our everyday lives.

The nature of our existences makes it such that humans always exist within a social and

cultural context. We manage our individual lives and social relationships by way of our connection to ourselves and our connection to those around us. Our languages and cultures make communication and cooperation possible. Through our linguistic and cultural development, we create concepts which help us to navigate our personal and interpersonal lives. These concepts give us a sense of self and of self in relation to others. 

 

Having this in mind, it is important that as Teachers we are aware of cultural paradigms that are present in our classroom. Every one of our students has a different cultural and social background, and they perceive themselves in a unique way. As educators, it is our responsability to develop intercultural awareness to show empathy and help our students according to our needs.

Why do you think cultural paradigms are important in a classroom.? Let me know in the comments!