Exploring Classroom Practices in Collectivist Cultures through the Lens of Hofstede's Model

Beliefs have been considered to have played the most valuable role in teacher education (Pintrich, 1990). Teachers' beliefs are significantly influenced and shaped by their past experiences, social and cultural values and interactions. Teachers' beliefs also play a significant role in deciding upon the choice of content and modes of delivery. Just as students' learning styles differ on the basis of their cultural orientations, teachers' classroom practices may also differ on the basis of their cultural orientation. There have been numerous studies conducted on the various dimensions of the nature of teachers' beliefs based upon their cultural orientation (Chan, Tan, & Khoo, 2007; Hermans, VanBraak, & Van Keer, 2008). It has been claimed that teachers' beliefs about teaching and learning are heavily influenced by their own collectivistic or individualistic cultural orientation, as proposed by Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1980, 2001). However, with the international boundaries shrinking and the rapid expansion of information technology, it is possible that teaching practices of Eastern teachers, who very often are labelled as traditional, are gradually transforming (Ryan & Louie, 2007). The educational reforms in Asian countries are emphasizing modern teaching and learning innovations which are mostly developed in the West. Almost all school reforms have, to a great extent, ignored the forces that actually affect the teaching practices, namely cultures, beliefs, and norms, and have focused on external factors like modern teaching and learning innovations (Deal & Peterson, 2009). As a result, there is a disjuncture between these innovations and their implementation in Asian countries which are primarily collectivist in nature. Studies conducted in several countries in Asia strongly point towards the fact that teachers' own beliefs are not in accord with these innovations, hence there is an incongruence in their classroom practices (Goh, Zhang, Ng, & Goh, 2005; Orafi & Borg, 2009; Underwood, 2012). In a collectivist culture, the teachers' role is to transfer knowledge in a clear, structured, and direct way, whereas in an individualist culture, the teacher expects students to be active participants in knowledge acquisition through discussions and inquiry (Staub & Stern, 2002). However, lately there has been a plethora of studies that dispute the claims that collectivist students are passive learners and that collectivist teachers primarily use transmission teaching practices (Cheng, 2000; Littlewood, 2001; Xiao, 2005). For example, in a large scale study carried out in eight Asian and three European countries, Littlewood (2001) found that irrespective of nationality, a majority of students objected to the traditional transmission learning. These students wanted activities in which they were involved in achieving a common goal. Due to inadequate training, teachers overlook differences in behavior and attitudes of students and follow transmission style practices (Gayle-Evans & Michael, 2006). Thus the stereotype has been created based upon half-baked, limited interaction, or no understanding of collectivistic cultures (Sleeter, 2001). The recent success of education systems in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and a few other Asian countries has renewed an interest among researchers in the teaching practices of these countries. The emphasis of educational reforms in all these countries was the adoption of more child-centered (Western, individualistic) teaching practices. However, there is a scarcity of studies that explore the use of modern innovations in teaching practices by collectivist teachers, the extent of its use, and how these practices have been amalgamated without compromising their deep-rooted, collective cultural beliefs. Such studies would be beneficial for researchers who are interested in cross-cultural studies in the field of education and policymakers who would want to advocate inclusion of best methods of teaching from the individualistic nations. …