CollectivismandIndividualisminCyberspaceWord格式文档下载.docx

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AComparisonofOnlineCommunicationPatternsbetweenHongKongandU.S.Students

KayKyeongjuSeo,Ph.D.&

PaulChamnessMiller,Ph.D.

UniversityofCincinnati,USA

CynthiaSchmidt,Ph.D.

UniversityofMissouri-KansasCity,USA

PatienceSowa,Ph.D.

ZayedUniversity,UnitedArabEmirates

Abstract

Inrecentyears,studieshaveproposedtheuseofinterculturalcommunicationtopromoteunderstandingamongstudentsacrossgeographicdistancesandfosterstudents’globalawarenessandinternationalexperience.ThisstudycomparedHongKongstudents’WebCTdiscussionpostingswiththoseofU.S.studentstoinvestigatedifferencesintheironlinecommunicationpatterns.ResultsshowedthatwhileAsianstudentsweremoreinteractivebyinvitingotherstudents’opinions,Americanstudentswerelessresponsiveandmoreinterestedinstatingtheirownviews.Inaddition,AmericanstudentstendedtobedirectandstraightforwardinexpressingtheirpositionswhereasAsianparticipantsusedambiguouslanguageandconveyedtheirthoughtsimplicitly.

Keywords:

interculturalcommunication,onlinediscussion,collectivism,individualism

Introduction

Computer-mediatedcommunicationtechnologyhasenhancedtheabilitytoconnectpeoplefromanywhereintheworldbyfacilitatingthedistributionofideasandinformationacrossdistances.Thisdevelopmenthasprovidednewopportunitiestoimprovelearningaboutandfromotherswhosharesimilarinterests,butwhohavedifferentculturesandlifeexperiences.ManyuniversitiesintheUnitedStateshaveestablishedinterculturaldistancelearningpartnershipswithAsiancountriestopromotemulticulturalunderstandingandtoexplorethebenefitsofdiversifiedlearningenvironments（seeNickel2001;

Shih&

Cifuentes2001）.

Teachersandstudentsareenthusiasticaboutthebenefitsoflearningwithpartnersbeyondtraditionalclassroomboundaries,butthereareimportantcommunicationissuestoconsiderwhenplanningdistancelearningwithpartnersfromdifferentcultures.Thesecommunicationissuesextendbeyondlevelsofwrittenlanguageproficiencyandtechnicalcompetencewithcomputers.Forexample,researchershavenotedculturaldifferencesinpatternsofcommunicationasasignificantfactorinonlinediscussionsbetweenuniversitystudentsindifferentcountries（Liang&

McQueen2000;

Cifuentes2001）.CasestudiesofAmericanmiddleschoolstudentsfromdifferentculturalbackgroundsalsoprovideinsightsintothecomplexroleofculturaldifferencesincommunicationpatternsandlearningstylesandemphasizetheimportanceofteacherplanningandscaffoldingtomaximizelearningforstudents（Cifuentes&

Murphy2000;

Freedman&

Liu1996）.

Forsuccessfulpartnershipsandlearningthroughdistanceeducationtotakeplace,educatorsmustpayattentiontotheculturesoftheirstudents.Cultureisanimportantconsiderationbecause,asScollonandScollon（2000）state,culturalvaluesandnormsdetermineformsofcommunicationofdifferentgroups.Inhisstudyofculturaldiversityininstructionaldesign,Jian（2001）emphasizestheneedfordesigners,trainers,orteacherstotakeintoconsiderationtheculturesofstudentswhendesigninganddeliveringeducationaltechnology,becausethesestudentsbring"

culturallybasedrules,expectations,valuesystems,andeducationalneedstothelearningenvironment"

（Jian2001:

300）.

WiththegrowinginterestinforminglearningpartnershipsbetweentheU.S.andAsiancountries,therehavebeenconsistenteffortstounderstanddifferencesincommunicationpatternsbetweenAmericanandAsiancultures.Hofstede（1986,1997）providesinsightsintomajordifferencesbetweenthetwocultures.AccordingtoHofstede’sperspectiveoncollectivismversusindividualism,theAsiancultureisacollectiveculturewherepeoplevalueharmonywithothersandemphasizehumanrelationships.Inaddition,influencedbytheteachingsofConfucius,calledConfuciandynamism,Asianpeoplepursuealong-termorientationinlife,wheretheybelieveinworkinghardtoacquireskillsandeducationinpreparationforthefuture.Ontheotherhand,intheAmericanculturepeopleseektheindependenceofeachindividual,andthesocietyislooselyconnected.Theseculturaldifferencesbetweenthetwogroupsinfluencetheircommunicationpatterns.HallandHall（1989）andGudykunstetal.（1988）notethatAsianpeople,seekingharmonyinagroup,tendtoavoiddirectexpressionoftheirownintentionsandpositions.Incontrast,Americanpeopleusemoreexplicitlanguageandmoredirectexpressionoftheirthoughts.

Theexistingliteratureonthistopicraisesthefollowingquestion:

Canthecommunicationpatternsofthesetwoculturesbeobservedinonlinediscussions?

Thel