Cultural Attitudes

Cultural attitudes towards education

There are

• different ideas on how much time, money and effort should be given to education (for example, is it a frill, an individual choice or a necessity?)
• different expectations of the tutor-learner relationship, from being distant, authoritative, and revered to being peers, personal, and helpful
• different expectations about behaviour, which may be either formal or informal
• different views about the role of the tutor, which may range from being a director to a facilitator
• different views about the role of the learner, which may range from being a passive learner to being an active learner

Cultural attitudes towards language

There are

• different ways of thinking about who can talk to whom and in what manner, based on gender, age, occupation/class/social position, and so on.
• different rates of speaking, ranging from “rapid-fire” to slower with long pauses
• different boundaries when talking to others, ranging from it being okay to talk to peers but not okay to interrupt the teacher, to it being okay to talk to anyone, anytime.

Cultural attitudes towards social interaction

There are

• different attitudes about time, ranging from doing things very quickly to very slowly
• different ideas about how children, parents and other family members should behave
• different attitudes towards interaction with other people, ranging from being very rigid and formal to more flexible and informal

Individual differences

It should be noted here that while culture can affect learning, we should not assume that every person within a certain culture will learn in the same way. Perhaps more important are individual differences, such as

• attitudes about time, effort and money available for education (a frill, choice or necessity?)
• motivation, persistence and attention abilities
• cognitive and/or physical learning style
• affective factors (for example, chronic illness, stress) personal abilities (for example, physical, intellectual, emotional, interpersonal)

Herod, L. (2000). Learning styles and strategies. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Adult Literacy and Continuing Education, Manitoba Education and Training. www.edu.gov.mb.ca/ael/all/publications/learning_s_s_revised_2000.pdf. Adapted with permission.

Handout 3.7