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Teaching styles and expectations can be very different in different cultures. Some teachers prefer to control and direct their classes carefully. Others act more as ‘facilitators’ who guide students in self-discovery. Some students want to be given knowledge directly and expect to receive lectures from teachers. Other students have no patience for teachers who talk too much and prefer to be given more time for group work and productive tasks. Because language learners often study with teachers from different cultures, conflict can occur when a teacher’s style does not match with a student’s expectations.
I’m currently reading an article by Jack C. Richards titled Competence and Performance in Language Teaching, in which he examines what is considered ‘good’ teaching and shares two interesting perspectives from an Australian student and a Chinese student.
“The way a person teaches and his or her view of what good teaching is will therefore reflect his or her cultural background and personal history, the context in which he or she is working, and the kind of students in his or her class. For this reason teaching is sometimes said to be ‘situated’ and can only be understood within a particular context. This is reflected in a comment by an Australian student studying Chinese in China and reacting to the ‘Chinese approach’ to teaching:
The trouble with Chinese teachers is that they’ve never done any real teacher-training courses so they don’t know how to teach. All they do is follow the book. They never give us any opportunity to talk. How in the world do they expect us to learn?
Compare this with the comments of a Chinese student studying in Australia:
Australian teachers are very friendly but they can’t teach very well. I never know where they’re going – there’s no system and I just get lost. Also, they’re often very badly trained and don’t have a thorough grasp of their subject. (Brick, 1991: 153).”
It’s quite funny to read and compare the two comments, but for the teachers and students involved, it must have been very frustrating. It shows us how important it is to try to understand teaching styles and expectations in different cultures and be accommodating.
Richards, J. C. (2010). Competence and performance in language teaching. RELC Journal, 41(2), 101–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688210372953
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