In this chapter, it focuses on the background of the reasons why it is important to enhance students’ cross-cultural awareness and abilities. It is going to discuss the significance of this study, know the current problems and solve the problems to show the contribution of this study. It also talks about the limitation and delimitation, also the definition of terms.
Research Background
After Cold War between the U.S. and USSR ended in 1991, the U.S. has become the most powerful country in the world. Capitalism has risen abruptly and it caused economic reforming (Phillipson, 2001). The globalization has become a new trend. It is a process of interchanging international businesses without borders (Venables, Tan,
& Miliszewska, 2013). The advancement of technology and the melioration of transportation have also become important reasons to encourage the globalization.
Since there are always latest electronic products produced and telecommunication developed with each passing day, such as smart phones, laptop computers or networks, they are viewed as the mediator to help the diffusion of different cultures (Nilan, 2011). The development of transportation also plays a big role in globalization. It enhances people’s opportunities to have international trading business all over the world.
Language can also be an essential issue when talking about trading business or marketing with people from foreign countries. Since the United States has become the most powerful country in the world, English has become a dominant language in the world (Phillipson, 2001). The government in Taiwan also focuses on language ability and regards English as the second language. It is because Taiwan is a sea-island
2
country which no doubt is bound to rely on global trading (Ying, 2003), also participation in different international economic organizations, such as World Trade Organization and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Therefore, using English as the main language to communicate with people from other countries has become a necessity.
However, it is found that although Taiwanese people can speak English to foreign people; they cannot completely understand the cultural issues or even misunderstand and have cultural bias to foreigners. It is because people do not enhance their cross-cultural awareness and develop the cross-cultural ability even though they speak good English. There are different cultures in different countries.
Hofstede (2010) indicated that there are six national cultural dimensions in his studies:
power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term versus short-term orientation and indulgence versus restraint. His research has become an important contribution since he made the complicated concepts of cultures be able to be measured. These dimensions show how culture has an impact on values, like people’s thinking, behaviors and decision making. It differs the ways of leadership, organizational structures and content of motivation in every country. He also conducted his study in Taiwan.
Figure 1.1. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind.
3
Power distance (PDI) shows that people in higher level have higher authorities than in lower level. Individualism versus collectivism (IDV) shows that people in Taiwan tend to be more loyal, collective, like a family and emphasizes on relationships among each other. Masculinity versus femininity (MAS) shows that Taiwan is considered as a feminine society. It focuses on working hard to make money, pursuing well-being but not status. Uncertainty avoidance (UAI) shows that Taiwan has high uncertainty avoidance which means people may focus on their own security. They work hard, follow the rules and try not to make mistakes. Last one is long-term versus short-term orientation (LTO). It shows Taiwan is a long term orientation culture. People are practical and have their ways of thinking in the future.
They focus on achieving their goals and setting more goals.
Through Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions, it has already been known that cultures can be really various in different countries. It means each country may have its own values, people’s interaction and social functions (Yang, 2011). For example, students in the United States tend to be self-confident to directly express themselves;
however, students in Asian countries are inclined to be shy in class. It can be misunderstood that students from Asian countries are worse or not hard-working because of none of any participation in class (Chu & Kim, 1999). Therefore, if people only do things or make decisions from their perspectives, they will easily have cross-cultural conflicts among different countries.
Further studies (Yang, 2011) indicate that when speaking another language, students prefer to use “Chinglish” when they express themselves because it is their own way of thinking. The reason why students in current junior high schools lack any form of cross-cultural awareness is because in Taiwan, teachers only teach English grammar, sentence structures, listening practice and vocabulary memorization. The
4
students may easily lose their attention if the teacher’s teaching way is mostly by lecturing. The teacher would make students decline their interest in learning English, not to say successfully prepare students for the overwhelming yet crucial international relationships overseas.
Therefore, owing to the researches above, it can be seen that Taiwan relies heavily upon international trading business to effectively support and build on its economy. Cross-cultural awareness and ability play a significant role to continue international trade. For example, cross-cultural communication in business is obviously very important. If people pay attention on how different countries communicate and what their non-verbal gestures or eye contacts are, it will put emphasis on the cultural factors when communicating with people from foreign countries. Because if the country lacks of cross-cultural awareness and abilities, people will ultimately be disadvantage compared to their competitors across the seas (Cardon & Scott, 2007). For that reason, the need for cross-cultural awareness is understandably a course that must be taught to students at a young stage.
However, it is to be known that cross-cultural awareness is not a mandatory course in Taiwan which means the level of importance is not being appropriately presented to potential students that will require this knowledge in the future. From this basis, a thorough understanding and comprehensive curriculum must be created to serve these needs, and to be taught at a suitable stage within the developmental period of a person’s study experience.
Therefore, the level of importance within this thesis is to develop students’
cross-cultural awareness and abilities by creating and cultivating our own curriculum.
When the teacher teaches junior high school students in order to develop their cross-cultural awareness, the teacher will use English as an instrument to
5
communicate and convey the material to students. This in turn will put a strong focus upon a number of factors, including: the language, the teaching materials, and the methods in which the teacher implements the lessons.
In light of the above, it would be about the background of the research, also a focus on the ongoing issues for junior high school students understanding different cultures that exist overseas to develop their cross-cultural awareness and abilities.
Statement of the Problem
Generally speaking, English is viewed as one of the main subjects as Chinese and math. Students have been learning English since they started elementary school in Taiwan, or even earlier. Some kids are even sent to bilingual kindergartens to start getting familiar with English also acquiring English literacy skills (Williams, 2007;
Silvén & Rubinov, 2010). However, we found that students lack of cross-cultural awareness and ability in Taiwan. It is because English education in Taiwan emphasizes on grammar, such as sentence structures and verb tenses and it also focuses on memorizing vocabulary and practicing listening skills. Besides, in order to enhance students’ writing skills, the English teachers tend to give students more work sheets and composition writings. In fact, students may have good English skills, such as reading, listening, writing and speaking, but they also need to develop the cross-cultural awareness.
Anna (2013) stated, “Culture is a framework of behavioral patterns, values, assumptions and experiences shared by a social group.” A lack of cross-cultural awareness does not mean students are also in adequate for English skills. The reason why they lack of cross-cultural awareness is because of cultural illiteracy and the lack of people skills. The knowledge of English needs to include an insight of foreign cultures and different ways of thinking. Students who lack of cross-cultural awareness
6
may suffer from cultural shock and limit their cross-cultural interactions among people from different countries or even have higher probability of wrongly conveying and interpreting messages or take wrong actions (Anna, 2013). Therefore, if students cannot combine English ability with cross cultures together, they may fail of their development of cross-cultural awareness.
Last but not least, how teachers adopt cross-cultural awareness in their curriculum can be very essential. Their ways of teaching may also be a key element to enhance students’ interest in learning English and develop students’ cross-cultural awareness.
Research Purpose
The main purpose of the study is to examine the effect of developed curriculum which focuses on cross-cultural awareness for junior high school students.
It will more specifically focus on the following:
1. The differences of students’ cross-cultural awareness before and after taking the curriculum which can help students enhance their cross-cultural awareness.
2. The explanation of the effect of the teacher’s curriculum on junior high school students’ cross-cultural awareness.
Research Questions
Based on the purpose of study, the thesis would like to find the answers to the following questions:
1. How does the teacher develop the curriculum which can enhance students’
cross-cultural awareness?
2. How does the teacher’s curriculum affect students’ cross-cultural awareness?
3. How do the students feel after the delivery of the curriculum?
7
Significance of the Study
There is a significance to conduct the research. In the long term, it is important for teachers think about how to develop the curriculum to help students enhance their cross-cultural awareness. This research would also assist help to acquire the knowledge of cross-cultural communication ability and global perspectives. This research shows that teachers can help junior high school students develop their cross-cultural awareness by using English as an instrument to deliver their own cross-cultural curriculum. Most important of all, students will have different but positive opinions to different cultures, rather than use their own ways of thinking which might occur cultural bias and increase cultural conflicts. It will also improve students’ comprehension and turn it into practical actions to respect and be tolerant of cultures in other countries.
This study can be the contribution to future English teaching. Teachers’
improved curriculum and teaching methods will be important to influence students’
interests in learning English and develop their cross-cultural awareness. When students learn English in schools, the knowledge they acquire is not only including the syntactic grammar or wording, but also the visible aspects of cultures in Iceberg Theory (Hall, 1976), such as extrinsic behaviors, buildings, clothing or various delicacies.
This study also provides a research direction for related study topics in the future. The improved curriculum which made by teachers contains cross-cultural issues will help junior high school students’ development and gradually enhance national and social competence in Taiwan.
8
Definition of Key Terms
There are five key terms in this research, cross-cultural awareness, cross-cultural communication, global perspectives, junior high school students and English teaching.
Their definitions are presented as bellow:
Cross-cultural awareness
Cross-cultural awareness is a process to be more aware of and to understand a person’s own culture and other cultures in the world. It is used to enhance cross-cultural respect and understanding (Byram, 1989). Instead of understanding one’s own cultures, cross-cultural awareness is also an ability for a person to understand different cultures, including traditions, beliefs and languages from other countries (Carrier, 1997).
Cross-cultural communication
Cross-cultural communication means people are incessantly communicating and interplaying with people from other countries (Murphy, Censullo, Cameron, & Baigis, 2007). Having good cross-cultural communication can avoid misunderstandings and conflicts between different countries.
Global perspectives
Having global perspectives means a person is aware of other countries which include politics, economy, environments, cultures and societies. The information may be obtained through technology or people from different countries (Barker, Farrelly, Webb, Smith, & Worsfold, 2011).
Junior high school students
Junior high school students in this study refer to those students from K7 to K9 whose nationality is Taiwan. They study and pursue a graduation certificate in junior
9
high schools which are examined and approved their regular system by the government in Taiwan.
English Teaching
English teaching for the students is viewed as an important policy because it is believed to be good for economic growth and politics in a country. Teaching English should be active, useful and fun (Worthington, 2009).
Delimitations and Limitations
In order to control the scope of the study, the thesis will be limited to certain areas. The delimitations are as followed:
1. This study will be conducted in Taiwan. It cannot be generalized to other regions because Taiwan has its own specific values based on Hofstede’s dimension of national cultures.
2. Because English is the most powerful and regarded as a global language in the world, also Taiwan views English as the first foreign language, the study is going to use English as an instrument to deliver the curriculum. Therefore, the study has to focus on English rather than other languages or subjects in school.
3. The samples of the study are the junior high school students range from K7 to K9.
It does not include students under K7. On the contrary, there are more factors which can differ from each student’s cross-cultural awareness over senior high schools, such as the times of going abroad, the hours of studying English every day, and the quality of English teacher’s teaching. Therefore, it does not include students over junior high schools in this study.
4. Because it is an experimental research of one-group pre-test and post-test design, it will not have the control group. Therefore, it does not know whether something
10
other than the treatment occurred between the pre-test and the post-test to cause the outcome.
11