What do these differences mean in the classroom?
Affective Student Responses
Negative emotions, such as anger, are most likely when an event has external, controllable, and stable causes. In contrast, humiliating emotions, such as shame, guilt, and embarrassment, have internal causes that vary along other dimensions. For example, students are most likely to feel shame when an outcome (e.g. low mathematics performance) is caused by an internal, uncontrollable, stable trait. (e.g. low mathematics ability)... Emotions such as guilt are most likely to occur when a cause is internal, controllable, and unstable, such as failing to complete one's homework or engaging in occasional inappropriate behavior. (Bruning, 119) Read about a recent study done in the ESL/EFL classroom setting investigating teacher and student attributions. Teachers believe success is related to EFFORT, students responded that success in the ESL classroom was related to "luck"! |
Differences in Self-Concept
Cousins (1989) asked Japanese and American college students to describe themselves in the Twenty Statement Test (TST; Kuhn & McPartland, 1954), in which they were asked to complete 20 statements beginning with the words “I am.” Cousins (1989) found that American participants used general abstract personality traits (e.g., “I am curious,” “I am sincere”) three times as often as Japanese participants did. Japanese descriptions of self more often reflected their social identities (e.g., “I am a Keiyo student”) or referred to specific contexts (e.g., “one who plays mah-jongg on Friday nights”). In short, Japanese self-descriptions were contextualized rather than abstract and specific rather than general. (Choi, 1999) |
Attributional Retraining
"Attributional Retraining refers to helping individuals better understand their attributional responses and develop responses that encourage task engagement." (Bruning, 120)
Retraining can be successful and often includes
1) Teaching individuals to identify undesirable behaviors, like task avoidance
2) Evaluating attributions leading to avoidant behavior
3) Exploring alternative attributions
4) Implementing favorable attribution patterns
"Attributional Retraining refers to helping individuals better understand their attributional responses and develop responses that encourage task engagement." (Bruning, 120)
Retraining can be successful and often includes
1) Teaching individuals to identify undesirable behaviors, like task avoidance
2) Evaluating attributions leading to avoidant behavior
3) Exploring alternative attributions
4) Implementing favorable attribution patterns
Essentially, it is possible to get your students to make better, more accurate attributions that can improve their effort and self-efficacy, or self-concept and communication. One way to do that is by making attributions explicit.
Example dialogues, when applying information about student attributions:
(Collectivist teacher, Individualist Student)
-Emphasize effort, controllability
to retrain internal, uncontrollable, stable attributions
CT: Hey John, how do you feel about your grade on that last test?
Do you feel you did a good job?
IS: I didn't do that great, but I was just in a bad mood and the weather was bad and you grade really hard!
CT: Really? Are you spending enough time on the course? Are you sure you are putting in as much effort as you can before the test?
IS: It wouldn't matter, I'm just not good at math!
CT: If you do more exercises and practice more, your grade will improve.
IS: I don't really care, I'm just not great at this.
CT: It sounds like you just don't want to make a good grade.
vs.
CT: Well, you could be great at this! Be positive- prove it to yourself! On this next test, I want you to put in a lot of EFFORT and we will compare your score to the last test. I bet you will see how much you can improve! You have the potential to be great at math. Did you know that?
(Individualist teacher, Collectivist student)
-Emphasize communication, self concept
to retrain internal, controllable, and unstable attributions
IT: Talk to me about how you feel about the last test, Crystal.
CS: I feel so bad about that grade. I spent too much time on facebook and didn't spend all of my time on studying or try as hard as I could have.
IT: Well, I did notice you studying a lot, so perhaps there is something else going on? Did you misunderstand some of the information presented in class? Is there something I can do to help you? You seemed pretty unhappy that day- could that have affected your performance?
CS: Maybe that could have been part of the reason, but I probably just need to study longer.
IT: Okay, let me know if you need help!
vs.
IT: If you had an off day, that's okay, but I see how hard you study for this class so let's talk about some learning strategies that might make your studying more interactive. We haven't talked much this semester, but you clearly have a good grasp of the concepts. Let's talk more about how you learn best in this class, I want to hear your ideas and things you enjoy about this topic. What are you best at?
(Adapted from Hofstede's "Exploring Culture" 2002)
Hear Interviews with Collectivist Students on their Attributions in the Classroom:
Attributions Affect Your Students Through College
Collectivist Immersed in an Individualist Society
"I think the only thing that makes you smarter or dumber is how you approach the job, not really the job itself. There are many people who get dumber from doing PhD's (rote memorization, fixed mindset) and get smarter from doing them (trying to be creative, trying to build bridges), and there are people who get dumber from doing logistical work (treat work as job, being mechanical) and people who get smarter by doing logistical work (think about how to batch the processes, think about how to delegate work)."
-Yan.X. Zhang, Mathematics, MIT China, IDV 20
Two Brothers, with Different Attributions
"If I fail in school, or don't do so great on a test, it is usually because the teacher didn't teach well."
-Atrin, NCSU raised in Germany, IDV 67
"If I don't do well in math, it's usually because I didn't study enough. Sometimes the teacher doesn't teach that well, but I just had to study more."
- Arman, NCSU raised in Iran, IDV 41
What other ways do student identity and attribution affect your classroom?
Are you communicating effectively?
There are some important cultural differences in how we perceive facial expressions, and how accurate those perceptions are.
Check out this blog about one man's perspective on struggling to communicate, and some scientific research about facial expressions.
Are you communicating effectively?
There are some important cultural differences in how we perceive facial expressions, and how accurate those perceptions are.
Check out this blog about one man's perspective on struggling to communicate, and some scientific research about facial expressions.
ARE YOUR STUDENTS HAPPY?
How are their attributions affecting their satisfaction in the classroom?
Take a look at this blog, which analyzes the differences in cultures and how this affects student happiness.
How are their attributions affecting their satisfaction in the classroom?
Take a look at this blog, which analyzes the differences in cultures and how this affects student happiness.
How does group work affect our attributions?
Take a look at this study done in New Zealand, on how working in groups directly affects the ways in which we make ATTRIBUTIONS. This is very important, considering some societies are more group oriented than others.
Take a look at this study done in New Zealand, on how working in groups directly affects the ways in which we make ATTRIBUTIONS. This is very important, considering some societies are more group oriented than others.