Individualistic and Collectivistic Perspectives on Patterns of Teaching and Learning: Products of Culture

摘要

Based on an overall analysis of both the individualistic and collectivistic cultures, this essay intends to explore the field about the disparities between the two cultural ideologies, with a view not only to the cultural manifestations and human behavior but also to the specific aspects related to the different implication on education affected by the respective cultures. The essay first makes a general contrast between collectivistic and individualist cultures and discusses the different effects they've brought on the field of teaching and learning. Then it probes into the specific implications on education by taking particular countries as examples to illustrate the influence exerted to the process and outcome of learning and teaching by the respective cultures, such as LowContext versus High-Context and Independent versus Interdependent, all pertaining to certain special ways of mumal understanding and codes of education under a certain culture. The article concludes that only a comprehensive grasp of the two cultures ensures a genuine and successful inter-cultural communication and education.