Cross-Cultural Education in the Classroom: Now and Then

One topic that has interested me ever since I taught English at a high school in Korea is the intersection between education and culture. In my blog about my time in Korea, I discussed the problems with creating a student-centered classroom in Korean culture. This notion seems like it stems from Confucian ideas that view the nature of education as transactional and teachers as the gatekeepers of knowledge. When I tried to flip the classroom from what the students were used to (teacher-centered lectures) to what I thought would be advantageous for developing English speaking fluency (a student-centered, communicative and task-based approach), there was often a lot of confusion. Additionally, it was often difficult to get the students to speak any English at all for a variety of reasons.

Teacher-centered classrooms were deeply embedded in the cross-section of education and culture in Korea, and that seems to be the case here in Japan as well. Generally speaking, most university classes here seem to be teacher-centered and lecture-based. Students seem just to take notes and/or do in-class assignments.  Last semester, most of my students displayed the same lack of propensity towards a student-centered classroom as they did in Korea. Most of my students were generally averse to speaking in front of the other students, whether in pair work or in front of the class. Communicative activities had to be carefully explained and facilitated (the latter for lack of language skills more than anything), especially towards the beginning of the semester.

However, my current students seem to be responding much better to my class than the students at the university I was teaching at last semester. My current students' abilities are higher, they have more of a desire to improve, and they respond enthusiastically in class despite some occasional miscommunication regarding activity instructions. Obviously, these are just completely different groups of students, and I don't want to fall into the trap of stereotyping Japanese students (however true it might be when speaking in generalities), but my current students seem categorically different from those that I had last semester and those of many of my colleagues who teach similar courses at other universities in the broader Tokyo area.

What is different about my students this semester that seemingly make the flip to a student-centered classroom so smooth for them?

1. I do know that my students this semester are part of a department program which is considered one of the best (and only of its kind) in the country. Therefore, perhaps my students are the cream of the crop? Perhaps students with their particular major are just more open to new ideas or ways of learning?

2. Many of my current students seem to have already had a lot of experience learning English in the past, and many want to continue to do so in the future for professional or social reasons. Many of my students last year had very limited abilities in English communication and were seeking degrees that probably wouldn't require a high ability of English, or any English at all.

3. Several of the students this semester had taken an intensive English prep course that our company designed and implemented prior to the beginning of the semester - a fact that would add more weight to my first two points.

4. I have been told by many people that my university last year is viewed as a low-tier university, so therefore the quality of students would reflect that. I'm not sure where my current university stands, but if I had to guess, I'm guessing it would be a mid-tier university.

I might have to conduct a survey in class to see what's different with this great group!