Download Multicultural Education

Multicultural
Education 1
English Seminar
BK21 Vocational Education and
Workforce Development Team
2007. 11. 23.
Importance of Possessing
Multicultural Competence
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Today, we are in urgent need of national and
global citizens who possess multicultural
competence and are committed to the
achievement of worldwide social justice and
economic equity as a foundation for lasting
peace on the planet.
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The Global Economy requires workforce that
possesses multicultural competence.
What is Multicultural Education?
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What is multicultural education?
What is culture?
 Culture
is a complex concept that anthropologists
and sociologists have defined in a variety of ways.
 Prior to the late 1950s, it was typically defined in
terms of patterns of behavior and customs.
 More recent definitions of culture focus on shared
knowledge and belief systems, or symbols and
meanings, rather than on habits
Comparison of
Definitions of Culture

E. B. Taylor
 Culture
is a complex whole that includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by man
as a member of society.
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LeVine
 Culture
is a shared organization of ideas that
includes the intellectual, moral, and aesthetic
standards prevalent in a community and the
meanings of communicative actions.
Cultural Consciousness
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Where we happen to be born and when, may
influence the culture we acquire.
One way to develop cultural consciousness is
to see how someone from another culture
perceives or misperceives us.
What are the examples of Korean
culture that may be strange
to foreigners?
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A public bathhouse
Bow
Grownups living with their parents
Body smell (due to the digestion of garlic,
kimchi, etc.)
Talking with a mouth full
Sounds of yawning, burping, chewing,
drinking, etc.
Lack of eye contact during a conversation
What else?
American Examples
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Dating and romantic love
Body odor associated with eating beef
Nursing home
Avoiding personal questions
What else?
High-and Low-Context Cultures
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People from different cultures may perceive
the world differently, but often are often
unaware that there are alternative ways of
perceiving, believing, behaving, and judging.
One promising way to conceptualize culture
and avoid cross-cultural misunderstanding
has been developed by Edward T. Hall.
Interpersonal communication styles
High-and Low-Context Cultures
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Low-context Cultures: the United
States, Germany, and Scandinavia
 Meaning
is gleaned from the verbal
message itself and what is said is more
important than who said it
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High-context Cultures: East Asian, Arab,
southern European, Native American,
Mexican, rural Americans
 Meaning
must be understood in terms of
the situation or setting in which
communication takes place
High-Context Low-Context
(Time)
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Polychronic
 Loose
schedules
 Multiple simultaneous
activities
 Last-minute changes
of important plans
 Time is less tangible
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Monochronic
 Tight
Schedules
 One event at a time
 Importance of being
on time
 Time is more tangible
(e.g., is spent,
wasted, is “money”).
High-Context Low-Context
(Space and Tempo)
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High Sync
 Synchrony,
moving in
harmony with others
and with nature, is
consciously valued
 Social rhythm has
meaning
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Low Sync
 Synchrony
is less
noticeable
 Social rhythm is
underdeveloped
High-Context Low-Context
(Reasoning)
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Comprehensive
Logic
 Knowledge
is gained
through intuition,
spiral logic, and
contemplation
 Importance of
feelings
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Linear Logic
 Knowledge
is gained
through analytic
reasoning
 Importance or words
High-Context
Low-Context
(Verbal Messages)
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Restricted Codes
 “Shorthand
speech”
 Reliance on nonverbal and contextual
clues.
 Stress on social
integration and
harmony; being polite
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Elaborate Codes
 Verbal
amplification
through extended talk
or writing
 Stress on argument
and persuasion;
being direct
High-Context Low-Context
(Social Roles)
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Tight Social
Structure
 Individual’s
behavior
is predictable
 Conformity to role
expectations
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Loose Social
Structure
 Behavior
is
unpredictable
 Role behavior
expectations are less
clear
High-Context Low-Context
(Interpersonal Relations)
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Group is paramount
 Clear
status
distinctions (e.g.,
age, rank, position)
 Strong distinctions
between insiders and
outsiders
 Stronger personal
bonds, bending of
individual interests
for sake of
relationships
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Individual is paramount
 Status
is more subtle,
Distinctions between
insiders and outsiders
less important
 Fragmented, short-term
human relationships
High-Context Low-Context
(Social Organization)
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Personalized Law
and Authority
 Customary
procedures and
whom on knows are
important
 Oral agreements are
binding
 In face of
unresponsive
bureaucracies, must
be a “friend” to make
things happen
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Procedural Law and
Authority
 Procedures,
laws,
policies are more
important than whom
one knows
 Written contracts are
binding
 Policy rules,
unresponsive
bureaucracy
High-Context
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Low-Context
It may appear that high-context cultures are
more humanistic and low-context cultures are
more mechanistic.
However, the greater personal freedom,
openness, and individual choice found in
low-context cultures might be seen as more
humanistic.
It is important to realize that both high- and
low-context cultures possess positive
ingredients that are necessary for human
survival.
Cultural Assimilation
vs Cultural Pluralism
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Cultural assimilation is a process in which
people of diverse ethnic and racial
backgrounds come to interact, free of
constraints, in the life of the larger community.
It is a one-way process through which
members of an ethnic group give up their
original culture and are absorbed into the
core culture, which predominates in the host
society.
Cultural Assimilation
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In an attempt to educate students in “the
American (in our case, Korean) way,” many
teachers view cultural differences as deficits
and disadvantages.
Cultural Pluralism
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In recent years, the theory of cultural
pluralism has emerged as an alternative to the
melting pot (cultural assimilation).
Cultural pluralism, in its ideal form, is a
process of compromise characterized by
mutual appreciation and respect between two
or more cultural groups.
Cultural Pluralism

In a culturally pluralistic society, members of
different ethnic groups are permitted to retain
many of their cultural traditions such as
language, religion, and food preferences, so
long as they conform to those practices
deemed necessary for social harmony and
the survival of society as a whole.
Review
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Importance of multicultural competence
Concepts of “culture”
Hall’s theory of “High- and Low-Context
Culture”
Cultural Assimilation vs Cultural Pluralism
At the next seminar, more concepts and
practices of multicultural education will be
introduced.
See you at the Next seminar!