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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Culture, cultural discontinuity and the need for change : understanding Canadian and Chinese cultures of learning Akehurst, Jessica Marie

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine sources of potential cultural discontinuity between Chinese students and Canadian teachers at an International school in China. Cultural discontinuity is a school-based process whereby culturally-based learning preferences and practices of students are discontinued at school (Ogbu, 1995). Since curriculum and classroom practices at International Schools are rooted in mainstream Western cultural values and worldviews, this dominant ideology may result in the discontinuance of cultural, value-based learning behaviours by Chinese students. This thesis delineates some of the issues that illustrate the incongruence between primary culture (home-based values) and secondary culture (school-based cultural values) and the implications for teaching and learning in British Columbian Offshore Schools. Conceptions of teaching and learning, the value and use of questioning, the issues of silence and plagiarism, and the role of the teacher and students are examined.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International