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Meeting the challenges of teaching in a different cultural environment – evidence from graduate management schools in Thailand

Meeting the challenges of teaching in a different cultural environment – evidence from graduate... In this paper we describe the efforts of foreign university teachers in graduate schools in Thailand as they incorporate cultural knowledge into their classroom teaching styles and methodology. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews we have gathered qualitative data on the teachers’ concerns, mindsets and their proposed solutions. We build up our discussion in several stages. We set the scene by discussing the importance of cultural sensitivity in settings where teacher and learners have different cultural backgrounds. We then introduce the concept of cultural intelligence and use this to help us examine the literature on cultural sensitivity in teaching from a new perspective. We then describe the cultural context of teaching in Thailand and offer empirical data from our respondents’ experiences. From our research data we identified five main aspects of Thai culture where teachers felt the need to expand/adapt their existing teaching repertoires. These aspects are: fun/sanuk; hierarchy/kreng jai; authority with a kind heart/jai dee; collectivist group activities; and localized class content. We discuss our findings in relation to cultural adjustments that the teachers sought to make and, in conclusion, link this discussion to our earlier examination of cultural intelligence. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Asia Pacific Journal of Education Taylor & Francis

Meeting the challenges of teaching in a different cultural environment – evidence from graduate management schools in Thailand

Kainzbauer, Astrid; Hunt, Brian
Asia Pacific Journal of Education , Volume 36 (sup1): 13 – Jan 15, 2016
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Meeting the challenges of teaching in a different cultural environment – evidence from graduate management schools in Thailand

Abstract

In this paper we describe the efforts of foreign university teachers in graduate schools in Thailand as they incorporate cultural knowledge into their classroom teaching styles and methodology. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews we have gathered qualitative data on the teachers’ concerns, mindsets and their proposed solutions. We build up our discussion in several stages. We set the scene by discussing the importance of cultural sensitivity in settings where teacher and...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2014 National Institute of Education, Singapore
ISSN
1742-6855
eISSN
0218-8791
DOI
10.1080/02188791.2014.934779
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In this paper we describe the efforts of foreign university teachers in graduate schools in Thailand as they incorporate cultural knowledge into their classroom teaching styles and methodology. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews we have gathered qualitative data on the teachers’ concerns, mindsets and their proposed solutions. We build up our discussion in several stages. We set the scene by discussing the importance of cultural sensitivity in settings where teacher and learners have different cultural backgrounds. We then introduce the concept of cultural intelligence and use this to help us examine the literature on cultural sensitivity in teaching from a new perspective. We then describe the cultural context of teaching in Thailand and offer empirical data from our respondents’ experiences. From our research data we identified five main aspects of Thai culture where teachers felt the need to expand/adapt their existing teaching repertoires. These aspects are: fun/sanuk; hierarchy/kreng jai; authority with a kind heart/jai dee; collectivist group activities; and localized class content. We discuss our findings in relation to cultural adjustments that the teachers sought to make and, in conclusion, link this discussion to our earlier examination of cultural intelligence.

Journal

Asia Pacific Journal of Education – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 15, 2016

Keywords: culturally responsive teachers; cultural intelligence; classroom management; management education; Thailand

References

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