Computer-Mediated Communication and Culture: A Comparison of ‘Confucian-Heritage’ and ‘Western’ Learner Attitudes to Asynchronous E-Discussions Undertaken in an Australian Higher Educational Setting

Abstract

While the internationalisation of higher education has made learner diversity a key consideration in tertiary pedagogical practice, research into the application of computer-mediated technologies in this domain has rarely taken into account culture. This article responds to this gap in the research by comparing 'Confucian-heritage' and 'Western' learners' experience of computermediated discussions undertaken as part of an Australian university curriculum. Likert and open-ended question formats reveal that cultural learning styles and behaviours are salient to the computermediated learning experience and can inform how learners view its pedagogical applications. While appreciation of the utilitarian benefits is common to both cultural cohorts, Confucian-heritage learners place greater emphasis on the interpersonal benefits. By placing distinctions in learner cultural background at the centre of the study, a more nuanced understanding of computer-mediated communication and its attendant pedagogical applications in higher education emerges.

Participating in an international project on readers’ response to Lord of the Flies: insights into undergraduate students’ responses

“…However, for the participants of our google circles, it was the first interaction with foreigners and was an exchange with the foreigners more than anything else. Our students being from an underdeveloped context, and their peers being from developed countries, felt the superiority that Ramsay (2005) talks about. They felt awed by their language skills and assumed that they had a better and sounder understanding of the novel as quoted in the findings, that may be due to their language strategy or maybe they were frequent readers of novels.…”

“…Google groups were a new technique used in this study, which also proved to be a source of positive feedback from the participants. Google groups made use of computer mediated communication (Ramsay, 2005; Syed & Panhwar Zhu, 2012). Google groups as a teaching methodology is recommended to be used in literature classrooms as it helps the students interact in groups, respond to literary texts, make use of technology and go beyond the classroom.…”

“…In addition to being collaborative, google circles also provided the participants a cross-cultural experience. Such cross-cultural activities in most academic literature (Ramsay, 2005;Zhu, 2012) are considered to be a positive exchange that helps boost students' confidence and criticality. However, for the participants of our google circles, it was the first interaction with foreigners and was an exchange with the foreigners more than anything else.…”

“…In a research study done on students from across the globe, Ramsay (2005) professes that learners who are engaged in computer mediated communication are flexible, interested, valuable and provide pedagogical benefits. Zshu (2012) argues that students who participate in online collaborative tasks express more satisfaction as compared to those who do not participate.…”