Teachers’ Experiential Reflections on Iranian and Malaysian Students’ Collaborative Orientations

Abstract

This paper is part of a larger study which was concerned with the comparison and description of Iranian and Malaysian students' classroom behaviors in general and their collaborative tendencies in particular. In this paper the core findings of interviews with five teachers who had the experience of teaching both in the contexts of Iran and Malaysia are reported. They all shared the view that the collectivist orientation is tangibly stronger among Malaysian participants than among their Iranian counterparts. The findings are discussed with regard to the macro-cultural dichotomy of world cultures (collectivist/ individualist). The possible pedagogical implications of the study are touched upon as well.

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