Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
whose members are of different (national) cultural
backgrounds, revealed a wider variety of skills,
information and experiences that could potentially
improve the quality of collaborative learning
(Rich, 1997). An improvement such as this could
be obtained in a CSCLE, since the number of con-
current conversations that a medium can support,
along with the reprocessing of messages during
communication, can help learners of different
cultures to gain a more accurate understanding
of each other, thus improving performance (Yu,
2001). Additionally, it has been demonstrated that
designing subtle cultural and contextual cues into a
text-based collaborative virtual environment such
as a multi-user dimension, object-oriented (MOO)
is an effective way to encourage collaboration
and awareness of intercultural communication,
including the negotiation of power and explora-
tion of identity (Raybourn, 2001). This aspect is
particularly important for non-native speakers.
Nevertheless, a direct consequence of cultural
diversity is communication distortion, because
basic modes of communication differ among peo-
ple from different cultural backgrounds (Easley,
Devaraj, & Crant, 2003).
Learners have different strategies, approaches,
and capabilities for learning that are a function
of prior experience and heredity. Individuals are
born with and develop their own capabilities and
talents. In addition, through learning and social
acculturation, they have acquired their own pref-
erences for how they like to learn, and the pace
at which they learn (Ford, 2000).
Therefore, a learner's study behavior, es-
pecially when he is a part of a heterogeneous
group, becomes more positive in the case of his
participation in the cultural cocreation process.
The cultural cocreation process includes the for-
mation of a “new culture,” which arises from the
interactions in the educational setting between all
the participating cultures. In effect, together, users
co-create a “new culture” that is neither one nor
the other, but a combination of the two, or three,
and so on (Lim & Zhong, 2005). The successful
future design of intelligent community-based
systems requires considering how the design of
these environments support intercultural com-
munication and a greater awareness of cultural
orientations in both the organizational and edu-
cational context.
Several studies indicate that individual success
or failure on a learning task depends upon the level
to which learners are able to cross a threshold from
feeling like an outsider to feeling like an insider
(Muirhead, 2000; Wegerif, 1998). In collaborative
learning, students learn by recognizing flawed
reasoning of others during a discussion. Prior
studies have highlighted the importance of the
discussion session in collaborative learning activi-
ties (Lave & Wenger, 1991). However, text-based
computer mediated communication facilitates
important features with respect to communication
that are radically different from the face-to-face
setting (Dennis & Valacich, 1999). The parallel-
ism afforded by collaborative learning systems
is expected to help learners of different cultures
to gain a more accurate understanding of each
other, thus improving performance. This aspect is
particularly salient for nonnative speakers, since
the spoken language disappears altogether after
the utterance (Herring, 1999).
Conclusively, a significant factor that increases
the feeling of alienation between the participants
in a learning procedure is the different native
language
. This means that there must be defined a
common communication language for the course,
something that corresponds to a different level
of adequate language knowledge for the partici-
pants. Although this may always be a problem, it
is possible that with a sufficiently strong sense of
community, learners with less experience on the
language being used would be able to overcome
their fears (Myers & Tan, 2002).
Table 2 summarizes some of the outcomes
corresponding to cultural differences and their
impact on learner-learner interactions. The first
column contains the Differential Factor related
to Cultural Differences, and the second column,
Search WWH ::
Custom Search