Are International Students’ Preferred Pedagogy Influenced by Their Educational Culture?

Abstract

The increasing number of international students is studying at British universities. This study investigates multicultural students’ preferences on teaching and learning which was conducted at a university in the South of England during 2009/2010 academic year. In the literature review, the framework used in this study is explained. The study sample was 34 students who were studying Japanese as a non-credit module. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected using questionnaires. The results showed that some students’ preferred pedagogy appeared to be altered and influenced by British educational culture regardless of students’ previous educational culture. In addition, the sample participants’ preferred pedagogy are identified into given categories based on the framework of the study. Those who are in the teaching profession are encouraged to take into consideration of the educational cultures and teaching and learning practices from non-Anglophone countries.

Keywords: culture, globalisation, higher education, Japanese language teaching, multicultural, power distance index (PDI), uncertainty avoidance index (UAI)