Can cross-cultural training make matters worse?

1. SIETAR Europa Congress 2007 Can cross-cultural training make matters worse? Lessons to be learnt from an empirical study of expatriate EFL teachers in Taiwan Wei Ju Liao Robert Johnson University of Bedfordshire

2. Background Cross-cultural adjustment Classroom management issues Research findings Possible explanations ‘Culture shock’ training Commonly used approaches and tools Problems and pitfalls Essentialism and the ‘small culture’ paradigm Recommendations Outline

3. Background • Expatriate English teachers in Taiwan • Methodology • Hypothesis: Expatriate English teachers’ previous cross-cultural training is positively related to their adjustment: • in the general environment • in social interaction with host country nationals • in the workplace

4. Cross-cultural adjustment • What is cross-cultural adjustment? • Is there an effective model for researching cross-cultural adjustment?

5. The framework of international adjustment Black, Mendenhall & Oddou (1991)

6. Reported conflicts between East and West in the classroom Based on Cortazzi & Jin, 1996; Li, 1998, 1999; Maley, 1986; Miklitz, 1996.

7. Research findings • Expected correlation groups • Teachers experiencing culture shock • Cross-cultural training matched with ‘homesick’, ‘talking about myself with others’ and Taiwanese students’ lack of independence • Unexpected correlation groups • Language ability • Levels of culture-shock • Influence of students’ parents

8. Possible explanations • Misleading responses, either due to particular situation or faults in the research design. • Taiwan makes foreign expatriates go crazy. • The training they received may have been badly designed, clumsily delivered or pitched at the wrong level. • The tone of the training may have been too negative leading trainees to expect to have difficulties – a self-fulfilling prophecy.

9. ‘Culture shock’ training • What is it? • Time and resources • Participation • Delivery and quality control • Content

10. Facts about the place ‘Facts’ about the people Dos and don’ts Exploring stereotypes The iceberg The U-curve and the stages of adaptation Jolt activities, simulations and role play Cultural dimensions Conventional Innovative Commonly used approaches and tools

11. Problems and pitfalls • Do some of these activities help to create an impression of ‘polar opposites’ in the mind of the trainee? • Is there too much of an emphasis on the negative, stressful aspects of crossing cultures? • If this is the case, can it become a self-fulfilling prophecy? • Are we providing trainees with a useful toolkit, a set of strategies or something else?

12. Essentialism and dualism (Holliday, Hyde and Kullman, 2004)

13. The ‘small culture’ paradigm • ‘Small culture’ vs ‘large culture’ • The slippery slope of Culturism: reductionism, otherisation, cultural fundamentalism • Small culture is: • Any social grouping from a neighbourhood to a work group. • A dynamic, ongoing group process which operates in changing circumstances to enable group members to make sense of and operate meaningfully within those circumstances. (Holliday, 1999)

14. Recommendations • Institutional: training is not ‘the icing on the cake’ • Personal: trainers must engage in pedagogical reflection and professional development • Professional: international standards for cross-cultural training? • Design: more effort needed in planning stage; more consideration of pedagogical principles • Content: dynamic process not fixed product • Evaluation: a measure of effectiveness or a marketing tool?

15. Questions to consider • What do you think of these research findings? • In your experience, does cross-cultural training overemphasize the stressful aspects of crossing cultures? • What can trainers do to avoid this kind of negative effect?

16. Thank you very much • Wei Ju Liao E-mail: weiju.liao@beds.co.uk • Robert Johnson E-mail: rpk_johnson@yahoo.co.uk