A Comparison between Western and Chinese Teaching Methodology

The only thing I can remember when I was a primary school student is that at the beginning of every classes my teacher would say “One...two... three... let’s see who is sitting the most straightly， and cross your hands behind your back！”. This is the most frequently used words by my primary school teachers to organize the class. And I always took it for granted to do so even though my middle school teachers never said the same thing until I entered my college where I majored in English. So there were some courses in my college years taught by teachers from western countries. They told us at the beginning of the course that we could sit and behave as what we prefer to ， only if we felt comfortable and relaxed. As time went by，I have found the teaching methodologies used by those western teachers are quite different from those adapted by Chinese teachers. But I have been puzzled about what makes it different until my present foreign teacher， Christina， taught us cross-cultural communication. So below I will talk about several typical differences concerning the teaching methodology applied by both Western and Chinese teachers， along with their cultural origins.

Firstly， there are differences in terms of time arrangement at classes taught by western and Chinese teachers. As for western teachers， they may make a detailed plan at the beginning of the course about the time taken up by different topics， what is the content of each class and how much time it should occupy. For example， Christina gave out to everyone a schedule consisting of 17 weeks， each of which includes the main activities and contents of that class together with what we students are expected to do or read in advance. More importantly， she has almost followed the schedule strictly. It has never happened as far as our Chinese courses are concerned， none of our Chinese teachers have given us a schedule of this kind， and it is more flexible about what to be taught at a specific class and how. May be there are also teaching plan and lesson plan， but it seems few of the teachers may follow it. In my opinion， the causes towards this difference is the time orientation. Western countries belong to the future-oriented culture ， emphasizing what is to come， and expect the future to be grander than the present. What is going to happen holds the greatest attraction for most Westerners because they tend to look forward. Whereas China belongs to its opposite---past orientation， which believe strongly in the significance of prior events. So there is a strong belief that the past should be the guide for making decisions and determining truth. So Chinese teachers may change from time to time their teaching plan according to their previous teaching experience.

Secondly， the roles of teacher and students in Western teacher’s and Chinese teacher’s classes are different. From my primary school years I have used to the teacher-centered classes. In all my courses， it is the teacher who stands in front of the classroom， talking continuously what is the important and difficult points related to the future examination， and what the students should do is to listen to the teacher heart-and-soul， and to take notes. In Western teacher’s classes， what we mainly do is to get into groups to discuss with our partners， and sometimes we may sit around a circle to talk freely concerning a specific topic under the guidance of the teacher. Different from the teacher-centered， it is students-centered. Whether it is teacher-centered or students-centered is to some extent due to different degrees of power distance. China is a high power distant country; children are taught to respect and obey parents， teachers， and others in authority. An extreme example is that in traditional Chinese teachers’ classes， even though the students are aware of a mistake such as a spelling mistake of a word made by the teacher， they may keep silent and don’t point it out immediately at class. Whereas in Western teachers’ classes， different opinions are encouraged and even ideas contradicts with the teachers’ are welcomed. It is more equal concerning the relationship between teachers and students. Apart from differences in power distance， this example can also be accounted for by another cultural differences， namely， collectivism versus individualism. In collectivist cultures， formal harmony in learning situations should be maintained at all times; so neither the teacher nor any students should ever be made to lose face. Thus， the Chinese students usually avoid pointing out any mistakes made by the teachers so as not to make the teacher lose face， while in individualist culture， this face-consciousness is weak， the students may feel more ease to speak out their unique ideas even if it may lead to contradicts in classes， this is because people in individualist cultures believe that confrontation in learning situations can bring about improvement and conflicts can be brought into the open.

Another difference I found in Western teacher’s class is that unlike our Chinese teachers， they never openly praise good students， and they seems deliberately avoid doing so. It is common for our Chinese teachers to use best students as the norm. I have heard almost all of my Chinese teachers having said： “I hope you would learn from......！” for hundreds of times. After each of the examinations， the students who have got a high score are asked to stand in the platform to introduce their good learning methods to the other students. But this has never occurred in the Western teachers’ classes. In my opinion， this is， or at least partly because of another value differences between masculinity and femininity， in which the former stresses assertiveness， competitiveness and toughness， while the latter thinks highly of modesty， cooperation and tenderness. China is to some extent a masculine society， so the teachers often openly praise good students and also the schools have systems rewarding the students’ academic performance. Our Western teachers may come from a less masculine or more feminine society， so they usually avoid openly praising good students and use average student as the norm.

Above all， the differences in Western and Chinese teaching methodologies are not groundless， they are deeply rooted in cultural differences， such as time- orientation， power distance， individualism versus collectivism and masculinity versus femininity. On the one hand， these differences are still there and may exists for a very long time ， but on the other hand， there has been some changes in China in the teaching methodology. For example， in recent years， many middle schools applied the efficient classroom， the most famous of which may be the school called Du Langkou Middle School， which emphasizes the students’ role in class and turn the original teacher-centered class into students-centered . In the classroom the students are divided into groups and they are asked to finish several tasks through cooperation and team-work.

In a word， each methodology may has its advantages and shortcomings， what we should do is to get rid of its shortcomings and to apply the advantages of the others’ to make our future teaching better.