Stereotypes about Education in East Asian Countries: Variations and Effects of Classroom Instruction within Country

• In Event: 523 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 15. Country-level Variations/ International Research: Session II

Abstract

East Asian schools have received much attention from educational researchers and reform advocates for the comparatively high student achievement and narrow achievement gaps. Western scholars at times advance broad claims about the rote character of instruction or the complexity of classroom practice, at times generalizing to an entire nation. Yet little is known about the variation in and impact of classroom instructional practices within East Asian countries. This study first compares the prevalence and within-country variation of classroom instructional practices in Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and Singapore with the other 45 countries that participated in the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2007. Second, the study examines the effect of varying instructional practices on student achievement within each country using data from Japan and Singapore. I find that while East Asian classrooms tend to be higher in teacher-centered instruction and lower in complex instruction on average, classrooms within each country vary considerably in the degree to which they adopt certain practices. Within each country, classrooms with more complex and student-centered instruction tend to show higher achievement; an opposite association found when these phenomena are compared between countries. But when schools, classrooms, and student characteristics such as social class are taken into account, these positive effects of classroom instruction diminish or disappear. These findings suggest a need to rethink the assumption of homogeneity of schooling within East Asian nations and to be cautious in generalizing about East Asian classrooms based on national average features.

Author

• Yoonjeon Kim, UC Berkeley