After three years of schooling, even a dog can read: The cultural logic of teaching and learning between two nations

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: The power of transnational experiences in morphing teacher identity and teaching practice

Proposal

Purpose:
This study examines different and/or similar logics behind teaching and learning in two different societies: South Korea and the United States (U.S.). While some comparative researchers argue that, on the global level, contemporary education systems in multiple societies share more commonalities than differences, others argue that cultural expectations and beliefs beyond the surface level shape local differences of teaching and learning in a society (Anderson-Levitt, 2004; Givvin, Hiebert, Jacobs, Hollingsworth, and Gallimore, 2005). Based on the authors teaching and educational experiences in South Korea and the U.S., we aim to explore two dimensions that influence teaching and learning.

Research Questions:
In this study, we address the research question: what are the cultural logics behind teaching and learning in South Korea and the United States?


Background Literature:
Teaching is a cultural practice (Stigler and Hiebert, 2004). Within each society, there are enough similarities shared among classroom teachers to conclude that there is a “cultural script” being performed in classrooms (Stigler and Hiebert, 2004). For example, using video data collected for TIMSS, Givvin et al. (2004) found that a “cultural script” influenced how teachers structured their lessons in different countries despite local variation within a society. Similarly, Stigler and Hiebert (2004) found evidence that in countries like the U.S. where high levels of diversity exist in terms of socioeconomics, ethnicity, and local control of education there is little variation in 8th grade mathematics teaching. Tobin, Hsueh, and Karasawa’s (2009) comparative study of preschool education in Japan, China, and the U.S. also concluded that each society shows a cultural logic embedded in classroom activities. All these studies imply that shared norms about teaching and learning within a society can be explicit when we explore teaching practice through a comparative lens.

Methods:
Data was collected from the authors’ conversations about their own teaching and learning experiences in two countries. Both authors study in a PhD program at a college of education in the U.S, but have different teaching backgrounds. The first author who was born and raised in America worked in South Korea teaching English for 15 years (pre-K-16) as a foreign teacher. The second author who is Korean taught elementary school for 5.5 years in South Korea and came to the U.S. to study abroad. We generated data by commenting on our autoethnographies related to teaching and learning experiences in two different countries.

Preliminary Findings and Significance:
We found two dimensions that we believe influence teaching in South Korea and the United States: cultural logic and social epistemological views. Cultural logic encompasses the shared and implicit norms of what education, learning, and teaching are in a country. This cultural logic connects with the idea of what knowledge is in a society. Our findings will add insight into understanding how teaching is impacted and constructed by culture despite shared universal ideas of teaching.

Authors

• Heather Lyn Reichmuth, Michigan State University

• Taeyeon Kim, Michigan State University