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Problems facing students of different nationalities Students of different nationalities face various problems in learning english as a second language as a result of their cultural upbringing. Many researchers have explored the relationship between culture and language over the years based on the simple truth that language is part of culture. Culture can be defined as ?the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations? (Merriam-Webster). How an individual learns to communicate and process information is inherited from the way in which first the parents, then teachers, friends and colleagues communicate information. ?Culture establishes for each person a context of cognitive and affective behaviour, a template for personal and social existence? (Brown 2000: 177). Geert Hofstede (1986) presents four areas in which problems can occur in cross-cultural learning situations. The first, he says, is the difference between the social positions of the teachers and the students in their societies. The kind of families, educational systems, and social backgrounds they come from. This has to do with the way their culture perceives them as students or teachers; the respect and responsibilities assigned to the different roles their position takes as educators, employers, employees etc., but also with the status of the school as an institution as compared to other institutions. The second is the difference between the relevance of the curriculum. If the knowledge being imparted is inapplicable by the students in their own context, the purpose is not achieved. Hofstede states that the third reason is due to the differences in the profiles of the cognitive abilities of the populations of their societies. The last difference lies in the process of interaction between the teacher and student as well as amongst students. Each culture has its own informal learning system comprising of style, context and strategies, which students of all nationalities bring to the formal learning environment of a classroom. Learning strategies are ?specific methods of approaching a problem or task? (Brown, 2000: 113). Knellar (1965) states the importance of context on the learning process and found that factors such as social power structures, social status of the teachers and the peer group all influenced the student?s learning (cited in Ninnes, 1991). ?Learning styles are the cognitive differences in the ways in which individuals learn? (Duda and Riley 2000: 346). Researchers confirm the relationship between learning style and environment as it starts to develop from a very young age (Myers 1990, cited in Guild 2001). Ramirez (1989), and Gardner (1991) also agree that experiences at an early age cultivate cultural differences in the learning styles of children (cited in Guild 2001). Individuals learn best when their diversity of experience in home and community is recognised and built upon in other settings. Dunn and Griggs? (1996) review of Hispanic students? learning styles research showed that they need a higher degree of structure than other groups, prefer to work alone more than African Americans, but less than Caucasian; and are not as auditory and visual learners as the African Americans and Caucasians (cited in Heredia 1999). A theory developed by a Canadian psychologist, John W. Berry (1966), states that hunting and gathering groups like the Eskimo have high visual and spatial skills, while agricultural groups like the Temne in Sierra Leone have low visual and spatial skills. He argues that this is due to the environmental demands made on these groups and the cultural adaptations to these demands (cited in Kleinfield). Culture helps us to define who we are, why we think and behave the way we do. It binds us together in a group with which we can identify ourselves. An understanding of how different people behave can help us, as educators; cater to the needs of our learners. Knowing their preferred learning styles and strategies, can help a teacher to assess the students accurately as well as learn more effectively. The importance of intelligent research of this area of studies is imperative so that stereotypical notions are not developed and individual differences are not sidelined. Bibliography Brown, H.D., (2000). Principles of Language Learning And Teaching. 4th ed. New York: Longman. Duda, R, and Riley, P., (2000). Learning Styles. In: Byram, M. (ed) Routledge Encyclopaedia of Language Teaching and Learning. New York: Routledge, pp. 346-351. Guild, P.C, (2001). Diversity, Learning Style and Culture [online]. Available from: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/styles/guild.htm [Accessed March 30th, 2011] Heredia, A., (1999). Cultural Learning Styles [online]. Available from: http://library.educationworld.net/a12/a12-166.html [Accessed April 2nd, 2011] Hofstede, G., (1986). Cultural Differences In Teaching And Learning. International Journal of intercultural Relations, 10 pp301-320. Kleinfeld, J. Learning Styles and Culture [online]. Available from: http://www.judithkleinfeld.com/ar_learningstyles.html [Accessed March 30th, 2011] Merriam-Webster Online. Available from: http://www.m-w.com/ [Accessed April 1st, 2011] Ninnes, P, Informal Learning Strategies In The Solomon Islands [online]. Available from: http://wings.buffalo.edu/research/anthrogis/JWA/V1N3/ninnes-art.html [Accessed March 30th, 2011]
