Job Discussion Forums

[wulfrun]

[rusmeister]

[wulfrun]

cheating is endemic in china (at least, here in hebei and beijing, and have heard similar from elsewhere...). i read some english major graduation theses recently, and they were all copy and paste jobs from google - not even from good sources, ha ha. the supervisors know all about it, and it's accepted. homework is regularly cribbed from the net, and students sell answers to the national exams on the morning before they sit the paper.

the exam system's bluntness inspires cynicism in students and teachers alike.

[Marcoregano]

Some posters seem to be confusing individual characteristics with group characteristics, and I feel the OP's original intent was to discuss the latter. In terms of individuality I don't think anyone could seriously argue that there are any major differences between nationalities - there will be a certain percentage of outgoing, talkative types and shy, reserved types, etc etc.

HOWEVER, when it comes to general group behaviour - especially in the classroom (isn't that what the OP is about?), generic traits in nationalities become apparent, for reasons such as the conditioning they received in their national education systems.

This perhaps explains why, as the OP has pointed out, an EFL classroom composed of Spanish students (adults or teenagers) is likely to be more lively than one comprised of Hongkongers or Chinese. Teaching in Spanish schools encourages students to speak up, whereas in HK and China speaking up is often seen as dissent, so is discouraged. These habits stick, even when they become adults. Spanish EFL students will expect to be given the chance to talk and will happily do so when asked. But in HK they think the teacher is supposed to stand in front of the class and talk on and on - and will feel uncomfortable if asked to speak up themselves.

Of course, the above are generalisations and anyone can dig up examples to contradict them - e.g. some areas of Spain might be more strict, and some parts of China or some progressive schools in HK might buck the trend, but generally these traits are real and apparent.

[wulfrun]

[Marcoregano]

[Mike_2007]

THe 'cut and paste' thesis is the standard in Romania too. In fact, it's actually how they are expected to do it.

One of my students asked me to check over her final-year thesis. Within a few lines I had realised it wasn't her work. I Googled a few lines and indeed, the whole thing had be copied from various sources on the net. I pointed out to her that her professor would most likely do the same and give her a big fat zero. She assured me that this wasn't the case and to copy text from books/the net was the norm. She was right, of course, and got a 10/10 for her thesis.

[Henry_Cowell]

[guty]

I found that the best way to get students to work in groups in Czech was to set tham an exam and leave the room.
Had I simply asked them to work together they would not have cooperated as readily.
Found something similar in the Gulf.
Didn't find it anywhere else.
Can't wait till somebody publishes some research comparing students in eastern europe and the gulf with those in other parts of the world. At least then I'll know whether my opinion is valid or not.

[wulfrun]

[wulfrun]

thanks for all the replies, very interesting to read.

[Marcoregano]

[And Your Bird Can Sing]

[Henry_Cowell]

[Henry_Cowell]