Online Intercultural Communications Prepared by Doris Shih

Outline  Geert Hofstede’s 5-D model  Individualism vs. Collectivism  Power Distance  Uncertainty Avoidance  Masculinity vs. Femininity  LTO vs. STO  Doris Shih’s findings

Contacts in…  Human society  Cross-cultural communication; learning or teaching  Differences in cultures  Knowledge avoid misunderstandings

Hofstede’s Study  Research done in 1960 and 70s  32 value questions on surveys  Employees of multinational business in 40 countries  Used factor analysis  Results: 4 dimensions

Individualism vs. Collectivism  Individualist cultures: person looks after his/her own interest & that of his/her immediate family  Collectivist cultures: person belongs to one or more tight “in- groups,” from which he/her cannot detach him/herself

Power Distance  Definition: the extent to which the less powerful persons in a society accept inequality in power and consider it as normal  Degree: Large vs. small power distance

Uncertainty Avoidance  Definition: the extent people in the culture are made nervous by situations which they perceive as unstructured, unclear. If they would try to avoid these situations  Strong UA: emotional, security-seeking, intolerant  Weak UA: relaxed, unemotional, accept personal risks, tolerant

Masculinity  Masculine cultures: expect men be ambitious, competitive; women serve & care for non-material life, for children & the weak.  Feminine cultures: men need not be ambitious or competitive; may go for different quality of life.

LTO vs. STO  This fifth dimension was called "long-term orientation" (LTO) as against "short-term orientation". Values positively rated in LTO are thrift and perseverance; values negatively related are respect for tradition, and fulfilling social expectations, "keeping up with the Joneses".  The highest scores on the fifth dimension are all found in East Asian countries: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan. As these are also the countries with the world's fastest rates of economic growth in the past twenty-five years, we can say that long- term orientation is strongly related to recent economic growth.

Power Distance X Individualism- collectivism for 50 countries

Masculinity X uncertainty avoidance plot for 50 countries

Doris Shih’s Findings  My own research  Analysis from Texas-Taiwan telecommunications connection  Participants:  Taiwanese EFL learners in English dept. of Fu- Jen  Texans preservice teachers at Texas A&M University

Doris Shih’s Findings (2)  Results  Taiwanese learners reluctant to express ideas on discussion boards – due to high anxiety of unfamiliarity  The need for visual images  Bewilderment lead to misunderstanding  Direct vs. indirect writings.  Misinterpretation

References  Hofstede, G. (1986). Cultural differences in teaching and learning. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10,  Hofstede, G. (1997). Software of mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. New York: McGraw-Hill.  Hofstede, Geert. The Unesco Courier. Paris: Apr 1994., Iss. 4; pg. 12The Unesco CourierApr 1994  Shih, Y-C. D. (2000). Taiwanese English-as-a-Second- Language Learners’ Experiences of Individualized Online Learning from United States Partner. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.