Field independence, cultural context and academic achievement: a commentary

Abstract

Background. This review of literature on cross‐cultural aspects of perceptual disembedding skills takes as a starting point a commentary on the Spanish work on field dependence‐independence and scholastic achievements (Tinajero & Páramo, 1997). Aims. To place findings from cross‐cultural psychology on field independence in the context of current literature on multicultural education. Methods. A review of literature, and in particular a review of the authors' studies in this field. Results. It appears that because of the wide variation in abilities in perceptual disembedding between cultures, and the malleability of cognitive styles in migrant children, the concept of cognitive style is more usefully deployed as an indicator of process and change in migration and multicultural education than as a description of basic cognitive processes. Those factors which have influenced change in the direction of children's greater perceptual disembedding skills (urbanisation, migration, exposure to computers and computer games) may also be related to some of the factors responsible for the increase in mean levels of intelligence seen in children in the developed world. The paradox of very high mean scores on the Children's Embedded Figures Test found in studies of Japanese and Chinese 9‐ to 11‐year‐olds, in the absence of identifiable factors which could explain why children in group oriented cultures have such marked abilities in perceptual disembedding, is considered. Conclusion. Multicultural educational practices should not be framed on the presumption that particular ethnic groups possess a particular kind of cognitive style. It is the teacher in the multicultural classroom who should have a field independent cognitive style, so that he or she can accommodate different learning styles in classroom tasks.

A Threefold Model of Intellectual Styles

“…In general, field-independent people are higher in their academic achievement than are field-dependent people (e.g., Bagley and Mallick, 1998;Mansfield, 1998; see also Jonassen and Grabowski, 1993 for a comprehensive review). Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, the FDI construct has become more and more widely examined in the context of learners' achievement under computer-assisted instructional conditions.…”

Thinking Styles and Professional Choice Satisfaction of Social Profile Students: Implications for Academic Achievement in University

“…In the field of education, numerous studies have found that thinking styles have implications for academic activities or performance (e.g., Bagley & Mallick, 1998;Bernardo et al, 2002;Betoret, 2007;Cano-Garcia & Hughes, 2000;Cilliers & Sternberg, 2001;Gurpinar et al, 2010;Khasawneh et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2008;Luk, 1998;Zhang, 2001Zhang, , 2002bZhang, , 2002dZhang, , 2004bZhang, , 2004cZhang, , 2006aZhang, , 2006bZhang, , 2007Zhang, , 2008Zhang & Sternberg, 1998, 2000.…”

“…In the literature, the Sternberg's TSI (thinking style inventory) has been one of the most commonly used measurement tool among students. Researchers have examined the thinking styles in many variables, including achievement (Bagley & Mallick, 1998;Bernardo et al, 2002;Cano-Garcia & Hughes, 2000;Luk, 1998;Zhang, 2001Zhang, , 2002dZhang, , 2004bZhang, , 2006aZhang, , 2007Zhang, , 2008Zhang & Sternberg, 1998), learning and approach (Betoret, 2007;Zhang, 2004a;Zhang & Sternberg, 2000), personality traits (Zhang, 2000;2002c), psychosocial development (Zhang, 2002a), etc.. However, as Betoret (2007) asserted, studies of the relationship between thinking styles and students' satisfaction are scarce.…”

Learning in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

“…They have also presented challenges to some of the stereotypical views about particular cultural groups. These challenges pertain to claims that: (1) Black and Hispanic (including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and people of other Hispanic origin) students have a higher preference for the surface approach to learning (see Watkins and Mboya, 1997); (2) Asian students are rote learners; (3) Black and Hispanic students are more field dependent than are Anglo-American students; (4) students from group-oriented societies tend to be more field dependent than students from individualistically oriented societies (see Bagley and Mallick, 1998); and (5) students from group-oriented cultures are more norm-conforming in their thinking styles (see Sternberg, 1997). The challenges to the first two claims (1 and 2) are the result of research based on Biggs' (1978) construct of learning approaches.…”

“…For example, Buriel's (1978) comparative study found no difference in the level of field dependence/ independence between Anglo-American and Mexican-American school children. In a review of the literature, Bagley and Mallick (1998) concluded that, compared with their Western counterparts (in this case, students from Canada, the UK, and the US), students from group-oriented cultures (in this case, Chinese and Japanese cultures) were more field independent.…”