Your Culture, My Classroom, Whose Pedagogy? Negotiating Effective Teaching and Learning in Brazil

Abstract

This article explores the cross-cultural teaching and learning environment of a graduate course in a master’s degree programin teaching English to speakers of other languages (MA-TESOL) offered by a U.S. university in Brazil. The authors analyze the experience of a U.S. professor teaching diverse adult students in Brazil to illustrate and further illuminate what is known about teacher immediacy, communication accommodation, and cross-cultural adjustment. They also raise ethical and pedagogical concerns related to international education endeavors. In this case study of teacher praxis, critical and feminist pedagogical theories are used in conjunction with intercultural communication theory in the development of a culturally flexible pedagogy appropriate to cross-cultural learning environments like this one. Although the context is Brazil and the professor and researcher are from the United States, the broad conceptual strokes of the analysis may be applicable to other intercultural teaching and learning contexts.

Intercultural teaching and learning strategies for global citizens: a Chinese EFL perspective

“…This includes critical and creative thinking, written communication, and flexibility to build up intercultural knowledge and capacity that can be applied and transferred across different languages, disciplines, cultures, professions and life circumstances (Stephens, 2009). Teaching and learning to support intercultural capability takes place in both domestic and international contexts and has gained importance in response to the challenge of globalization (Crabtree and Sapp, 2004;Tani, 2008;Lutz, 2010).…”

“…It needs to embrace a culture for including international students within its establishments and to develop the practice of intercultural learning within its own student body (e.g. Crabtree and Sapp 2004;Lutz 2010). This internationalization goal poses a serious challenge for HE teaching establishments to develop a new policy and practice for delivering intercultural teaching and learning.…”

Educatorssans frontières? Borders and power geometries in transnational education

“…In particular, a range of studies have documented the learning, teaching and assessment challenges faced by 'flying faculty' who provide block teaching in off-campus locations (e.g. Dunn and Wallace 2004;Debowski 2005;Feast and Bretag 2005;Chapman and Pyvis 2013) with examples of Australian academics teaching mainly in Asia (Wilkins 2011), US academics in Brazil (Crabtree and Sapp 2004) and Canadian academics in Qatar (Prowse and Goddard 2010) among others (Wallace and Dunn 2008). Main topics covered in this body of work evolve around a variety of challenges these academics encounter: teaching long hours within short durations, high workload and requirements to condense materials are found to take a toll on teaching staff (Gribble and Ziguras 2003;Debowski 2005).…”

“…Difficulties in teaching across language barriers and cultural differences (e.g. in the perception of time, gender relationship, modes of knowledge acquisition) are also often discussed (Bodycott and Walker 2000;Evans and Tregenza 2002;Crabtree and Sapp 2004;Dunn and Wallace 2004;Debowski 2005;Prowse and Goddard 2010). Problems in conducting TNE as team work between flying faculty and the local staff have been addressed (e.g.…”

International Students Experience in Teacher Education: Creating Context Through Play Workshops

“…Poyrazli & Grahame (2007) found this relates to the fact that many students come from different countries where they are not proficient in English and have to adjust to life/study. Differences like that of culture and language are challenging for them as they have to adjust to unfamiliar ways of teaching and learning which they may not have experienced in their home country (Andrade, 2006a;Crabtree & Sapp, 2004). Often the ways of learning and teaching in Western universities does not align with the diverse cultural backgrounds and the learning needs of IS (Guo & Jamal, 2007;Schuerholz-Lehr, Caws, Van Gyn, & Preece, 2007).…”