Chinese cultural values: New angles, added insights

Abstract

To identify as fully as possible for pedagogical purposes the characteristics of Chinese college students of English whom foreign teachers of English can expect to encounter in typical Chinese college classrooms, an anonymous two-part descriptive survey of cultural values and of attitudes toward English-language learning and teaching was administered cross-sectionally in Chinese and in English to 512 men and women in 15 colleges or universities. Quantitative data from the semistructured and open-ended questionnaire were subjected to statistical analysis at two levels: (a) that of culture and (b) that of demographics. Qualitative data generated by verbatim student comments allow analysis at a third level: that of the individual. At the culture level, students exhibit a strong tendency toward individualism, rather than toward the collectivism generally associated with traditional Chinese society. T-tests and chi-square procedures demonstrate that males and females, younger and older students, English majors and non-English majors do — quite literally — inhabit different perceptual worlds. Evidence of such student diversity and complexity calls into question the usefulness of labels that polarize populations and highlights the risks of stereotyping.