Comparing Learning Characteristics in Chinese and Anglophone Cultures: Pitfalls and Insights

Abstract

Much of the literature on cultures of learning takes a binary view of the attributes of learning in different cultures, emphasizing differences between these cultures. A close examination of notions of scholarship and learning in Anglophone and Chinese education contexts shows that there are often more differences to be found within cultures than between them. Binary descriptions of learning characteristics can stereotype learners within what can be very large, complex and dynamic systems of cultural practice and risk homogenizing and essentializing individuals within them. Cultures of learning in contexts such as China are undergoing rapid and radical change, and contemporary external views of the cultures of learning within such contexts can be outmoded or unhelpful for those teaching and learning across these systems.