Ethnography Study

Abstract

Culture is cumulative; culture is found in groups of more than one, is passed from generation to generation, and experiences change. Harrison and Huntington (2000) posit culture is the “values, attitudes, beliefs, orientations, and underlying assumptions prevalent among people in a society” (p. xv). Culture is one of the driving forces that determine the success of a society (Berger & Huntington, 2002). Understanding different cultures can become a diverse and challenging endeavor under the best of circumstances. Research capabilities have added volumes of knowledge about how cultures are realized and understood amongst the multitude of different cultures existing and changing in today’s global world. In particular, ethnographic studies (found in qualitative research methods) have provided valuable tools in this quest to understand the variety, shapes and sounds of culture around the world. Chinese culture has proven to be no exception. According to Gao and Ting-Toomey,(1998) culture varies within societies and within communities, but one consistent cultural aspect found in Chinese culture are the teaching styles, which have remained remarkably the same for 2000 years. The purpose of this narrative ethnography study is to provide avenues in which teachers and professors can effectively communicate the valuable information contained in his or her lectures to Chinese students in China.