The effects of Vietnamese students’ perception of hierarchy on group work interaction and satisfaction

Abstract

Abstract Group work is widely acknowledged as a valuable learning activity, but its appropriateness in the Vietnamese context has been questioned. Concerned by the imposition of Western pedagogy, researchers have sought to accommodate Vietnamese students' preferences to produce culturally appropriate means of implementing group work. Such preferences include working in a group with a leader and working with people who think similarly; these, however, go against the principles of effective group work. We argue that stated preferences are not necessarily clear reflections of actual practice, and are therefore not sufficient to determine successful alternatives. In this study, three sources of data are compared: Vietnamese students' preferences as expressed in focus group interviews; their interaction in a creative group task; and their commentary on their behaviour as they watch the recording of the group task in individual retrospective interviews. The triangulation of the three sources reveals a tension between an unquestioned belief in the necessity of hierarchical social relations and dissatisfaction with the effects of hierarchy on group interaction. The findings shed further light on the complex dynamics of Vietnamese group work with implications for the elaboration of alternative pedagogies.