Four cultural factors inhibit students from speaking up, asking questions and challenging others in PBL discussions, with stronger impact in non-Western schools¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitative r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2014 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Speaking up, asking questions, and challenging others were influenced by four cultural factors: uncertainty and tradition, group relations and face, hierarchical relations, and achievement and competition, with stronger impact in the two non-Western schools than the Western school. → Janneke M. Frambach 2014

Evidence¶

Janneke M. Frambach 2014¶

Janneke M. Frambach, Erik W. Driessen, Philip Beh and Cees P.M. van der Vleuten. (2014). Quiet or questioning? Students' discussion behaviors in student-centered education across cultures. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2012.754865

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

Qualitative comparative case study integrating interviews, observations, documents and context information from three medical schools. The results section reports that the four named cultural factors influenced speaking up, asking questions and challenging others, and that 'Compared with the Western case, the two non-Western cases showed a stronger impact of these factors.'

"Behaviors of speaking up, asking questions, and challenging others in the discussion were found to be influenced by four cultural factors: (1) uncertainty and tradition, (2) group relations and face, (3) hierarchical relations, and (4) achievement and competition."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The assessment system determined whether an exam-directed focus inhibited or enhanced discussion behaviors
• Six contextual factors mediate the influence of cultural factors on discussion behaviors, either inhibiting or enhancing discussion
• Student-centered education is feasible in different cultural contexts, but processes and outcomes are likely to differ across them
• Students' discussion skills increased from first to third year in all three institutions, but at different rates across cultures
• The scope of PBL implementation shaped discussion quality: hybrid lecture-based implementation reduced uncertainty but yielded less critical discussion than full PBL
• Tutor behavior had a major impact on students' discussion behaviors, with dominant or passive tutors both failing to stimulate lively discussion