This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 26 Jun 2008, by Christy Tucker.
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27 Jun 08
Michele GillHigh/Low Context review of cultural influences on cmc (computer mediated communication)
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Ethnicity, rather than nationality indicates cultural background. Defined as “…people who have culture, language, history and traditions in common …” [32], ethnicity occupies the key role in cultural and educational behavior. Educational systems are culturally specific [33]. Ethnic group (cultural) differences are reflected in learning styles which are based on the modal behaviors of societal learned values [34]. These are influenced by both communication behavior [35, 36, 37] and education systems [38, 39, 40]. Participant cultures – their learned rules of behavior in a group setting – are therefore important to the development of learning interaction and learning achievement. Specifically, one of a number of generally accepted cultural variables differentiates along a continuum between low context and high context cultures [41].
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26 Jun 08
Christy TuckerSmall-scale study of cultural differences in an asynchronous learning environment, focusing on high and low context cultures. Includes a comparison of student perceptions of online learning based on their cultural background. High and low context learners both saw advantages to online learning, but their reasons differ.
diversity e-learning highered asynchronous research context communication
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Because computer mediated communications is language (specifically, written word) dependant, it is subject to the constraints of low/high context cultural patterns [46]. As indicated earlier, the role of language is to carry meaning, and interpretation is an integral part of culture. Language is one means of establishing context among participants of a particular culture group. In low context cultures, language must be specific and well defined, to provide the contextual definition in which to interpret the communication. On the other hand, in a high context culture language may be vague, lacking the specificity of the low context culture, as the environment within which communication takes place clarifies the specific meaning of language [36, 41]. Thus language plays a key role in the communication process. A key issue determining the success of computer mediated communication is the encoding/decoding by which that communication is done. Given that computer-mediated communication is a textual (electronic) rather than a visual (face-to-face) medium, meaning must be carried by the language itself rather than relying on the environmental context as the means of communication and/or interpretation. Given this relationship, because the language of communication is English, low context communication is presumed, thus perhaps disadvantaging those whose cultural background relies on high context communication.
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Interestingly, low context participants concentrate on the participation environment, while high context participants concentrate on their individual work/effort and/or skills in the discussion.
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Noticeably however, the responses indicate that cultural background directly influences the priority of perceived benefits received and challenges posed from the same asynchronous communication network. The perceptions are based on learning patterns which are developed as part of a participants’ ethnic/cultural development, and are potentially challenged by participation in an asynchronous communication network, which of itself is implicitly culturally based. Further, high context participants in an asynchronously delivered seminar, while assured of higher quality participation through an offline ability to infer meaning through low context communications, are at least initially more likely to be disadvantaged by technology differences as well as the communications norms implicit in their cultural background.
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