Communication, Social, and Critical Thinking Skills of Students with Low Power Distance Teachers in a High Power Distance Country.
Many scholars in education share the belief that schoolteachers' knowledge of their students' backgrounds and contexts is an important influence in the enhancement of teaching learning situations (Collins, 2009; Eberly, Joshi Konzal, 2007; Gay, 2010; Piazza, Rao Protacio, 2015) This initial step in instruction is primarily aimed at creating an environment that is highly conducive to learning a situation in which the teachers' manner of dealing with their students have been calibrated according to the traits, preferences or learning needs of the students themselves. Without sacrificing the value of student respect for educators, a learning environment could also be one that is dominated by the spirit of informality and friendliness between teachers and students (Yoo, 2014) However, figuring exactly what to do to create an optimal teaching learning situation could be a real challenge on the part of a teacher, especially if the students do not have the inclination, confidence, or interest to freely express themselves orally, in writing, or in both. In situations where the teachers have allowed a wide gulf to exist between them and their students, the former will most likely fail to make their teaching more responsive to the educational needs of the latter. Studies about student teacher relationship in different parts of the world suggest that a certain cultural behavior could stand in the way of learning (Kasuya, n.d Hadley, 2001; Yoo, 2014; Zhang, 2013) Such a barrier could pose a gargantuan challenge to both the teachers and students, especially if their accepted beliefs and common experiences could weaken the teaching and learning interaction between them. It has already been noted in several studies on the teaching learning dynamics in some Asian countries (e.g. China, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, South Korea) that a considerably wide power gap between students and teachers (Zhang, 2013; Yoo, 2014; Hadley, 2001; Kasuya, n.d. could be an obstacle to the development of students' ability towards effective communication and learning. Power Distance in Education "Power distance" is one of the value dimensions that Geert Hofstede (1997) used in his attempt to paint a general picture of the culture that defined each country that he studied. Drawing from the study of Mauk Maulder (1977) Hofstede (1997) described power distance as "the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" (p. 28) For instance, in high power distance cultures, students tend to quietly conform to most of the values and beliefs of their teachers (Li Guo, 2012) In these cultures, students tend to maintain their silence even when they disagree with their teachers' statements and pronouncements. Moreover, students would maintain distance from the teachers by using formal titles (i.e. "sir" or "ma'am" which are indicators of high power distance culture, even if the teachers themselves would allow the use of first names. Most students in high power distance cultures may be described as those who have already accepted that they are in no position to question what is being taught to them, to engage the teacher in a sustained reasoned or argumentative dialogue, or to require the teacher to clarify a lesson that seems to be difficult for them to comprehend. The place of power distance in various areas of education, teaching and learning, and in the development of various skills among students is considered a vital one (Arnold, 2009; Hadley, 2001; Tananuraksakul, 2013; Yoo, 2014) However, it has not been studied extensively across cultures, and has yet to be examined closely in the field of education research. It appears that most of the studies on power distance in education are mainly focused on second language learning. Li and Guo (2012) for instance, found that Chinese English teachers tend to acquire certain western values in the course of studying and teaching English in China.