. had absconded from their master's farmhouse tried haplessly to explain to the magistrate the reason for their desperate action, which had to do with their moral commitment to vegetarianism" (Bilimoria, 1995)
In addition to language differences and a variety of unique customs, the multicultural population will also add varieties of religious experience (with apologies to philosopher William James) that will have influence upon the ways people learn, and in some cases, even on the choices they make on what to learn and where to learn. Before determining what possible effect the culture of two of Australia's ethnic populations might have on learning styles, it is important to understand how Anglomorphic Australia became multicultural: it is now, in fact, one of the world's "most plural and multicultural societies" (Bouma 1995)
Several studies did, however, asses achievement depending on a variety of other factors assumed to be present in homogeneous cultural settings. One study found that males at different institutions of higher learning scored higher on Deep Processing and lower on Methodical study than female students (Clump & Skogsberg 2003)
They also noted that the cultural expectation that women would play subordinate roles, especially in public, could contribute to the need for a different approach to therapy (Nassar-McMillan & Lawson 2003); likewise, it could make it difficult to even assess a learning style in the female students. A study that specifically compared the learning styles of Australian, Colombian, German and Palestinian adolescents found, not surprisingly, that Arab students, when in academic difficulties, sought spiritual support at a much higher rate than did either Australian or German students, but that they also had more active coping strategies of which that was just one part (Frydenberg & O'Mullane 2000)
" In fact, the four factors Hofstede studied in the world's major nations and cultures are broken down into categories that can be very useful in determining the cultural factors of Asians and Arabs in an Australian educational setting. Following are Hofstede's four categories and what they measure: Power Distance (PD) is the "extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" (Hofstede 1998) with a small PD meaning more equality in the society, and a large PD meaning less
While Cooray was almost completely opposed to multiculturalism, Yee finds that it is worthy of studying vis-a-vis the educational experience, as do Nassar-McMillan & Hakim-Larson (2003), who noted that the "relatively new, global focus on diversity has resulted in governmental and corporate ventures, among others, to educate, retrain, or otherwise restructure the thinking of individuals about populations different from their own." Some researchers classify four paradigms of culture: functionalist, interpretive, critical humanist, and critical structuralism (Martin & Nakayama 1999)
S. society" (Nassar-McMillan & Larson 2003), a result that might also be seen in Australia
Through reflective thinking and problem solving, students begin to develop strategies for effective multicultural instruction in a pluralistic democracy. The authors noted that students often find, even in these settings, that it is difficult to express feelings and attitudes about other cultures, but that role-playing, simulations and case studies were found to be helpful in bridging that gap (Pacino & Pacino 1996)
.and "(with regard to identity, positive psychological outcomes for immigrants are expected to be related to a strong identification with both their ethnic group and the larger society" (Phinney et al
While these days, no one would try to force Indians in Australia to eat meat, as happened then, there are still differences in culture and thus in learning styles between Asians and Australians. One of the biggest problems, however, in using learning styles is in deciphering whether trouble learning is caused by culture or learning disabilities (Rohl & Rivilland 2002)
However, they also noted that Australians -- consistent with Hofstede's assessment of the culture -- employ relaxing diversions and physical pursuits significantly more often than the Palestinian students when having learning difficulties (Frydenberg & O'Mullane 2000). While it is not a learning style per se, research also suggests that clear infrastructure and strong institutional support for faculty are helpful in teaching groups of Arab students (Saunders & Quirke 2002)
The effects on learning of ethnic communities Yee (1996) believes the existence of ethnic enclaves serving new arrivals from different cultures has a positive effect on assimilation, at least if they are studied and the lessons applied to instruction. Yee recommends that teachers and students may study the growth and development of the relevant cultural enclaves, "the morphological characteristics of each site, the spatial distribution of the various ethnic groups and the languages or dialects spoken within each enclave, the pattern of economic activities and occupations, the architectural styles of buildings and places of worship, and the traditions and cultural festivities" (Yee 1996)
5%); they dislike overt expression of opinion or emotion, and they highly prefer listening. They prefer not to be touched in public (Zhenhui 2001)
However, this has begun to change, as the works of other American cultures begin to gain prominence, and be regarded with the same serious study that has been given to elements of the traditional canon. The concept of an overarching American culture had effectively whitewashed away other forms and styles of literature, composed by incredibly distinct subcultures (Jay 49)
An article in the NABJ Journal titled "Basket making is historical link: Craft provide link between cultures," offers another way in which cultures are linked. The history of Africa of course includes the grim facts that "from the late 1600s to about 1808, some 500,000 Africans were sold into slavery in North America" (Frazier, 1995)
As seen above, racism, whether visible or less so, is a problem in American society. The proponents of English as the country's official language feel that the problem is one of communication, and that a single language would act as a unifying force for the country (Toonkel, 2006)
McDonald's and Coca-Cola have also adapted their marketing strategy and product to Asian tastes. People in different cultures are "pleased, worried, and annoyed" by different things and a company must be careful not to inadvertently seem insensitive -- it must be aware that it is saying what it wants and needs to be said when projecting its message (Conrad & Poole 2013: 426)
Multiculturalism Multiculturalism is defined as a doctrine that reflects or is related to embracing diverse cultures ("multiculturalism"). According to Banks & Banks (2009) Multicultural education has three characteristics: it is a reform movement, an idea and a process whose primary purpose is to change the structure of educational institutions so that all students regardless of gender, race, disability, or exceptionality can excel in an academic setting (Banks & Banks, 2009)
Gas lights were used to light the streets at night. Lots of new houses were being built (Gay 16)
This was because Detroit had the largest middle-class black population in the country. More blacks owned their own homes, for example, than in any other city (Georgakas 27)