Individualism vs. Collectivism

02/12/2022 - W06 – Individualism vs. Collectivism

        Culture is much broader than I thought. After watching the video “Individualism vs. Collectivism,” where professor Ivers from BYU – Idaho University talks about it, I can realize how the consequences of individualism and collectivism impact people’s lives, I thought that people’s behavior influenced consequences, but consequences also influence how people will behave.

        The same behavior can be seen in different ways from different cultures, and the consequences of this behavior can affect just one person or the whole group. The same can happen in a TESOL class with students from different cultures. Imagine a student from a collectivist culture expecting to be evaluated by the teacher as a group, and the teacher expecting this specific student to behave with an individualistic culture, what consequences could affect both, student and teacher? The video from BYU made me evaluate that a teacher can’t expect the same behavior from different students in a TESOL class, the teacher adapts herself or himself to students’ needs, doing so demonstrates to students the teacher is willing to know better their cultures and behavior walking the path together to get to the goal of learning a language. I wonder how to have some rules in a different cultural class without causing a misunderstanding. Maybe, stipulating some rules with students can be a good answer, or if you have an idea to this question, share it with me.

       As a teacher, I will be prepared to solve misunderstandings and problems getting to know students when a class begins, allowing them the opportunity to demonstrate and discuss respectfully their cultural differences. I can give the first step to avoid cultural misunderstandings and help students to deal with them if they happen.


Lilian Perez.

Teacher and students together.