DOI:10.18503/2658-3186-2023-7-2-14-22
Abstract. Power distance is one of the four cultural dimensions developed by Geert Hofstede, which exists with different indexes in different cultures. It is necessary to know the index of power distance in each culture, in order to avoid the miscommunication. The goal of this study is to explore the effect of power distance on student-teacher-student interactions in multicultural classrooms, which involve students from different cultural backgrounds. The data was obtained through a questionnaire, with the participation of 40 international students from different countries, also, it is noted that all of them are from countries with a high-power distance index. The focus of this study was on the positive and the negative effect resulted from the power distance, on the classroom interactions between the learners and the instructors. Being drawn on qualitative and quantitative methods, analysis showed that the teachers are more likely to have control over the index of the power distance, which results in having a relationship of closeness or apartness with the students. In addition to that, it has an emotional effect on the students and their overall outcomes and interactions in-classroom settings. The results contribute to the cultural studies that tackle the effect of power distance on communication and emotions. They show the elements associated with high and low power distance index, and to what extent it may positively or negatively affect the interactions between the students and the teachers in multicultural academic settings.
Keywords: power distance, teacher-student relationship, classroom discourse, emotional effect, multicultural classroom, cultural values, Address forms, classroom interactions.
Аuthor:
Souhila Laiche, PhD Student, Department of Foreign Languages, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, Moscow, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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For citation
Laiche S. The effect of power distance index on the student-teacher-student interactions in Multicultural Сlassrooms, Gumanitarno-pedagogicheskie issledovaniya [Humanitarian and pedagogical Research], 2023, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 14–22.