A study of cultural adaptation in teaching in a different cultural environment - evidence from the college of music, Mahidol University.

Abstract

In this paper, the author describes the efforts of foreign teachers in the College of Music, Mahidol University (Salaya campus, Thailand) to utilize cultural knowledge to refine and develop their teaching styles and strategies. The author gathered data on this paper by qualitative methodology through in-depth interviews face-to-face in semi-structured format with selected foreign teachers. The discussion in this paper based on the concept of cultural intelligence and the Thai context. From the research data, the author identified four main cultural differences aspects in Thai context where foreign teachers felt that they need to adapt their existing teaching strategies and styles to Thai culture. These aspects are: hierarchy; concept of time; collectivism; and passiveness. Also, this paper provided cultural knowledge for teaching in Thailand. KEY WORDS: Cultural Intelligence/ Teaching Adaptation / College of Music, Mahidol University/ Thai Classroom/ Thailand