INTERCULTURAL DIMENSIONS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ONLINE COURSES TARGETED AT TECHER-CENTERED CULTURES
INTERCULTURAL DIMENSIONS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ONLINE COURSES TARGETED AT TECHER-CENTERED CULTURES

Summary/Abstract: The study is aimed at unveiling the discrepancies in educational cultures, more specifically of creating a dichotomy between the teacher-centered cultures, specific for the Eastern European countries and the learner-centered cultures, of Western European countries, in distance learning virtual communities. Starting from a definition of culture, as it was stated by Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions that he developed and applied along the years in the analysis of differing cultures, with a specific application on the most recent sixth dimension and with a view to Edward Hall's perspective on high context vs. low context cultures, I will try to understand the traps in which learners are stuck when involving in online distance learning courses, in ESP. The study is based on a survey, developed as part of a doctoral study, by Rita Zaltsman, from the International Center of Modern Education in Prague, Czech Republic. The results of this study will be used in understanding if the same cultural paradigm is valid for the Romanian students enrolled in ESP distance learning courses, as in the case of their Western colleagues. The findings will help us develop a platform of ESP online courses which will perfectly suit the needs and wants of the target audience. Besides the demographic data, which are extremely important in evaluating a society, the following cultural issued need to be considered: content of material, power of multimedia, formal versus informal style of communication, style of written communication, as well as Web design. Cultural sensitivity can help us develop an integrated course in ESP that will later on be adapted to other categories of audience: Arab or Chinese students, eager to enroll with Romanian universities. The same process can be applied when developing an online platform for Romanian as a Foreign Language, aimed at Erasmus students and international students enrolled in Romanian universities. It is very important to understand the role of e-learning in crossing boundaries, in enabling learners to involve in different forms of communication. This can be done through a better understanding of the classical teaching and learning methods, what needs to be changed and what caters the needs of the modern distance learner, in the special case of foreign language acquisition.

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