Abstract:
While literatures reveal that learning would be better if the cultural discrepancy is well addressed (Klingner et al, 2005), little do they specifically mention what the cultural discrepancy is, where it comes from, and how to create a successful collaborative learning environment by employing the discrepancy. This qualitative study, set in Simon Fraser University (SFU)’s English Conversation Group (ECG) whose population consists of Asian ESL/EFL learners in majority, is to explore how different cultural perceptions between Asian participants and native English facilitators affect the effectiveness of a face-to-face collaborative learning environment. With these explorations it is hoped to design a more appropriate 2 way of operation to both eliminate the negative influence of cultural discrepancy and to maximize the effectiveness for a face-to-face collaborative learning environment.