What Do We Mean By ‘Cultural Variations' In Styles of Thinking

This student, therefore, was writing his essay according to a clear academic style appropriate within his own Japanese culture. Yet an Australian lecturer, judging the essay in terms of his own cultural style, would not find it acceptable.

So the student had to learn to ­ adjust his purpose and to adapt the structure of his essay to meet the expectations of his lecturer. Once he was able to see the problem was not a matter of English or of knowledge about the two economists but of the way in which he was approaching the whole essay task , then he was able to make the necessary shifts without any great difficulty.

And by the end of the year this student was regu­larly receiving Credit grades for his essays. His written English was still often incorrect but one of his lecturers commented: `He is a promising student because he shows he can think clearly, even though he still has problems with formal English'.

So this Japanese student had now made a successful shift to the style of `thinking' required by his Australian lecturers. He had made the crucial adjustment.

much academic argument

writing about Friedman

academic style appropriate