QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER 3

1. What is style of thinking?

2. What is cultural variation in styles of thinking?
3. Read the story about Japanese vs Australian styles of thinking and learning in
section 1 of Chapter 3, and fill in the gaps in the following table.
What the Japanese student write in the What the Australian professor expected
essay to see
Starting with a description of ...1.... Directly focusing on Friedman’s and
Describing ...2..... Samuelson’s economic views
Summarizing ..3... Analyzing ... (a)....
↓
Describing...4... Analyzing ... (b)... .
Describing...5..... ↓
Summarizing ...6... Evaluating ...(c)....

4. How did the Australian professor respond to the student’s essay?

5. What is the Japanese student’s purpose in his essay? What is the Australian
professor’s expectation?
6. What are these two styles of thinking/approaching an essay?
7. Read section 3 of Chapter 3 about Kaplan’s styles of writing and presenting ideas,
and fill in gaps numbered 1 to 5 in the figure below.
 8. Read the case of a Thai student writing a thesis about population changes in
Northern Thailand. Fill in the gaps in the table below.
What the Thai student did What the Australian professor would
want to see
Summarising ...1...... .....(a).......
Summarising ....2...... .....(b).......
Describing ....3....... ......(c)......

9. How did the Australian professor respond to the student’s work?

10. Compare the Japanese student’s approach to the essay and that of the Thai
student. Are they different or similar?
11. Visualize this approach / style of thinking with Kaplan’s pattern.
12. Is it true that people from different cultures “think differently”?
13. How much true is it? (always true or it depends other factors?)
14. Read Section 2 of Chapter 3 about cultural attitudes towards learning. What is
the Japanese student’s learning style? How is this learning style reflected in his
approach to writing the essay?
15. What learning style did the Australian professor expect his student to have /or to
show in writing the essay?