Exploring college students’ cultural view from a knowledge creation perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate college students` cultural views. To this end, an exploratory study was implemented, and data mainly came from students` essay writing (via individual reflective activities) and focused group discussion (via collective reflective activities). The participants were 176 college students taking a culture-related course. Content analysis was employed to analyze data, and a coding scheme highlighting three general cultural views (i.e. transmission, exchange, and innovation) was developed. Findings indicate that college students typically hold a more conservative, transmission-oriented view that sees culture mainly as a legacy left by previous generations. They did not also see culture as something that should be further improved or innovated (an innovation-oriented view). In addition, students` discussion also showed that they had a superficial understanding of why culture is important for the overall progress of a society. Some implications for curricular and instructional designs for promoting cultural awareness and multiculturism were discussed.