That is, those in the most difficult condition (challenging descriptions and perceived cross-cultural communication) actually put forth the least amount of effort of any group. Unsurprisingly, the difficulty manipulation in same-culture teacher/learner pairs caused the pairs to work harder. However, this same difficulty manipulation caused contrasting-cultural pairs to put forth less effort than those in the easy-manipulation group.
That is, when conversational participants were not from the same perceived cultural group, they did not try as hard in a difficult task. However, when they were in the same perceived cultural group, they did try harder in the harder task. Importantly, the cultural group manipulation was a deception, and all participants were from the same culture.
The findings of the study reiterate the well-established finding that Bruner’s scaffolding is indeed an important aspect of learning—when teachers and learners reach a load threshold, they will no longer be willing to try. The study also revealed interesting features of three theories of communication, which, at the time were thought to be at odds with each other. The dissertation showed that depending on the parameters of communicative setting, one or the other theory might be correct. The key parameters were cognitive load and perceived in-group/out-group status as manipulated by cultural preconceptions of the interlocutor (conversational partner).
One of these theories addressed in my work was Herbert Clark’s theory of common ground, whereby speakers and listeners try painstakingly to take each other’s perspectives into account. In this research, I demonstrate that such factors can amplify content difficulty, and need to be taken into consideration when determining how to scaffold tasks for learners.
- Roxanne Raine, Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
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Marthann Schulte, PhD is an Associate Professor of Education at Park University, teaching and developing online courses for the graduate program in Adult Education. She is also the Coordinator of Online Faculty Evaluation and leads a team that oversees online instructor training, mentoring and evaluation. This evaluation team, which has created a number of unique, research based online training and evaluation programs, works with more than 500 online adjuncts per academic year. Marthann’s doctorate (PhD) is in Education, Curriculum and Instruction, from Kansas State University, where she focused on online learning and distance education modes. Marthann is a military spouse (Army) and works for Park University at a distance from Portsmouth, Virginia.
Aloha,
I have been working in higher education for 15 years, first as an English Professor and then as a Faculty Developer. I have a master’s degree in English with a focus on teaching college writing and am in the final stages of my doctoral work in higher education and organizational change. 
Donna Gardner Liljegren is Director of the Elmhurst College Online Center and Manager, Instructional Support for the School for Professional Studies of Elmhurst College. In these roles she is responsible for the administration and growth of the Online Center as well as instructional support, including faculty recruiting and development, for online, onsite, and hybrid programs in the School for Professional Studies. She has worked in higher education for 22 years and distance learning for 17 years in both faculty and executive leadership roles. Her experiences have included for-profit and private universities. Dr. Liljegren earned BA and MA degrees in English from Governors State University and an Ed.D. in Adult Education from Nova Southeastern University.
Ellen Manning holds a Doctorate in English from the University of South Africa and a Masters in English from Brooklyn College. She has taught at a number of ground colleges and universities, and has been teaching on line for 12 years. She is a full time Professor of Composition at Kaplan University for the past ten years.
Allison Selby has taught in higher education for the last ten years. She has taught various digital media courses for many schools, including The University of the Arts, Drexel University and Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia. Currently, she serves as the Director of Internship Programs, for the School of Information Technology in Kaplan University. She chairs the Leadership Professional Competency Committee.
Satoru Shinagawa has been teaching Japanese online since 1999. He is one of the first person to offer a language course online. His current interests are how to teach language effectively online.
Alan McCord serves as Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies at Lawrence Technological University, and also as a faculty member in the College of Management. He held senior campus IT administrative roles for many years prior to coming to Lawrence Tech. He is a consultant-evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission and serves on the HLC Institutional Actions Council.