06/04/22 - W07 Blog: Culture and Psychology.


One of the biggest challenges a teacher can face in a classroom is the psychological factor due to cultural issues. It has been discussed last lessons, that different cultural factors impact a student's performance. We can think just in the United States and largest cities, there is cultural diversity. Every country has its own cultural diversity or subcultures. For example, be expressive, open mind, task-focused, or the opposite of these.

If a student comes from a very religious or social group, she might interpret poor performance as punishment. If we add the factor of collectivism or individualism, this can be increased. Or on the contrary, the feeling of belonging to a group can minimize it.

Self-esteem is susceptible to external and internal factors. If the teachers give examples of qualifying adjectives using the students’ body types. They can fall into a psychological adaptation problem, whether they suffer from anorexia, obesity, economic issues, etc. It can result in the onset or exacerbation of depression in students.

Empathy and an open mind will help the teacher understand the students' environment. We may not be psychologists, but as Tesol teachers, we will have the ability to recognize situations that affect our students' learning. In addition, an ethic will reflect our values ​​as teachers to support the development of our students' learning.

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