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Cooperative Learning in Vietnam and the West–East educational

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Cooperative Learning in Vietnam and

the West–East educational transfer
a b c
Mai Nguyen-Phuong-Mai , Cees Terlouw & Albert Pilot
a
Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
b
Saxion University, Enschede, The Netherlands
c
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

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To cite this article: Mai Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, Cees Terlouw & Albert Pilot (2012): Cooperative
Learning in Vietnam and the West–East educational transfer, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 32:2,
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 Asia Pacific Journal of Education
Vol. 32, No. 2, June 2012, 137–152

Cooperative Learning in Vietnam and the West – East educational

transfer
Mai Nguyen-Phuong-Maia*, Cees Terlouwb and Albert Pilotc
a
Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; bSaxion University,
Enschede, The Netherlands; cUtrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
(Received 20 May 2011; final version received 2 March 2011)

Under pressure of the continuing need to modernize, Vietnam is rapidly reforming its
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education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being

enthusiastically applied. This paper suggests that an authentic form of CL has long
existed in the foundations of Vietnamese education. The reasons why Western-based
CL is encouraged can be attributed to false universalism (the belief that a practice that
originated from elsewhere can be “cloned” with similar results) and neo-colonialism
(the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an
adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally
appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account
the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but
institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and
incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform.
Keywords: Cooperative Learning; Asia; West(ern) culture; false universalism; neo-
colonialism

Introduction
An example
This story is taken from the book Different Games, Different Rules by Yamada (1997):
One Sunday, I am sitting on the living room floor in San Francisco with my two nieces
watching cartoons on TV. On the screen there appears a crowd of ants busily transporting food
under the burning sun, and next to them are some cicadas happily chirping away. Then the
season starts to change; in a telling scene of snow, a lone cicada crawls listlessly over the ant
mound. There, it calls down to the ants for food. The ants ask why he does not have a store of
food for the winter, and the cicada says that it was busy singing during the summer. To this,
the ants respond: “Since you were so busy singing this summer, we guess you’ll have to dance
for your food this winter”. All the ants laugh and the cicada goes away hungry.
My two nieces double over with laughter, not in the least bothered by the implication that the
cicada will die from starvation. I sit there stunned and feel tricked. The ending of the story
I remember is completely different. In the version that my Japanese grandmother read to me as
a child, the ants invite the hungry cicada in to share their winter feast. And the story ends with
a moral: All summer long, the ants worked as hard as they could and the cicadas sang with all
their might. Now it was time for the ants and the cicadas to join together in a winter feast.
The two versions are from the same Aesop’s fable, but each version offers an entirely different
allegory. The American (cartoon) story of two nieces laughing shows the rewards for the

*Corresponding author. Email: dr.nguyenphuongmai@gmail.com

ISSN 0218-8791 print/ISSN 1742-6855 online

q 2012 National Institute of Education, Singapore
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2012.685233
http://www.tandfonline.com
 138 M. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al.

hardworking ants and the punishment for the cicada’s laziness. The Japanese tale illustrates
the merits of each group’s efforts: The ants work hard at storing food and the cicadas’
boisterous songs cheer the ants on. The lesson in America is that each person is responsible for
his/her own destiny, thus the American story promotes independence and equity. The lesson
in Japan is that each person is responsible for others, thus the Japanese story promotes
interdependence and equality.
The example provided above illustrates the importance of cultural recognition and
consideration among educational policymakers. This paper documents reflections from
the first ELLTA conference, “Exploring Leadership and Learning Theories in Asia” in
2011, that considered aspects of psychological and educational theory and practice in
diverse cultural contexts. The main question addressed throughout was: “Are theories
universal?” (Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, 2011). A recurring theme was that most attempts at
theory do not have a robust cultural dimension which could recognize that values about
life and learning vary from one nation or culture to another.
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Back to the cicada! Imagine the American TV cartoon being broadcasted on one of the
educational channels for Japanese children. The moral lesson they are supposed to learn is
obviously in stark contrast with what they might have received from their grandmother. As
can be understood from the story, cooperation can be perceived differently in different
contexts. What the American ants consider as pure individual entertainment (singing) can
be interpreted by the Japanese ants as a form of collective contribution.
Along the same line as the introductory anecdote on cooperation, this paper provides
some insights into the West – East transfer in the case of an educational method widely
known as Cooperative Learning (CL). Rather than examining the issue at the macro level,
the paper focuses on this particular methodology whose Western origins may not play out
unproblematically in other countries. Taking the case of CL in Vietnam, the paper argues
that CL – seemingly a specific Western approach – deserves more careful consideration if
is to be incorporated within a specific cultural context.
Previous studies from Nguyen-Phuong-Mai and colleagues (Nguyen-Phuong-Mai,
Terlouw, & Pilot, 2005, 2006; Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, Elliott, Terlouw, & Pilot, 2009) have
identified a complex web of cultural conflicts and mismatches that are likely to occur if
Western CL methodology is applied without critical adjustment and compatibility with the
host culture. Specifically, the studies illustrate how leadership, group composition,
rewards and assessment are perceived differently by the formal mainstream Western-
based CL perspective and the Vietnamese perspective. A summary of these differences is
given in the first two columns of Table 1 (for convenience, this table incorporates two
other CL approaches that will be discussed later in this paper). Having highlighted the
potential mismatches, these studies called for the development of an adjusted CL that
takes into account the foundation of Vietnamese culture.
With regard to the specific context of Vietnam in particular and the wider context
of Asia, there are two fundamental questions raised by the findings of these studies. First of
all, before this call for a new, adjusted CL can be answered, the fundamental question of
whether a traditional authentic CL already exists has rarely been discussed. It is a logical
question, given the essence of cooperation in learning activities and the collectivistic
norms of Vietnam. Answering this question will illuminate how the borrowing of
educational practices from elsewhere and the need to modernize can bypass existing assets
and undermine effective indigenous traditions.
Secondly, even if such culturally appropriate form of adjusted CL can be developed,
very few studies (Jin & Cortazzi, 1998, p. 743; Shwalb & Shwalb, 1995; Sugie, 1995) have
addressed the problems of non-culture-related issues such as class size or centralized
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 139

Table 1. Four approaches of CL.

Western-based CL Adjusted CL Authentic CL Hybrid CL

Shared leadership Rotated leadership Spontaneous, infor- Await further
mal, non-structural research
CL outside school
Equity-based reward Equality-based reward
Transparent intra Intergroup assessment
group assessment
Cognitive-based trust Affect-based trust
group composition
Within-group face Between-group face
confirmation confrontation

Culturally Culturally appropriate Culturally appropriate Culturally appropriate

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inappropriate
Institutionally Institutionally con- Institutionally not Institutionally
constrained strained incorporated incorporated
Await further research

curriculum scheme, if this form of CL is to be integrated in the formal centralized

educational system and its practice. In this article, the authors aim to bring more insights to
this issue by addressing two research questions: (1) Is there a form of authentic CL in the
long standing Vietnamese educational tradition? and (2) what are the constraints of
applying CL in the Vietnamese educational context?
The first research question will be addressed in the next section. Given the rarity of
research and documented studies regarding this issue, at this stage, the authors’ goal is to
initiate the discussion. By pointing to some limited but related literature, the authors aim at
a tentative conclusion that is expected to attract more attention from researchers who
would bring the issue further with proper qualitative and quantitative research.

Cooperative Learning and its application in traditional context

Based on the assumption that cooperation is essential to the functioning of human groups
in all societies, it is argued that the roots of CL exist in all cultures, especially in Vietnam,
since this is a highly collectivistic society (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005) where there is
a preference for a tightly-knit social framework and where people are linked together in
interlocking clusters of friends and acquaintances.
In fact, if CL is understood in terms of students working together in order to achieve better
comprehension, then this form of learning could be traced back to the earliest school of
Confucian teaching thousands of years ago. During the Classical period, Confucianism was
taught in small teacher-study training groups (Duc-Minh, 2004; The Confucian School,
2007). Students presented some form of tuition payment and enrolled as either long- or short-
term disciples. They would either come daily to the home of the master or live in their master’s
house to form a small learning community. These students organized their lives together with
various collective activities under their master’s guidance. They were taught to consider each
other as brothers and they were expected to help each other, to provide each other with mutual
academic assistance and emotional support. As the first truly independent private teacher in
China, this was the model that Confucius himself established. After Confucius’s death, many
of his disciples became teachers and continued this pattern, which was then passed on through
the generations and spread throughout East Asia to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
 140 M. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al.

To a certain extent, the learning model that began in the time of Confucius could be
considered a form of learning together. This version of CL is not based upon rigid
structures of goal attainment, individual accountability and reward allocation, and so on,
as described by prominent CL researchers such as Johnson and Johnson (1975), Kagan
(1994) or Slavin (1995). Rather, this version of CL was based upon the broad cultural
assets and the extensive social expectations that characterize a collectivistic society. In a
study by Tang (1996), the author reports that Chinese students formed study groups
without any prior instruction or advice from their teachers simply because they felt a need
to do so. In a survey conducted by Pong-Wing-Yan and Chow (2002) 42% of Hong Kong
students said that they formed study groups with classmates to prepare for exams. Other
research undertaken with undergraduates in China confirms that the Chinese frequently
involve themselves in group activities both inside school and in the wider community by
forming “syndicates” to work together on material that is expected or known to be required
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for the exam (Bond, 1991; Boud, Cohen, & Sampson, 2001; Ramsden, 2003, p. 189).
Several other studies such as Greenhill, von, Nielson and Pringle (1996) and Volet (1999)
also note that informal peer groups for the purposes of study is a strategy that is more
commonly used by Asian students than students from other cultures. This spontaneous
authentic CL is totally different from the teacher-initiated classroom-bound methodology
that has been defined and discussed in the CL literature.
Similarly, in Vietnam, hoc nhóm (learning together in a group) has long been a very
_
normal way of learning that happens spontaneously after formal schooling among a group of
close friends. They voluntarily gather together to learn and to teach each other in a location
that is convenient to all, typically a student’s home. During the 1980s, another learning
method applied widely was dôi ban cùng ti^e0 n (a going-forward-together pair of friends).
_
Teachers strategically organized seating arrangements in the classroom in such a way that
students would be divided into pairs where a pair might consist of either one low achiever
and one high achiever or two average achievers. These pairs were formed after considering
not only learning ability but distance between homes, a history of friendship, the family
relationships and their personalities, amongst others. This was done in order to achieve an
optimal outcome. Hence, CL did not happen structurally in a formal way but rather
informally by embedding the learning in everyday social life and by taking advantage of
every opportunity for verbal interaction whether it be learning or socially oriented.
Such a sophisticated form of CL can be quite difficult to observe, to detect and to
evaluate but, in a sense, it seems to be congruent with the Vietnamese cultural way of life.
The economist Astorga (2002) once argued:.
. . . the West, it sure developed an ingenious way to package and operationalize a concept and
practice that has incontrovertible traces of Eastern fingerprints all over it. Long before Kurt
Lewin tinkered with group dynamics in the 40s at MIT, Lao Tzu and his assistants over
twenty-six centuries ago were already extolling the virtues of collaboration and group effort
complete with the veneration for life, nature, and space.
Thus, the authors argue that an authentic form of CL has long existed in the texture of
the Vietnamese and East Asian learning style. Note that this authentic form of CL is
deeply embedded in people’s everyday life as a result of collectivistic values, while the
Western-based model of CL is applied structurally, and implemented in a step-wise
manner, as a learning mechanism within the school environment. Consequently, the
former is hard to observe, informal, spontaneous and dependent on personal relationships.
The latter is an obvious instructional part of curriculum, formal, well-planned and
dependent on educational policies. In Table 1, this CL approach is added in the third
column, bearing the culturally appropriate traits but not incorporated into the modern
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 141

educational schooling system. To this point, the answer to the first research question is still
tentative. Further studies with in-depth review of literature and field research should
follow in order to gain a better understanding on the issue.
With the finding of the first research question in mind, the following sections of the paper
discuss the second question, which aims at identifying the constraints when CL is applied in
a specific cultural context. It starts with a discussion about why Vietnam has adopted an
alien form of CL from the other side of the world, and how the application of both CL
approaches, (1) Western-based CL without adjustment and (2) adjusted CL as advocated by
Nguyen-Phuong-Mai and colleagues, can bypass the great assets of the traditional authentic
CL and the potential mismatch or constraints when applied in a different context.

Cooperative Learning and the risk of false universalism and neo-colonialism

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CL as a formal educational instrument has its roots in Western social interdependence

theory (Deutsch, 1949), cognitive-developmental theory (Piaget, 1950; Vygotsky, 1978)
and behavioural learning theories (Bandura, 1977). The approach has proven to be highly
successful with over 900 research studies pointing to the effectiveness of cooperative over
competitive and individualistic efforts (Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000). However, of
the numerous studies that have attested to the benefits of CL, almost all have taken place in
the West. In Asia, with the exception of Japan, admiration for this technique is a relatively
recent phenomenon, with the seminal work of Johnson and Johnson (1975) frequently
cited. Despite the dearth of systematic research in the Asian context and the fact that CL
has long existed as a foundation of the educational practice, albeit in an informal and
spontaneous mode, CL in its Western guise has become a key pedagogic component of
many educational reform strategies.
There are two reasons for this. Firstly, under pressure from forces of globalization and
the sense of a continuing need to modernize, in many countries, policymakers run the risk
of false universalism, assuming that a practice generating good results in one place will
unproblematically yield similar outcomes in another. The field is likely to be dominated by
policymakers who prioritize Western practices, who want a quick dissemination of their
idea and who feel that it is not necessary to await the outcome of systematic and lengthy
research studies. “Changing methodologies is urgent. The urgency does not allow us to
wait until all of the conditions are fulfilled. We have to do it right now!” (Solutions for
Changing of Teaching Methodologies in Vietnam, 2004, p. 50). As a result, there is an
absence of the healthy scepticism if necessary when introducing any foreign educational
initiatives (Resnik, 2006; Sternberg, 2007; Tikly, 2004; Walker & Dimmock, 2000).
Secondly, powerful international agencies employ a raft of financial incentives and
inducements that often exert a significant influence on practice. In a general sense, “neo-
colonialism” is one element of the “new imperialism” that reflects the interests of Western
nations and, more broadly, global capitalism (Tikly, 2004). The term refers not only to the
continuation of past colonial practices but also explicit attempts by former colonizing
nations to maintain their influence in their former territories (Altbach, 1982). The means by
which this is achieved is often economic. Thus, control is exercised by decisions to grant or
to refuse loans (particularly those financing otherwise unpayable Third World debt).
Bilateral or multilateral institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank tend to be the
decision-makers and by tying funding to explicit conditions, these cartels of states who
dominate their boards can impose a particular (Western) view of education and development
on debt-receiving countries. They thus reinforce neo-colonialism by further limiting the
capacity of these countries to determine their own educational agendas (Resnik, 2006).
 142 M. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al.

Given the education-economic growth discourse, these two factors strongly influence
policymakers in countries such as Vietnam, causing them to mimic theories and practices
from the West. Not only does this ultimately impact upon the quality of student learning, it
also provides the opportunity for what might be described as continuing mental
colonialization and ongoing relations of neo-colonialism. The encouragement of CL can
be understood as one example of how non-traditional methods of teaching and learning
that are believed to operate widely in Western countries (although, in actuality, these are
less prevalent than is often realized), are thought to give a competitive edge and are
considered to be fashionable and modern. Unfortunately, in the rush to adopt and import
educational theories and practices based on Western thinking, cultural aspects of the
pedagogy have often been overlooked, authentic and longstanding existing practices have
been bypassed, and institutional patterns of the educational system are often undermined.
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Cooperative Learning: stranger on a bumpy road?

It is tempting to suggest that CL is more likely to operate effectively in collectivist, rather
than individualist societies. While a number of studies suggest that students from
collectivistic Asian cultures value CL (Park, 2002; Ramburuth & McCormick, 2001),
consideration of the differing ways in which cooperation may be induced leads us to
question any assumptions that CL will always operate without problems in collectivistic
cultures. It has been demonstrated that while CL is essential to the life of all communities,
yet the form of CL developed by Western educators is aimed at tackling the Western
individualistic traits, as can be seen in the emphasis on transparency and individual
accountability in the model developed by Johnson and Johnson (1975). One would
logically argue that for Asian contexts, a different form of CL should be put in place with
elements that promote positive collectivistic traits while removing those that hinder the
cooperative process. Despite similar goals, these two forms of CL are culturally and
educationally different as their components are also different. To use a well-worn
expression: “All roads lead to Rome” – and in this case different groups can get there by
different means, depending on the nature of the roads and routes they have to take.
Taking concerns about neo-colonialism to a very grass root level, in relation to Asian
contexts, Nguyen-Phuong-Mai and colleagues (Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al., 2005, 2006;
Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, Elliott, et al., 2009) identify a complex web of cultural conflicts and
mismatches that are likely to occur when a Western-based CL is applied without rigorous
adaptation to the host culture. They suggest that a new form of culturally appropriate adjusted
CL can be developed and would take a different shape, different from, and possibly greater
than, the sum of its original parts. The same group of researchers also carried out a series of
experiments among secondary students in Vietnam (Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, Terlouw, Pilot, &
Elliott, 2009) where they applied two forms of CL, one as advocated and practised according
to the mainstream of CL (Western-based CL), the other as an adjusted form of CL taking into
account Vietnamese norms and values. The result shows that when CL was organized in ways
that were considered to be culturally appropriate in terms of leadership, reward allocation,
group composition and learning activities, Vietnamese students reported higher work
rates than those who followed the mainstream programme.
While the work of these authors touches the very deep pattern and structure of the
Vietnamese values in particular, and Asian cultural traits in general, their studies suffer
from several shortcomings. Firstly, as argued earlier, the adjusted CL they advocated
totally neglects the existence of a traditional authentic CL that has long been in practice.
Ironically, this lack of acknowledgement and incorporation signals a serious violation of
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 143

cultural appropriateness, something that these authors attempt to achieve in the current
paper. In other words, a true hybrid form of CL should be the ultimate mix of both
authentic traditional CL and the Western-based CL, not just an adjusted version of the
latter without contributing elements of the former.
Secondly, these studies can be rather one-sided as they tend to see only the problems of
cultural mismatch and the disadvantages of cultural conflict. It is argued that some values
can be both supportive and obstructive, depending on how they are manifested through
practice. Furthermore, not only cultural norms and values will influence the making of
a culturally appropriate CL but other elements such as educational and instructional
constraints (e.g., class size) may be influential in the process. This suggests that the new
form of CL should be both culturally and institutionally appropriate in order to be integrated
smoothly within the formal educational curriculum. In the next section, the paper describes
how a questionnaire was developed and utilized to gain more insights into these issues.
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The questionnaire
A questionnaire was developed based on two main data sources: observation and
interview. The combination of these datasets allowed researchers to cross-check one result
against one another, to increase the reliability of the questionnaire’s scales and draw
conclusions accordingly.
The observation was conducted in three upper secondary schools that were part of the
ministerial project “Curriculum Development for Secondary Education”, where CL was
being instructed as part of the teaching scheme. Seven lessons were observed with sizes
ranging from 41 –57 students. The lessons each lasted for 45 minutes with diverse subjects
from mathematics and chemistry, to literature and foreign language. The researchers
employed a “substantive field-notes method” (Burgess, 1984, p. 167), which consists of
a continuous record of the situations, events and conversations in the classroom where CL
was being implemented.
Next, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted to further identify
potential scales for the questionnaire. Three teachers aged 35 –44 with more than 10 years
of experience were asked to share their views on CL and reflect on their experience. Each
interview lasted 60 – 180 minutes, providing in-depth data by capturing the teachers’
perspectives in their own words and by giving them the opportunity to reply in an open and
free way to the researcher’s questions.
Based on the data retrieved from the observation and interviews, four scales emerged
with 17 items and Cronbach’s alpha ranging from 0.70 to 0.86. These scales focus on:
(1) institutional constraints; (2) the preference for CL; (3) the teacher’s role; and (4) group
harmony. The rest of the items ask participants about other problems associated with CL.
In order to identify underlying factors in these items, a principal components factor
analysis was conducted, which produced three factors with seven items. This solution,
accounting for 68.3% of the variance in the correlation matrix, is shown in Table 2. Three
new variables reflect students’ perception of the influence that some cultural and
psychological constraints may have on CL.
This questionnaire was distributed to 647 participants who were stratified into five
groups: Teachers (N ¼ 80), Student Teachers (N ¼ 118), University Students (N ¼ 66),
Secondary (N ¼ 102), and High School Students (N ¼ 281). With regard to the group of
teachers, the questionnaires were distributed to participants of an in-service training
course which was attended by teachers from all 53 Vietnamese provinces, a strong
representative of the teaching population. Other groups of respondents came from
 144 M. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al.

Table 2. Items, scales and factor structures.

Items Scale Reliability

Time management hinders the application Institutional constraint 0.70
of CL
Shortage of guideline hinders the
application of CL
Large class-size hinders the application of
CL
Class-order anxiety hinders the application
of CL
Losing control anxiety hinders the
application of CL
Difficulties in grading system is a problem
in the application of CL
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Prefer CL over individual learning Preference for CL 0.81

CL is more effective
One learns more with CL
Teacher should always have right answers Teacher’s role 0.81
Student’ knowledge cannot exceed that of
the Teacher
Study is impossible without Teacher’s
guidance
Main class activity is listening to Teacher
and taking notes
Group harmony is more important than Group harmony 0.86
Individual opinion
Idea confrontation should be avoided
One should not try to confront others
One-for-all mentality guarantees CL
success
Problems that hinder CL are . . . Factor loading
Shyness 0.736 Psychological constraint 0.75
Fear of giving wrong answer 0.736
Not self-confident to speak out 0.668
Social loafing 0.704 Poor work contribution 0.75
Passive contributions 0.677
Uneven workload 0.773 Work division 0.68
Work sharing 0.655

different schools and universities in Ha Noi. Participants were asked to circle items on a
5-point Likert type scale, ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree).
For data analysis, the independent t-test is employed for the first scale (institutional
constraint), comparing means between the two groups of teacher and student teachers. The
multivariate test was employed for the other six scales, exploring whether five groups
scored significantly differently from each other.

Results
The t-test comparing means between teachers and teacher students indicates that these two
groups do not differ significantly from each other in their perception of the impact of
institutional constraint on the application of CL, M ¼ 3.6/3.8, respectively, p . 0.05.
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 145

Table 3. Mean scores of five groups.

Student University High school Secondary

Teacher teacher student student student
Preference for CL 3.4 3.4 3.1 4.0 3.7
Teacher’s role 3.9 3.5 3.3 3.6 3.9
Group harmony 3.8 3.4 3.5 3.9 3.8
Psychological issue 3.2 2.8 2.6 2.7 3.0
Poor work contribution 4.2 4.1 4.2 3.8 4.5
Work division 2.4 2.5 2.3 2.3 1.9

Six other scales were answered by all five groups of participants. Multivariate analysis
indicates that five groups differ significantly from each other on the combined dependent
variables, F(24,2094) ¼ 7.90, p , 0.0005; Wilks’s Lambda ¼ 0.73; partial h2 ¼ 0.07.
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Analysis of each individual dependent variable, using Bonferroni adjusted alpha level of 0.008,
shows that there is contribution of each variable with effect size ranging from 0.02 to 0.09.
The five groups differ in term of Preference for CL, F(4,605) ¼ 15.7, p , 0.0005,
partial h2 ¼ 0.09; in the perception of Teacher’s role in disseminating knowledge,
F(4,605) ¼ 10.7, p , 0.0005, partial h2 ¼ 0.06; in the perception of the importance of
group harmony, F(4,605) ¼ 5.9, p , 0.0005, partial h2 ¼ 0.03; in the perception of the
impact that psychological constraints exert upon CL, F(4,605) ¼ 3.8, p , 0.005, partial
h2 ¼ 0.02; in the perception of the impact that poor work contribution exerts upon CL,
F(4,605) ¼ 9.1, p , 0.0005, partial h2 ¼ 0.05; and in the perception of the impact that
work division exerts upon CL F(4,605) ¼ 4.5, p , 0.0005, partial h2 ¼ 0.02.
Table 3 presents the overall means score of five groups of participants.

Discussion
The preference for CL
All groups of participants are consistent in their preferences for CL. This is resonant with
findings from prior research, which claims that Asian learners favour group learning
activities (Park, 2002; Ramburuth & McCormick, 2001). This result is significant for
several reasons. First of all, the preference for CL, which is often associated with cultural
attributes, is likely to be an advantage in the application of CL. The enthusiasm to engage
in group learning can be seen as a good starting point for the integration of this method into
the Vietnamese curriculum, teaching and learning pattern.
Secondly, the result also implies a high level of receptive behaviour among the
participants. While an open attitude towards new educational methodologies is no doubt
an asset, it is important to bear in mind that the preference does not necessarily imply the
readiness to apply them nor sufficient knowledge to understand what they have to give up
for the new practice.
Thirdly, this result of CL preference should be seen in the light of the arguments stated
earlier, that is the concerns about a cherry-picking practice, in the sense that Asian scholars
seek to emulate the West for concepts, theories of teaching and learning, and innovative
methodologies for educational reform (Alatas, 2000; Singh, 2004).

Institutional constraint
The results from the questionnaire show that the two groups, teachers and student teachers,
acknowledge a wide range of institutional constraints. First of all, an inflexible, fixed seating
 146 M. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al.

arrangement hinders a diverse grouping strategy. Students in Vietnamese schools are not
allowed to choose their seats and it is, thus, very likely that a student will remain in the same
place for the whole school year. This means that whenever CL is used, students will always be
grouped together in the same team, basically across all study subjects. In this case, a grouping
strategy that takes into account learning ability, gender, or intimacy may not proceed easily.
While Western class sizes fluctuate at around 15– 20, the teacher-student ratio is very
high in Asian countries. Urban Japanese classes have a legal maximum for elementary
classes of 45, there are up to 50 –60 students per class in China and 43 in Korea, while the
national average is up to 36 in Korea and 34 in China (Kirkpatrick, 1998; Rampell, 2009).
Teachers report that class size, furniture and limitations on resources are obstacles that
impede the application of CL (Jin & Cortazzi, 1998, p. 743). In South Africa, the over-
burdened school system must accept booming numbers of new students, straining its
crowded classrooms and education budgets. Everywhere CL seems to have become
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a counterpoint to mainstream formal education (Shwalb & Shwalb, 1995).

Secondly, time constraint tends to prevent teachers from exploring the benefits of CL.
With a short lesson span of 45 minutes, it is extremely difficult to involve types of CL
other than quick sessions of 5 –10 minutes such as intensive discussion and CL project of
large-scale learning scenarios. Education curriculum is a whole-nation programme. At
a particular time, the teacher will teach that lesson and the students will do that exercise
and read that book. Finding a place within the existing curriculum for a group project is a
real problem. The volume of study is also heavier with six days per week of schooling for
both Vietnamese and also many other Asian students.
There are many reasons for this tightly stretched and inflexible programme, but one
might be the urge to achieve proposed goals. According to Smith and Ragan (1999),
instructional strategy should be supplantive when: (1) time is limited; (2) high achievement
of domain-specific goals is higher priority than “learning to learn” skills; and (3)
achievement of domain-specific goals is universal for all learners (all learners are expected
to gain at least a minimum level of competence). Vietnam fits well into this scenario as its
government is exerting tremendous pressure to accomplish a long list of educational goals in
the process of modernization (Nguyen-Dang-Thin, 2000). A teacher received complaints
from neighbouring classes that his students were too noisy. He was then advised by the
headmaster that “people look at the number of students that pass the national exam, not at
how they learn. Therefore, stop it!” (Personal communication, 2004).
Such institutional constraints can also be found in Japan. Sugie (1995) argues that
despite a long history of CL application, the models of CL are still not widely popular in
Japan partly due to the centralized educational bureaucracy. The author claims that it is
difficult to inspire teachers who have only experienced teaching and learning in a tightly
controlled school system to spare time to study and apply CL. Such educational and social
conditions remain a great challenge to those who seek to make true cooperation a basic and
consistent principle of education. This finding is important as one makes a comparison
between the institutional constraint and the rather loose spontaneous informal authentic
CL that is much more flexible and informal with much less direct confrontation with the
rigid structure of modern schooling system. So, it can be argued that the incorporation of
the authentic CL can help to resolve institutional constraints.

Teacher’s role in disseminating knowledge

Consistently, participants from all categories are likely to agree that teachers play a
prominent role in disseminating knowledge (M ¼ 3.9), that they are expected to have all the
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 147

right answers and the main job of the student is to listen and take note. Firstly, this is
consistent with previous studies that suggest Asian students tend to see teachers as being the
ultimate source of knowledge (Jin & Cortazzi, 1998). Murphy (1987, cited in Kennedy,
2002, p. 431) suggests that the reason why Asian students “display an almost unquestioning
acceptance of the knowledge of the teacher . . . may be a transfer of the Confucian ethic of
filial piety, coupled with an emphasis on strictness of discipline and proper behaviour”.
Secondly, this result again raises a question of power distance shift between teachers as
traditional masters of the class to students as the newly emerged expected master of
knowledge, as suggested by the works of Nguyen-Phuong-Mai and colleagues (Nguyen-
Phuong-Mai et al., 2005, 2006; Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, Elliott, et al., 2009; Nguyen-
Phuong-Mai, Terlouw, et al., 2009). Woodrow (2007) argues that due to the strong respect
for ancestors and elders in Asian cultures, there is a view of knowledge which is heavily
based on the notion of a “body of knowledge” rather than knowledge as a creative and
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individual voyage of discovery. However, in radical constructivist theory, it is held that

there is no knowledge other than that which is owned by the individual. CL in its
constructivist form expects students to self-construct knowledge and the role of the teacher
is to create situations or experiences that present them with new ideas to rationalize.
Woodrow, therefore, argues that the application of any constructivist educational methods
in cultures where the teacher is seen as having the ultimate source of knowledge is
unacceptable, or unimaginable.
Thus a role-dilemma can be predicted: a “guru of knowledge” versus a “facilitator of
knowledge”; and an “ultimate figure of authority in the classroom” versus a “classroom
coordinator”. On the one hand, the personal dedication to professionalism and the high
social expectation that a teacher should be a master of their subject is essential in the
making of a good teacher. This is the push-factor, supportive and essential for the effective
application of CL. On the other hand, the pull-factor is that teachers face the constraint of
transferring this knowledge, not in a traditional way, but by facilitating the discovery of
knowledge in a constructivist way. This traditional emphasis in a teacher’s role can both
facilitate and impede the application CL.
A high social expectation in the teacher’s knowledge may perpetuate not only the
knowledge “monopoly” of the teacher but also the knowledge dependence of students
which is arguably an obstacle if seen from a constructivist point of view. Discussion with
peers, a common feature of CL, can be seen as irrelevant since it is the teacher who holds
the knowledge (Woodrow, 2007). A Chinese student’s quote from Jin and Cortazzi (1998):
Why does the teacher want us to talk together? She can’t listen to all of us talking at once.
How can I learn by talking to my friend? He only knows what I know. I may learn his
mistakes. I want to listen to the teacher, she knows more. (p. 744)
Thirdly, this result also raises a question regarding a teacher’s quality. Baker and
Giacchino-Baker (2003) state that “the lack of adequately trained teachers to meet the
demand of modern curriculum and deliver teaching effectively is a major cause of internal
inefficiency in education.” Many student teachers assume that CL is simply putting learners
together with an assigned learning task. If a teacher simply puts this into practice, his/her
students are likely to form pseudo groups which are even less effective than individual
effort, as was strongly warned against in the model of Johnson and Johnson (1975).
Last but not least, this result makes a contradictory connection with the first scale of
preference for CL. As argued in earlier sessions, it is once again confirmed that the
preference for CL does not mean that teachers, students and all stakeholders are ready to
commit and deeply understand what it means and what it takes to effectively get CL in
 148 M. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al.

action. On the one hand, CL may have been perceived as a fashionable educationally
correct lip-service or buzz-word, on the other hand, those at stake hold strongly to the one
element that may hinder the application of CL. This paradox clearly shows the stark
contrast between theory and practice as well as between perception and action.

Group harmony
Statistics show that participants strongly advocate groups in which individuals may have
to sacrifice their personal feelings for the sake of the group (M ¼ 3.9/3.8). It also shows
that lack of self-confidence, shyness and the fear of a wrong answer are not likely to be
perceived as having strong influence on CL. This suggests that the seemingly passiveness
among Vietnamese students is less likely to be associated with low esteem but more likely
to be seen as a sign of respecting group “harmony” and saving “face”. This result is
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consistent with prior studies in which Asian students are reported neither to be discouraged
from speaking out, questioning, criticizing, reflecting or acting independently nor to
organize their ideas in a logical and linear manner (Connor, 1996; Jackson, 2002; Jones,
1999). Many Vietnamese proverbs express this moral lesson: “One time self-denial means
nine times goodness”; “Think seven times before speaking out”; “Words cost no money,
use them well to please others”, among others.
While a harmonious atmosphere will certainly nurture a smooth working pace, it can
also be a cover for hidden disagreement and distrust. A harmonious working environment is
not necessarily a safe working environment for fear of losing face. In fact, Tjosvold, Hui and
Sun (2004) prove that the Chinese can discuss conflict cooperatively when they are assured
that their face will be “protected”. Therefore, the supreme emphasis on harmony should be
seen as another pull-and-push cultural factor that can both facilitate and hinder CL.
Some critical elements that participants strongly attributed to the failure of group work
are passive contribution and loafing. Vietnamese students expect other group members to
be sincere in their efforts and to whole-heartedly perform their assignments. Although they
do not seem to have a problem with a division of the work, they do have a problem with
group members who free-load, who are not dedicated, and do not seriously commit to the
group goal. This strong dislike for loafing seems to be a cultural norm as research shows
that social loafing is less likely to appear among Asians (Earley, 1989; Wagner, 1995).

Conclusion and further indication

Graves (cited in Shwalb & Shwalb, 1995) offers an interesting observation that the use of
CL has become most widespread in cultures where one might anticipate that it would be
least welcomed (Western individualistic cultures), and least common in places where it
should have been most welcomed (Asian or African collectivist cultures). The first
conclusion that can be drawn in this paper is that in these cultures, students simply
perceive a need to work together, since spontaneous collaboration is typically being
orchestrated outside the classroom. It is, perhaps, unfortunate that some Vietnamese
educational leaders, misled by a “false universalism” and neo-colonialism, have failed to
recognize that the foundation of authentic CL already exists within their indigenous
educational traditions. In the rush to reform and modernize, new innovative Western
methods are enthusiastically adopted, while, at the same time, their own cultural heritage
is neglected and opportunities to develop and research a CL method that has its own
uniqueness and is culturally appropriate for Vietnamese students are missed. This result
indicates the need for further studies in order to identify other existing theories and
 Asia Pacific Journal of Education 149

practices in Vietnam and in the wider Asian context that may suffer neglect in the process
of educational reform.
Secondly, with this finding in mind, an initial implication can be drawn that an
adjusted form of CL based on Western methodologies as advocated by previous studies is
probably not the most appropriate CL form because of two problems. The first problem is
that this adjusted CL neglects the authentic CL that already exists and is spontaneously
being implemented in Vietnam. An adjusted form of CL based on the Western-based
models without contributing elements of authentic CL will suffer from the very pitfall of
cultural inappropriateness that the authors try to avoid. This finding indicates the need to
consider indigenous practices in Vietnam as well as in the wider context of Asia in the
process of forming education theories, and to incorporate these practices into designing
educational goals and implementing learning tasks.
The second problem with the adjusted CL, as demonstrated in this paper, is that it can
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be culturally appropriate as its authors argued but not entirely institutionally appropriate
within the formal educational framework and institutions. Large classes, inflexible seating
arrangements, time management, overloaded curriculum and strict national curriculum
scheme are impediments that teachers and students have to surmount or circumvent in
order to get CL integrated in formal educational curriculum. The third conclusion of this
paper is that a hybrid form of CL that incorporates the authentic CL will be more likely to
overcome these stumbling blocks. The reason for this initial implication is because
authentic CL, as proposed here, is informal, flexible, not strongly bound to rigid operation
of modern education and schooling system. More research should be conducted in order to
prove the validity of this implication. An overview of all four CL approaches is presented
in Table 1.
Fourthly, it is argued that Vietnamese cultural norms and values may generate a
readiness to nurture a pathway to success in implementing CL. These “pushing” forces
include a high level of trust in teachers’ professionalism; a preference for working together;
a strong negative peer pressure towards social loafing; a strong sense of group identity; and
a natural tendency for informal CL that is carried on voluntarily outside of the classroom.
There are also cultural factors that serve both to advance and to hinder the progress
toward cooperation. The ultimate goal of group harmony and the willingness to see the
teacher as a provider of knowledge are factors that may have both the potential to facilitate
effective use of CL and to create obstacles that hinder the process. From this perspective,
a strong preference for CL should not be considered as a guarantee that teachers and
students are ready for it or working toward it since they still hold on to elements that
potentially hinder the very goal that they advocate. This paradox shows a gap between
perception and action, which calls for better attention in research that utilizes
questionnaires to predict trends and preferences. It also warns against the current trend
of research that tends to focus exclusively on cultural mismatch and, thus, understates the
possibilities that values are manifested through practice. While values are difficult to
change, practice can take different forms and, thus, have different effects. In other words,
a value can be a pull-and-push factor that hinders and supports a goal depending on what
form of practice is designed for it to manifest its nature.
Finally, this paper warns that the historical legacy of colonialism is such that the
direction of cultural flow is largely one way – “from ‘the West’ to ‘the Rest’” (Rizvi,
2004). Globalizing forces, in part promulgated by multilateral aid agencies (Tabulawa,
2003), help to shape and influence the host educational system in ways aligned to Western
orthodoxies. In order to qualify for loans, and other forms of economic aid, less developed
countries are required to make concessions, while the priority of policymakers is not to be
 150 M. Nguyen-Phuong-Mai et al.

cognizant of cultural differences and national idiosyncrasies in driving reforms, but rather
to take a universalist perspective in relation to international standards, competitive league
tables and comparative performance indicators (Tikly, 2004). “False universalism” and
neo-colonialism also contribute to the practice of seeing certain practices such as CL as
merely a sign of renovation. This pressure may lead to a superficial and counter-productive
application of something less than CL, such as a “pseudo” version of the methodology. It is
argued that unless teachers are armed with the proper knowledge and a certain degree of
autonomy, CL may risk being seen as an end in itself to satisfy an administrative goal
rather than a means to foster learning.
This so called “neo-colonialism” deserves more attention among researchers from
Asia, as many countries in this region used to be colonies. Further, studies should be
addressed not just at a macro level but also on a micro scale because such a showcase can
be very powerful in illustrating how a colonial mindset and external pressure can strongly
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influence the subconsciousness of policymakers and practitioners despite all obvious

institutional constraints and cultural mismatches.

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