Culture and the Interaction of Student Ethnicity with Reward Structure in Group Learning

Abstract

This study tests the hypothesis that cultural differences in group orientation predict an interaction between the student variable—ethnicity—and a learning context variable—reward structure—on math performance after group learning. One hundred and thirty-two African-American and European-American female and male fourth and fifth grade students studied math estimation in one of three group learning contexts. The learning contexts operationalized were: intergroup competitive, interpersonally competitive, and communal-no reward. ANCOVA confirmed a predicted interaction of ethnicity with learning context on post study session performance. Although there was no difference overall, African-American and European-American students performed best in the aggregate in different contexts. Independent ratings of students' group-positive behaviors mirrored the two-way interaction between learning context and ethnicity. The findings suggest that important student variables interact with the variable elements of group learning and should be studied in greater detail. They also support Boykin's (1994) contention that the cultural context of learning is a critical mediator of children's achievement.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work reported herein was supported by grant(s) from the Institute for Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. The findings and opinions expressed in this report do not reflect the position or policies of the National Institute on At-Risk Students, the Institute for Educational Sciences, or the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes

¹ A distinction is sometimes made between tangible or material rewards (prizes, privileges) and intangible rewards (recognition, feedback); and within the category intangible, between rewards that are administered in a controlling manner or as information regarding competence (Deci, Keostner, & Ryan, 2001). While we acknowledge the significance of this distinction for some purposes, in this work we refer to all except the last of these as external reward.

² Overlapping the debate concerning reward structure is the controversy over the potentially negative effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic task motivation. As with reward structure, there is mixed support for both perspectives (Cameron & Pierce, 1994; Ryan & Deci, 1996; Deci, Koestner, & Ryan, 2001). The debates overlap in that many cooperative learning structures involve the use of extrinsic rewards of various types to motivate students; and those that do not, often cite protecting students' intrinsic motivation to learn as part of the rationale for that choice. By the same token, the points of overlap involve what we have termed motivation to succeed/exert effort but seem apart from motivation to cooperate/help, which may have its own relationship with intrinsic (task) motivation.

³ Among the other themes identified in African-American culture are verve, rhythmic movement orientation, and spirituality (see Boykin & Allen, 2003 for a discussion).

⁴ Many of the studies documenting the existence of themes such as communalism in African-American culture have drawn their sample populations in the southern United States and/or among low income participants, leading some to suggest that claims about African-American culture should be more appropriately labeled claims about southern Black culture or phenomena of the “culture of poverty” (Young, 1974). Recent investigations have sampled from among Black Americans in the northeast (Marryshow et al., 2005; Bailey & Boykin, 2001), in the midwest (Dill & Boykin, 2000), and among middle- and upper-middle class African Americans (Sankofa, Hurley, Allen, Tyler & Boykin, under review) supporting the contention that such themes transcend regional and socioeconomic boundaries.

⁵ Aside from within group variation in socialization experiences, it is also likely that some African Americans whose initial socialization included Afrocultural themes, go on to become acculturated and/or engage in code switching in order to function in the competitive and or individualistic value structures of mainstream-dominated institutions (including for example higher education and competitive sports) (Ogbu, 2004). We view those who successfully adopt such coping strategies as exceptions, if highly visible exceptions, to the more general trend of African-American children who struggle with the tension between incompatible cultural systems. Moreover that some do succeed by such choices does not imply that all should be expected to make the same compromise.

⁶ Coleman (1996) employed an open-ended creative problem-solving task; Hurley, Allen, and Boykin (2005) used a math estimation task; Dill and Boykin (2000) employed a text recall task; Boykin, Lilja, and Tyler (2004) examined weekly quizzes and a unit exam; both assessments required students to provide definitions and complete short-answer items from a geography text.

⁷ The original study packet (revised for this work to include more of the micro-skills that undergird estimation) was used in the pilot test with the task. Pilot data indicated that it was an effective tool for conveying the desired skills and that those skills were accessible to fourth- and fifth-grade students.