Re: AERA-chat/ Elina's ?

Dr. PedroR. Portes (prport01 who-is-at homer.louisville.edu)
Sun, 03 May 1998 11:28:05 -0400

>Dear Pedro, Roberto et al.,
>Thanks a lot for your effort and detailed report. ZPD session sounds
>interesting. Who talked about cultural differences in cognitive styles? Why
>did you have mixed feelings about it?
>Elina
>My apologies for the delay, I've been out.. In any case, re. your question;
Because I think that within group differences are much more important than
between groups, particularly when the two groups concerned are
heteregeneous to begin with. Secondly because the reasoning that current
tests favor context independent thinking or cog. style and that is why
groups with context dependent styles are at a disadvantaged (namely
Spanish-speaking groups etc)is not convincing. I prefer literacy oriented
explanations more than the learning style discourse / explanations.
Why? I guess i think literacy acquisition processes shaped
cognitive/learning "styles" more than vice versa.
But that is just me, i could be wrong....(like the Sat. nite guy says)..pedro