Stan Alexander

Life-Span Dev.

Other’s Culture Interview

Students are asked to conduct an interview with someone with a different cultural background. That individual might be from a different ethnic group in the U.S. or be visiting or attending college from overseas.

Objectives: Students will

--gain a personalized view into a culture different than their own.

-- apply course content regarding culture to an individual from an ethnicity or nationality other than their own.

--compare and contrast socialization for norms & roles in two cultures.

The interview should center on family experiences as the individual was growing up (for a young adult) or across the lifespan (for an older adult). The interview might begin with asking about celebration of holidays. This may be a less intrusive start to the questioning. But, the primary focus should be on socialization.

Questions must be considered carefully beforehand. A query that an American would find inoffensive might be too personal or otherwise uncomfortable for an individual of another culture.

A typed 2-4 page paper based on the interview is required. Of course, the write-up should include a biographical sketch of the individual. But, it also should include course content in its discussion of similarities and differences of that individual’s and of American culture. Students may compare the individual’s experiences and those of their friends and relatives to their own in their analysis of the two cultures.

Your textbook presents culture as part of ch. 2, as well as in ch. 5. The Theories reading on IvyLearn may provide useful information on norms and roles.

Students may use outside sources, as well. But, the assignment will be graded on the comparisons drawn, not on the number of sources used. For outside sources, A.P.A. citation style should be used. The O.W.L. website, sponsored by Purdue, has a simplified set of html pages to help with citations.

A.P.A. requirements for formatting are not essential, as this is not a research paper. The paper should have 1.5 line-spacing with one-inch margins.

The interview questions must be submitted along with the write-up.