Culturally responsive education and the EFL classroom (original) (raw)

Creating Culturally Responsive Instruction: For Students' and Teachers' Sakes

Focus on Exceptional Children

The field of education faces a number of issues regarding how to improve the quality of school life and educational outcomes of culturally different 1 students-namely African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American Indians. All of the issues (high dropout rates, high suspension and expulsion rates, high rates of school failure, low test scores and grades, low academic engagement, poor student-teacher relationships, etc.) fall under the umbrella of three broad areas: the achievement gap, gifted education underrepresentation, and special education overrepresentation. Educators, administrators, and policy makers grapple daily with ways to resolve these issues and subissues but have yet to see much success on a large-scale and consistent basis. Many studies and theories, along with personal speculation, have been advanced to explain the differential school performance of the aforementioned culturally different students. Likewise, a number of interventions, strategies, and recommendations have been put forth. A strongly advocated recommendation, especially by culturally different scholars, is that educators avoid colorblind/cultureblind approaches and philosophies and, instead, give more credence to creating culturally responsive classrooms (CRCs) for the culturally different students listed above. MAY 2009 The term culturally responsive can have numerous meanings and interpretations. At its core, it means responding proactively and empathetically to appeals, efforts, and influences es. When we are responsive, we feel an obligation, a sense of urgency, to address a need so students will experience success. When teachers are culturally responsive, they are student centered; they break down barriers to learning and, hence, provide keys that open doors to students' success. Thus, to be culturally responsive means that teachers work proactively and assertively to understand, respect, and meet the needs of students from cultural backgrounds that are different from their own. Cultural responsiveness is the recognition that students are similar to, but also different from, each other. 1 In this article we adopt the term culturally different rather than culturally diverse. Everyone has a culture; every group is culturally diverse. Instead, we propose that cultural differences are what contribute to misunderstandings, tensions, and frustrations. Dr.

CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE INSTRUCTION

Culturally Responsive instruction must be differentiated to effectively embed elements to address students’ different cultures, needs, skill levels and goals. Regardless of the students in the classroom the teacher must be able to reach all of them to create a climate of inclusion and heightened engagement. Carr, etc al. in the text “Making Science Accessible to English Learners and Making Mathematics Assessable to English Learners” provide a framework that can guide a teachers’ lesson planning and instruction. This includes instruction not only for ESL students but, SEL and a culturally diverse student population.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Diversitas Journal

Culturally responsive pedagogy is crucial in education, valuing diverse backgrounds to create inclusive learning environments. This paper synthesizes 32 literature sources systematically highlighting the importance of recognizing cultural backgrounds, building relationships, adapting instruction, and promoting critical consciousness. Recognition of students' backgrounds enhances academic achievement and engagement, while positive relationships foster belonging and well-being. Adapting instruction meets diverse needs and improves outcomes. Promoting critical consciousness empowers students to challenge stereotypes and address social injustices. Ongoing professional development and support are essential for effective implementation. By addressing these areas, educational institutions can create equitable and inclusive environments. Further research is needed to explore effective strategies for recognizing cultural backgrounds, investigate the impact of inclusive communities, study...

Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters!

equityallianceatasu.org

In 2000, Professor Geneva Gay wrote that culturally responsive teaching connects students' cultural knowledge, prior experiences, and performance styles to academic knowledge and intellectual tools in ways that legitimize what students already know. By embracing the sociocultural realities and histories of students through what is taught and how, culturally responsive teachers negotiate classrooms cultures with their students that reflect the communities where students develop and grow. This is no small matter because it requires that teachers transcend their own cultural biases and preferences to establish and develop patterns for learning and communicating that engage and sustain student participation and achievement. Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters! Eq ui ty M at te rs: In Le ar ni ng , fo r Lif e. w w w. e q u i t y a l l i a n c e a t a s u. o r g by Eli za be th B. Ko zle sk i

Addressing Learner Diversity by Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

e-Bangi, 2015

Malaysian school classrooms are characterized by its diversity whereby students (Malay Chinese, Indian and other ethnic groups) come from various cultural backgrounds. Studies have shown that culture influences the learning process and social adjustment of students. Providing culturally appropriate practice is one of the main concerns of the teaching profession. To do that teachers need to be able to promote cultural understanding to enable students to become sensitive to other students from other cultures and to eventually be able to live harmoniously in a multicultural community. They need to be multi-culturally aware of differences among students to better act as role models in classroom. The objective of this paper is to describe the effect of a multicultural competence workshop in raising a group of 128 primary school teachers' awareness about multiculturalism in the classroom. Multicultural competence comprises multicultural awareness (how people's attitudes, beliefs, values, assumptions, selfawareness affect the ways they interact with those who are culturally different from themselves), knowledge (informed understanding of cultures that are different from one's own culture) and skills (skills individuals use to engage in effective and meaningful interactions with those who are from different cultural backgrounds). The training workshop employs three main activities (a) self-awareness, (b) awareness of Malaysian cultures and (c) instructional strategies and resources. The qualitative data reveals that the teachers find that the workshop activities to be supportive of a culturally responsive pedagogy. These activities have helped them to be aware of their own thinking, biases and emotions towards diversity in the classroom. The activities of the workshop seem to have been facilitative in increasing the teachers' multicultural awareness and competency. It can be concluded that the teachers have positive responses to the workshop. The study indicates that teachers need to be exposed to multicultural activities that could assist them in implementing a culturally-responsive pedagogy.