Chapter 5 Addressing Cultural and Socioeconomic Diversity Viewing recommendations for Windows: Use the Arial TrueType font and set your screen area to at least 800 by 600 pixels with Colors set to Hi Color (16 bit). Viewing recommendations for Macintosh: Use the Arial TrueType font and set your monitor resolution to at least 800 by 600 pixels with Color Depth set to thousands of colors.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–2 Overview The rise of multiculturalism Taking account of your students’ cultural differences Multicultural education programs Bilingual education
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–3 From melting pot to cultural pluralism Melting pot –Diverse ethnic groups assimilating into one mainstream culture Cultural Pluralism (Janzen, 1994) –Every culture has its own internal coherence, integrity, and logic –No culture is inherently better or worse than another –All persons are to some extent culture-bound
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–4 Immigrants to the United States
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–5 Percentage of children between 5 and 18 years old Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census (2000). Projected change in percentage of school-age children for four ethnic groups between 2001 and 2020
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–6 The effect of ethnicity on learning Five aspects of ethnicity that are potential sources of misunderstanding: 1.Verbal communication patterns 2.Nonverbal communication 3.Time orientation 4.Social values 5.Instructional formats and learning processes (Bennett, 1999)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–7 Percentage of families Source: U.S. Bureau of Census (2000). Percentage of families within ethnic groups living below poverty level in 1999
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–8 Adverse factors experienced by many low-SES children Many low-SES children, especially those who live in urban areas, live in overcrowded homes and stressful neighborhoods Low-SES children typically have not been exposed to a wide variety of experiences (especially education- related experiences)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–9 Adverse factors experienced by many low-SES children (cont’d) Many low-SES children do not receive satisfactory health care Low-SES children are more likely than middle-class children to grow up in a one-parent family
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–10 Adverse factors experienced by many low-SES children The interactions that occur between low-SES parents and their children often lack the characteristic of mediation (scaffolding) Many low-SES children do not place a high value on academic achievement Low-SES children may have no definite career plans after leaving school and may be limited to low-paying, dead-end jobs
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–11 Teacher expectancy effect On the basis of such characteristics as race, SES, ethnic background, dress, speech pattern, and test scores, teachers form expectancies about how various students will perform in class Those expectancies are subtly communicated to the students in a variety of ways Students come to behave in a way that is consistent with what the teacher expects
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–12 Factors that help create expectancies Middle-class students are expected to receive higher grades than low-SES students, even when their IQ scores and achievement scores are similar African-American students are given less attention and are expected to learn less than white students, even when both groups have the same ability
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–13 Factors that help create expectancies Teachers tend to perceive children from poor homes as less mature, less capable of following directions, and less capable of working independently than children from more advantaged homes
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–14 Factors that help create expectancies Teachers are more influenced by negative information about students than they are by neutral or positive information High-achieving students receive more praise than low-achieving students
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–15 Factors that help create expectancies Attractive children are often perceived by teachers to be brighter, more capable, and more social than unattractive children Teachers tend to approve of girls’ behavior more frequently than they approve of boys’ behavior
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–16 Multicultural education programs
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–17 Multicultural education programs
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–18 Approaches to multicultural education Contributions Approach –Ethnic historical figures whose values and behaviors are consistent with American mainstream culture are studied while individuals who have challenged the dominant view are ignored Ethnic Additive Approach –An instructional unit composed of concepts, themes, points of view, and individual accomplishments is simply added to the curriculum
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–19 Approaches to multicultural education Transformation Approach –There is no one valid way of understanding people, events, concepts, and themes; there are multiple views, each of which has something of value to offer Decision-Making and Social Action Approach –Incorporates components of all the other approaches and adds the requirement that students make decisions and take actions concerning a concept, issue, or problem being studied
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–20 Key Concepts Immigration Culture Identity Perspectives Ethnic institutions Acculturation Demographic, social, political, and economic status Racism and discrimination Intra-ethnic diversity
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–21 Characteristics of effective multicultural teachers Provides students with clear objectives Continuously communicates high expectations to the students Monitors student progress and provides immediate feedback Has several years experience in teaching culturally diverse students Can clearly explain why she uses specific instructional techniques
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–22 Characteristics of effective multicultural teachers Strives to embed instruction in a meaningful context Provides opportunities for active learning through small-group work and hands-on activities Exhibits a high level of dedication Enhances students’ self-esteem by having classroom materials and practices reflect students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds Has a strong affinity for the students
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–23 Recommended instructional tactics Peer tutoring –Teaching of one student by another Cooperative learning –Working in small, heterogeneous groups to help one another master a task Mastery learning –Approach that assumes most children can master the curriculum if certain conditions are established
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–24 Rationale for multicultural education Multicultural programs foster teaching practices that are effective in general as well as for members of a particular group All students may profit from understanding different cultural values The U.S. is becoming an increasingly multicultural society and students need to understand and know how to work with people of cultures different from their own
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–25 Rationale for multicultural education (cont’d) Multicultural education programs expose students to the idea that “truth” is very much in the eye of the beholder Multicultural programs can encourage student motivation and learning
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company5–26 Using technology to bridge the cultural and SES gap Share ideas with electronic bulletin boards and video conferencing Engage in cross-class and cross- cultural collaboration and mentoring –International Education and Resource network –Multimedia Environments That Organize and Support Learning Through Technology (MOST)
End of Chapter 1 Addressing Cultural and Socioeconomic Diversity