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respect, journal to reflect, and do more research…Breathe and remember that we are all humans who have the same needs and wants for love, survival, and happiness. Everyone follows a different path.” Said another: “I have to manage my own biases if I have any towards beliefs, customs or practices to open myself up to the world which has many differing beliefs, customs and practices unfamiliar to my own. I have to understand the world is filled with diversity and that this is beautiful, even if it means discomfort in my own feelings.” In some cases, respondents may have been expressing anxiety related to privilege, even though they did not directly identify it as such. There is a certain amount of resistance to actually embracing differences.
The second question asked which teaching method was most effective in helping [the TEC] communicate with students of culturally diverse backgrounds. Again, the expressed disposition was open and positive. “Sit back and let them teach you.” “…I feel it is our responsibility to make sure every student has a voice and feel as welcomed [sic] as possible.”
As to the strategies that respondents believed would be effective with their future English learners, Visual tools – pictures, films, labels – topped the list. (13 respondents chose this). A moderate number chose Krashen (1981)-The Natural Approach in a meaningful context (seven). Six selected Physical/kinesthetic, while Differentiated Instruction rated three choices and home visits were noted by two. The rest had only one each: Communicative language teaching, valuing linguistic differences, small group; class discussions, constructivist, building relationships, and the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model.
The third research question asked TECs to identify the biggest challenge when communicating with students from diverse cultural backgrounds? Respondents had real concerns. The language barrier was the primary challenge. (15 respondents). One said “Not being able to sympathize with how their [sic] feeling…although as a teacher I can empathize and provide lots of support and alternative methods, it’s not exactly the same.
One person worried about resources and time, while another fretted about “preconceived notions they might have about me.” Respondents were self-aware (but not necessarily confident). And they rarely considered how uncomfortable their students might be in the classroom. This is also evidence of privilege, as well as an indicator of lack of experience. The TECs were more concerned about their own image as “teacher” and perceptions of themselves as competent, then they were about their future students.“Unfortunately, some teachers may take this as the students don’t understand, but it is not an intellectual issue, it’s an interpreting issue” one candidate said.
There was concern about being perceived as biased, arrogant, or ignorant. One TEC voiced the issue in this way: “Getting students to believe I care what they have to say without seeming ingenuine (as in, trying to feign membership in their culture).” Here there is evidence of an uncomfortable but identifiable awareness of privilege. Selected comments revealed this as a common concern:
“Recognizing my own biases”
“Remembering to ask for feedback”
“Making sure I am still being authentic.”
“Making sure the “intended message is being received on both ends.”
“I want to build their confidence while celebrating and maintaining their culture.”
“Understanding how they feel. [And what they understand]”
“If it is an immigrant student from a war-torn country, then more than likely the trauma
would be difficult to work with initially. However, after a while, the student and myself
have a relationship and that changes everything.”
The majority of respondents seemed self-aware and self-reflective about what they felt they could not bring to the “cultural broker” table. They voiced some insecurities:
“My ignorance about other cultures.” (Five respondents)
“Not knowing what is appropriate in the school setting”
“I may not understand the culture”
“I think the biggest challenge is when you don’t know their background. …it could
be challenging because you don’t want to offend anyone of make them uncomfortable”
When invited to identify ways to communicate with families who do not speak English, an overwhelming majority of respondents (30) chose to ask for help from a translator. The remaining four stated that they would be proactive by learning some words in the other speaker’s language. Three people mentioned that they would use visual materials, technology, and applications. A few people mentioned using gestures and one suggested using American Sign Language (ASL). One person said, “Being ethnic myself (Hispanic), gesturing is a big part of the way I communicate with everyone.” Several TECs suggested using Class Dojo.
The final research question invited respondents to describe how they would advocate for EL students and their family in the community? Almost all respondents had good intentions for advocating. These were also in the “open” dispositions category. Said one, “Making them feel accepted. Not making them feel like their culture should be put on the back burner and helping them out in any ways I can.” Another wrote, “Encourage others to get to know them for the person/people that they are, rather than what they are perceived to be”. This statement implicitly acknowledges that there may be a biased perception of the “other”. When it came to taking action, one teacher wrote, “I corrected one of my students today who remarked in our classroom ‘We only speak English in school’ in response to one of my students referring to her Abuelita. I do not like this “English only” idea, and do not support it.” Ten people opted for having a culture day and joining in social events. Sharing advocacy and community resources also helps. This fits into the most basic Level of Integration of Multicultural Content, which Banks (2004) calls the “Contributions approach” focusing on “heroes, holidays, and discrete cultural elements” (p. 15).
Respondents who are already classroom teachers noted that they would make sure other students are encouraging and include ELs daily. They said they would develop relevant projects that tied into the culture(s) of their students. Seven TECs believed in creating a welcoming, proactive class that includes student cultures. These data demonstrate what Banks calls The Additive Approach which “allows the teacher to put ethnic content into curriculum without restructuring it... [The] most important shortcoming is that it usually results in the viewing of ethnic content from the perspectives of mainstream historians, writers, artists, and scientists…” (p. 15)
Some respondents reported that they would do research and use modification and accommodations, so students can “thrive” in the classroom. They wanted to build relationships. One offered that s/he would not mind “Being their voice when they can’t or don’t know how to use their voice.” Two respondents mentioned home visits again.
Finally, respondents were again asked to rate themselves as cultural brokers.
______________________________________________
Pre-Survey Post Survey
Cultural broker 1 3
Intercultural connector 8 21
Cultural visitor 9 5
Orchestrator 4 2
Mediator 4 2
None of the above 11 1
____________________________________________
In the Pre-survey, three respondents selected multiple options. These respondents may have felt more confident about the roles and how they might overlap. The majority of respondents chose “none of the above”, perhaps not feeling certain what each role implied. In the post-survey, six respondents chose more than one option. The number of respondents who chose more than one option does suggest an increased confidence in understanding the multiple roles a cultural broker may have, but only three felt competent for the “full” role of cultural broker. Instead, TECs selected roles that imply an understanding of how such roles may overlap.
Discussion and Conclusion
The data shows that respondents did not reach the Banks’s (2004) model for the two higher levels (The Transformative Approach and The Social Action Approach). The responses do indicate that students met the first two levels of the Banks model, Contributions and Additive, which may be seen as a developmental start.
Factors influencing this result include unknown level of practical (clinical) or classroom experience of respondents. In addition, the DEL course was designed to give students tools to use in the Additive or Transformative approach, but there was no clinical work that would address the more sophisticated levels. However, the TECs’ understandings from this course might eventually help them conceptualize a pedagogy that strives to enable students from immigrant, migrant, and refugee families to become more effective agents in drawing upon their funds of knowledge.
The data suggests that most of the TECs did not feel equipped to serve as cultural brokers. They expressed a clear self-awareness about the need to listen, to understand, to become informed about the “other” with whom they were interacting and being sensitive to their own and other beliefs. “The role covers more than being an interpreter, although this is an important attribute in cross-cultural situations where language is part of the role” (Jezewski & Sotnik, 2001). TECs were asked to identify which role they most identified with at the end of the course. The majority chose “intercultural connector” which indicates that while they did feel they had advanced, they recognized that they needed more instruction to move forward.
Even though there was not a dramatic jump in respondents choosing “cultural broker,” there was a significant change in choice of “none of the above” which shows a move into the more active dispositions TECs could identify.
The cultural broker concept applied to teacher training and in-service training programs can be developed for all educational levels. For the young child, beginning school is an experience that can be very traumatic if the school setting projects a socio-cultural milieu with which the child is not familiar. Such an experience can be the basis for continual academic failure. The cultural broker can be used to ease this transition from the home to the school” Gentemann, & Whitehead (1983, p. 128).
Candidates recognized that there are barriers between teachers and students and parents of ELs. Instead of looking into ways to work with them directly, TECs’ comments on the survey showed that they would rely on translators to communicate with parents of ELs. Said one, “The biggest challenge is that there is a barrier for instruction. I can’t test where they are and it [is] very difficult to see what they need to be able to be successful.”
There were few comments on TECs’ understanding of privilege. They did not seem to know about privilege in terms of skin color/race, socioeconomic class, “White” culture, and standard English as the academic language used for instruction and communication in school settings. This does not bode well for meeting the diverse needs of EL and parents of ELs.
However, we did learn something promising about TEC dispositions. These candidates have good intentions - they want to be seen as open-minded and willing to learn about other cultures and other “funds of knowledge”, but their views were still limited, and they appear to know very little, in fact, about other cultures. For example, while many indicated they would try to improve their Spanish speaking skills, they did not mention any other possible languages their future students might bring to the classrooms, even though one of the respondents grew up in Japan.
Nearly all of them indicated that they had the dispositions to build relationships with students and their families; wanted to advocate for them in the classroom, the school, and the community; indicated they would ask questions and try to be good listeners so they could learn about others; and understood (at least theoretically), that respect would be necessary in building relationships that might result in truly effective cultural brokering.
It is recommended that further data be collected in subsequent courses to monitor development in terms of multicultural integration, as well as competence and confidence in serving as cultural brokers for speakers new to the English language. If the DEL curriculum becomes increasingly sophisticated and stranded through teacher education programs, it is possible that new teachers will be more competent in successfully integrating ELs in their future classrooms and view themselves as cultural brokers.
In addition, all teachers in the United States could benefit from more experience with other cultures. We must start with education. If we can be aware of our ignorance in terms of race, class, ethnicity, culture, language, and any other differences we may truly be able to combat social inequalities and treat all human beings as equal. Although it might seem cliché to state that “we are all human beings”, anyone hoping to truly serve as a culture broker must first address the lack of access to resources and opportunities, and the institutionalized, systemic racism that locks out anyone who doesn’t “belong.”
McIntosh (2003) voices a concern that educators would do well to keep in mind during these challenging and changing times. She writes:
“Though systemic change takes many decades, there are pressing questions for me and I imagine for some others like me if we raise our daily consciousness on the prerequisites of being light skinned. What will we do with such knowledge? ….it is an open question whether we will choose to use unearned advantage to weaken systems of advantage, and whether we will use any of our arbitrarily-awarded power to try to reconstruct power systems on a broader base.” (p. 195)
Teachers can educate students to envision and work toward a positive future for themselves and their communities. Teachers must also work towards becoming indigenous insiders so they can advocate for and empower their students. We should contribute substantially to that social action collectively, to support and achieve security, freedom, and human dignity for everyone.
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Factors influencing this result include unknown
experience of respondents. In addition, the DEL course was designed to give students tools to use in the Additive or Transformative approach, but there was no clinical work that would address the more sophisticated levels. However, the TECs’ understandings from this course might eventually help them conceptualize a pedagogy that strives to enable students from immigrant, migrant, and refugee families to become more effective agents in drawing upon their funds of knowledge.
The data suggest that most of the TECs did not feel equipped to serve as cultural brokers. They expressed a clear self-awareness about the need to listen, to understand, to become informed about the “other” with whom they were interacting and being sensitive to their own and other beliefs. “The role covers more than being an interpreter, although this is an important attribute in cross-cultural situations where language is part of the role” (Jezewski & Sotnik, 2001). TECs were asked to identify which role they most identified with at the end of the course. The majority chose “intercultural connector” which indicates that while they did feel they had advanced, they recognized that they needed more instruction to move forward.
Even though there was not a dramatic jump in respondents choosing “cultural broker,” there was a significant change in choice of “none of the above” which shows a move into the more active dispositions TECs could identify.
The cultural broker concept applied to teacher training and in-service training programs can be developed for all educational levels. For the young child, beginning school is an experience that can be very traumatic if the school setting projects a socio-cultural milieu with which the child is not familiar. Such an experience can be the basis for continual academic failure. The cultural broker can be used to ease this transition from the home to the school” Gentemann, & Whitehead (1983, p. 128).
Candidates recognized that there are barriers between teachers and students and parents of ELs. Instead of looking into ways to work with them directly, TECs’ comments on the survey showed that they would rely on translators to communicate with parents of ELs. Said one, “The biggest challenge is that there is a barrier for instruction. I can’t test where they are and it [is] very difficult to see what they need to be able to be successful.”
There were few comments on TECs’ understanding of privilege. They did not seem to know about privilege in terms of skin color/race, socioeconomic class, “White” culture, and standard English as the academic language used for instruction and communication in school settings. This does not bode well for meeting the diverse needs of EL and parents of ELs.
However, we did learn something promising about TEC dispositions. These candidates have good intentions - they want to be seen as open-minded and willing to learn about other cultures and other “funds of knowledge”, but their views were still limited, and they appear to know very little, in fact, about other cultures. For example, while many indicated they would try to improve their Spanish speaking skills, they did not mention any other possible languages their future students might bring to the classrooms, even though one of the respondents grew up in Japan.
Nearly all of them indicated that they had the dispositions to build relationships with students and their families; wanted to advocate for them in the classroom, the school, and the community; indicated they would ask questions and try to be good listeners so they could learn about others; and understood (at least theoretically), that respect would be necessary in building relationships that might result in truly effective cultural brokering.
It is recommended that further data be collected in subsequent courses to monitor development in terms of multicultural integration, as well as competence and confidence in serving as cultural brokers for speakers new to the English language. If the DEL curriculum becomes increasingly sophisticated and stranded through teacher education programs, it is possible that new teachers will be more competent in successfully integrating ELs in their future classrooms and view themselves as cultural brokers.
In addition, all teachers in the United States could benefit from more experience with other cultures. We must start with education. If we can be aware of our ignorance in terms of race, class, ethnicity, culture, language, and any other differences, we may truly be able to combat
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