Teachers' Attitudes towards Minority Group Students: Is Pygmalion Turning the Tables?

Abstract

Previous linguistic studies throughout the world have pointed to the negative perceptions held by majority group people when considering those individuals whose speech differs from mainstream speakers of the dominant language. A major classroom concern relates to teachers who have preconceived expectations which function as self-fulfilling prophecies. Experience with a bilingual (Spanish-English) program in a Southern California school district revealed that it is possible to select Anglo teachers for such programs who bear positive attitudes towards minority group children. An evaluation study designed to uncover teacher attitudes failed to produce the expected bias in favor of the Anglo and against the Spanish speakers; in fact, there appeared to be a kind of reverse prejudice in operation. This surprising finding points to the feasibility of selecting Anglo teachers who carry favorable attitudes toward Spanish speakers. Of course, additional research is needed to determine whether bilingual education and training can change attitudes of teachers who actually are biased against minority group students. The bottom line is a companion study to determine whether bilingual education/training for Anglo teachers is effective in helping children to achieve the skills and knowledge goals of bilingual programs.