The role of teachers’ funds of knowledge and identity in the linguistically and culturally diverse classroom

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore how teachers’ funds of knowledge and identity shape their beliefs and knowledge about linguistically and culturally diverse students and mediate the respective practices in the classroom. The study was conducted in a state religious secondary school in southern Israel, where approximately half of the students and teachers were immigrants. It adopted two qualitative research methods: case study and educational ethnography. The purposeful sampling was applied by zooming in on two secondary school teachers. Teachers’ evidence obtained from semi-structured interviews was triangulated with field-notes, classroom video-recorded observations, and collected documents. It was found that the teachers became role models who empowered the students and engaged them in the learning process in their highly diverse classrooms. To conclude, the teachers’ family histories, immigration experiences, languages, and cultures can be seen as meaningful tools for learning other languages and cultures and teaching students.