Multicultural Classroom Research Articles

Infusing Culturally Responsive Teaching in Higher Education: Insights for Multicultural Education in Indonesia

The present research examines how teachers implement Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) as part of multicultural education in a higher education institution. The urgency of the current research lies in the fact that teachers of the 21st century need to equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge to survive in this interconnected world. However, it was evidenced that one of the challenges in implementing multicultural education is the lack of teachers' skills to be culturally responsive. Accordingly, it is essential to highlight the implementation of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Indonesian setting. In doing so, a qualitative case study is employed to answer the research questions. The current research involves six multicultural classroom teachers as research participants with different characteristics. To gain a depth understanding of the teachers' attitudes, the researchers employed semi-structured interviews and observation as data collection techniques. Using thematic data analysis, the results indicated nine practices that reflect the implementation of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the higher education context. The nine practices are: giving more freedom to students in selecting the familiar topic, emphasizing preserving local wisdom, celebrating different perspectives in the discussion, allowing gaining and checking students' understanding, talking personally outside the class, focusing more on positive rather than negative, being a role model, being patient, and sharing the experience.

Teachers perceived self-efficacy in multicultural classrooms

Uuringu keskmes on õpetaja tajutud enesetõhusus mitmekultuurilises klassiruumis. Analüüs põhineb poolstruktureeritud intervjuudel Eesti põhikooli õpetajatega (N = 20), kellel on eelnev kogemus teisest kultuuriruumist pärit õpilaste õpetamisega. Temaatilise analüüsi tulemusena selgub, et kõrgema enesetõhususega õpetajad kasutavad kultuuritundliku õpetamise strateegiaid, näiteks avatusele suunatud klassikeskkonna kujundamine, eri vaatenurkade avamine klassiruumis, õpilase individuaalsusega arvestamine ning heade suhete loomine õppijatega. Uuringu tulemusena selgub, et enesetõhusust toetavad tegurid on eelnev kogemus mitmekesise õppijaskonnaga, koostöine koolikultuur, koolituste abil pädevuste suurendamine, võõrkeele oskus, avatud suhtumine ja välismaal elamise kogemus. Õpetajatele on suurimad katsumused ühise keele leidmine teisest kultuuriruumist pärit õppijatega, aja- või materjalide nappus, psühholoogia valdkonna pädevuste vajakajäämine ning läbipõlemine.
 Summary

Building undergraduate students’ cultural identity through digital storytelling

For many years, intercultural communicative competence (ICC) has been discussed to elucidate the development of students’ awareness, skill, and experience in regard to intercultural communication. Yet, practical suggestions for enhancing teachers’ or teacher educators’ practice in intercultural communication classrooms are scarce. To fill this void, this article presents the use of culture-based digital storytelling (DST) tasks to promote intercultural awareness and identity in multicultural classroom settings. To begin with, this article explores how DST tasks are designed to mediate students representing their cultural identity and building their intercultural awareness through a pedagogical intervention of DST. Then, reflection is presented to give potential practical implications for teachers and teacher educators in designing and implementing DST-mediated cultural learning. Courses: Language, Culture, and Society; Intercultural Communication; Cross-Cultural Understanding; any course with an intercultural communication unit/cultural study. Objectives: After completing this project, students are able to: (1) express their cultural identities from their point of view verbally and visually; (2) maximize their multimodal literacy and design creatively; (3) activate their background experiences to illustrate their intersecting cultural ideas critically; (4) further enhance their critical thinking and cultural awareness; (5) reflect their cultural identities in enhancing their intercultural competence; and (6) apply cultural identity theory to demonstrate and analyze their cultural ideas.

Instructional strategies in multicultural classrooms in China: Experiences ‎and challenges of international graduate students ‎

Instructional strategies in multicultural classrooms in China: Experiences ‎and challenges of international graduate students ‎

Integrated Language and Literary Approach to LSP Teaching (On the Examples of the Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller)

Literature can be a great source of creativity in the process of LSP teaching, motivating both instructors and students to explore and ignite their imagination, while also widening the scope of the instruments and methods of language practice. This paper aims to explore the possibilities of incorporating certain elements of literary analysis into LSP classes, using the example of material from two plays that have the common topics of money, gaining or losing capital, and the moral aspects of wealth. They are The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. As is shown, an integrated approach not only offers learners opportunities to develop their linguistic competence and communicative skills, but also enhances their cultural awareness, which is becoming even more important in contemporary multicultural classrooms. These three major aspects of the integrated approach to LSP teaching – language, speech and cultural – are given special attention in the paper. Both The Merchant of Venice and Death of a Salesman are abundant in business idiomatic expressions and culture-specific issues. Therefore, by analyzing the semantics of these idiomatic expressions in literary, authentic texts, learners can adopt and explore real language in context. The wide scope of topics developed in the The Merchant of Venice and Death of a Salesman offers an excellent opportunity for various speech exercises that can be organized in class and presuppose the students’ use of the active lexical items from the field of Business English. As is stated in the paper, by reading and discussing literary texts in language classes, students learn to understand other cultures and societies, which is of paramount importance in the multicultural milieu of the modern world.

백워드 단원 설계를 통한 다문화 교실 수업의 실천 방안

Objectives This study focuses on the difficulties of teaching-learning occurring in multicultural classrooms with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds of students. It was intended to seek ways to ensure learning equity and in-depth understanding of all students. In other words, the purpose is to examine the application of classes for language development in multicultural classrooms and to design classes that support language development by applying backward design. Methods To achieve the purpose of the study, literature analysis and unit design research were conducted. Through literature analysis, the study analyzed the role of language in learning equity, in-depth learning, backward design, and learning and class in multicultural instruction classroom, and revealed the foundation of class application. After that, science and unit were developed through unit design research. Results For the class reflecting culture, language and diversity in the multicultural classroom, the responsive instructional studies that understand the characteristics of multicultural students and emphasize specific practice were significant. Therefore, as a way to promote the learning and language development of the subject on the basis of the application of this class, the unit of ‘properties of matter’ in the third grade science class of elementary school was developed by applying the linguistic lens to the backward design. Conclusions Backward design applying a linguistic lens is a useful way to develop a rigorous curriculum to provide equal learning opportunities to all students in subject learning in multicultural classrooms.

Exploring social media technologies for novice EFL school teachers to collaborate and communicate: A case in the Czech Republic.

With an increasing number of international schools, traditional EFL teaching methods may not satisfy students’ needs. This study aims to investigate perceptions of social media technologies (e.g., Web 2.0) and willingness to adopt such technologies to collaborate and communicate in multicultural classrooms among novice EFL schoolteachers in the Czech Republic. The participants were 100 novice EFL schoolteachers in Prague and the South Moravian regions of the Czech Republic. The study used a mixed research method consisting of a survey (stage 1) and a semi-structured interview (stage 2). The survey examined the participants’ appraisal and concerns of using social media technologies to collaborate and to communicate as well as the level of willingness to use social media technologies. A hierarchical cluster analysis using participants’ responses regarding their attitudes and behavioural tendency towards using Web 2.0 social media technologies in language classrooms identified three clusters of teachers. The teachers who were most likely to adopt social Web 2.0 technologies were those who had the highest ratings on both appraisals and concerns regarding the use of social media in language classrooms. The results from the semi-structured interviews were consistent with those from the survey. Together, the results from the two stages demonstrated that most pre-service teachers favoured using Web 2.0 technology for collaboration and communication among colleagues and stakeholders in a broader community, but they displayed contrasting levels of appraisal of and concerns towards using social media technologies. Participants believed that this might be due to their different levels of ICT proficiency, workload, and working environment. The political and practical implications in K-12 education in the Czech context are also discussed.

Acculturation in a multicultural classroom: perspectives within the yin-yang metaphor framework

ABSTRACT This study examines the acculturation characteristics of Chinese students in the context of a multicultural classroom. The Chinese yin-yang philosophy is used to provide another dimension of interpretation and analysis in addition to Berry's acculturation strategy framework. Qualitative data over a five-year period reveal their changing psychological states in a multicultural classroom. Four stages of acculturation were identified: initial, contact, reflection, and change. At each stage, Chinese students dynamically react and change in the acculturation process, which is similar to the intertwining process of yin and yang, a metaphorical image seen in the Chinese yin-yang philosophy.

Experiences of Teachers and Students in Multicultural Nepalese Classrooms

This article explores the teachers’ behaviour and students’ experiences in multicultural classrooms in Nepal. Applying the phenomenological qualitative research design, we selected two schools from the study area that have a more diversified population. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with the teachers and students, and a focus group discussion with the students. We used a thematic data analysis procedure to analyze the data. This study found that the schools’ policies are unable to address the needs of culturally different children. The schools have focused on providing economic support to the students rather than addressing their cultural needs. We found that the traditional training packages for teachers were insufficient to deal with multicultural classrooms. Because of a lack of knowledge of cultural, language, and feelings of students’ and families’ background, teachers were unable to deal with the students properly. Although the teachers were sincere on cultural issues nowadays, at the beginning of their career, their practices were not child-friendly. At the same time, we found that the experiences of students were also disgraceful in the school related to culture and language. They had difficulties in classroom adjustment because of being a different culture, they had problems in proper pronunciation and tongue in the Nepali language.

Connecting Cultural Knowledge with Western-Based School Science: Experiences of Marginalized Students

This study focuses on interactive, creative, collaborative, and inclusive science teaching environments both in school and at home to create and extend multicultural science knowledge based on the experience of culturally marginalized students toward science learning. This case study explored the knowledge construction system of students. Two culturally and economically marginalized students of a public secondary school located at Gorkha Municipality were purposively selected. To collect information in-depth interview was taken with two students jointly, and classroom teaching activities were observed and noted in the diary. The transcription of interviews and field notes taken from the classroom observation were coded, categorized and three global themes were identified. Based on global themes, the data were analyzed according to the view of participants compared to the culturally relevant pedagogy and cultural theories. The selected students were not satisfied with their teacher’s teaching strategies. The study found that culturally relevant science teaching is mainly affected by pedagogical, environmental, and strategic problems. Teachers and the school culture are seen as the main problem in implementing and braiding culturally relevant science teaching in the multicultural classroom. Science teacher is found to fail to link modern science teaching with community knowledge of culturally and economically marginalized students. Underestimating the other cultural students’ participation and teachers’ voices in science teaching is the limitation of this study.

The antecedents of teaching styles in multicultural classroom: teachers’ self-efficacy for inclusive practices and attitudes towards multicultural education

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to contribute to the understanding of the antecedents of teaching styles in multicultural classrooms. In particular, research has investigated whether teachers’ attitudes towards multicultural education played a mediating role in the relationships among teachers’ efficacy for inclusive practices and motivating teaching styles (autonomy supportive and structuring) and demotivating teaching styles (controlling and chaotic). Participants included 474 in-service teachers, 100 males (21.1%) and 374 females (78.9%), with an average age of 38.05 years (SD = 7.03), who were recruited from several high schools located in Sicily (Italy). Results of the SEM analysis showed that teachers’ attitudes towards multicultural education mediated the association between teachers’ efficacy for inclusive practices and (de)motivating teaching styles. Furthermore, teachers’ efficacy for inclusive practices was a direct positive predictor of motivating teaching styles, while teachers’ multicultural attitudes were a direct predictor of (de)motivating teaching styles. This study highlighted the importance of teachers’ attitudes towards multicultural education and self-efficacy for inclusive education as antecedents of teaching styles in multicultural classrooms with practical implications in the school context.

Codzienność nauczycieli i uczniów w klasie wielokulturowej

<b>Cel.</b> Artykuł przedstawia analizę codziennych relacji i wzajemnych oczekiwań dotyczących funkcjonowania nauczyciela i uczniów w warunkach klasy wielokulturowej. Na podstawie omawianej problematyki wielokulturowości i edukacji wielokulturowej autorka poszukuje odpowiedzi na pytania dotyczące przygotowania (się) nauczyciela i klasy na przyjęcie ucznia z innej kultury, możliwości pomocy uczniowi w zaadoptowaniu się do nowych warunków kulturowych i integracji z rówieśnikami oraz sposobów pomocy uczniowi cudzoziemskiemu w osiąganiu sukcesów w szkole. <b>Materiały i metoda.</b> Przegląd i analiza literatury przedmiotu. <b>Wnioski.</b> Budowanie korzystnych relacji w klasie wielokulturowej nie jest łatwym zadaniem. Nauczyciel w realizacji edukacji międzykulturowej niejednokrotnie wchodzi w różne role – mediatora, partnera, doradcy i menadżera zasobów ludzkich. Nauczanie w klasie wielokulturowej wymaga od nauczyciela umiejętności uczenia (się) w grupie i uczenia się opartego na współpracy w celu uwzględnienia we wszystkich działaniach dydaktycznych elementów uczenia się wspólnego życia. Nauczyciel powinien przygotować klasę i rodziców na przyjęcie ucznia z innej kultury oraz tak planować i realizować działania edukacyjne, by stworzyć odpowiednie warunki do edukacji wielokulturowej i zapewnić wsparcie oraz pomoc uczniom cudzoziemskim. Warunkiem efektywnej pracy nauczyciela w klasie wielokulturowej jest przygotowanie środowiska społecznego sprzyjającego osiąganiu sukcesów również uczniom stanowiącym mniejszość kulturową, świadomość kulturowego ukształtowania samego siebie i otwartość na rzeczywiste poznanie ucznia.

Insights into Teachers’ Intercultural and Global Competence within Multicultural Educational Settings

As multicultural classrooms appear to be the norm nowadays, giving rise to new, more particular and targeted needs which must be accommodated, teachers now need to reflect on and adjust the strategies and practices they apply in order to meet the specific learning needs of their intercultural classrooms. For this reason, teachers’ education should be re-examined, evaluated, and enriched. In this light, this original study uses a case study to explores the language views and attitudes of graduates of a Hellenic Open University Master’s international programme entitled “Language Education for Refugees and Migrants” (L.R.M.). The aim is to explore teachers’ level of intercultural competence and readiness as well as their global competences as future teachers in multilingual and multicultural settings after completing the programme. To do this, the study attempts to evaluate the programme through the lens of the personal experiences of the graduates in terms of successes, weaknesses, and strengths. To conduct the research, both quantitative and qualitative methods were applied in the form of a close-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured interview conducted in two different formats. The results indicate that the majority of the participants were confident enough to manage the challenges arising in multicultural settings after completing the program, as they felt they had developed appropriate Skills, Knowledge, and Attitudes; however, a few among them still felt uncertain in doing this. In addition, a number of different approaches and methods were found to be appropriate as used for teachers’ training, while the importance of teachers’ intercultural training was highlighted.

The Lautsi Legacy: A New Judgment on the Crucifix in Classrooms and the Multiculturalist Turn on Freedom of/from Religion in Italy

The article offers a socio-legal analysis of the recent case on freedom of/from religion in Italy, the Coppoli judgment of the Italian Supreme Court, which grants public schools the autonomy to manage religious symbols. The new ruling is discussed in the shadow of the Lautsi case, examining the shift from the discourse of “passive religious symbol” to the framework of “respect of different sensibilities” in pluralistic classrooms. In doing that, first, we provide a sociological framework for the study of “passive religious symbols” from a multiculturalist and religious freedom perspective. Second, the Coppoli case is contextualized within political, normative and judicial Italian contexts following the Lautsi jurisprudence. Third, we revise the model of “secularism as a method of dialogue” considered by the judges as important in claiming individual freedoms of/from religion in the multicultural classroom. The final part of the article provides a discussion and critical considerations about the Coppoli case, problematizing the future challenges of managing religious diversity in Italian public schools. We argue that the dynamic of freedom of/from religion’s jurisprudence in the Coppoli case endorses an additive model of accommodating diverse cultural and religious identities in public schools.

How postgraduate university students construct their identity as learners in a multicultural classroom

ABSTRACT This article considers the ways in which a group of postgraduate students position themselves in a multicultural classroom at one university in the UK. Research indicates that postgraduate students actively negotiate and renegotiate their learner identities and belonging in the context of higher education environments and develop new subject positions. The study examines students’ constructions of their own identities as learners and considers their changing identities from the perspective of agency. Our data collected from focus groups and one-to-one interviews with students prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, comprise a large proportion of non-UK/EU students, amongst whom Chinese students are the single largest constituency. Findings show that students’ experience of learning is constitutive of the identification work they do during lectures and group-work to position themselves as participants of HE, and in the process, practice othering of students belonging to non-traditional participants in UK higher education.

Dante’s New Life of the Book: A Philology of World Literature. Martin Eisner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 259.

<i>Dante’s New Life of the Book: A Philology of World Literature</i>. Martin Eisner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021. Pp. 259.

The importance of the teacher’s role in the formation of a multicultural humanitarian and technical elite of the globalized worl

The article is aimed at studying the role of the teacher at the initial stage of teaching international students as a subject of the educational process and analysis of modern requirements for teachers, which forms a new generation of ethical technicians.&#x0D; In today’s world, education is a necessary factor in human progress, socio-economic development and global competitiveness. Higher education institutions teach students who will soon be able to operate independently in today’s economy. The development of the Ukrainian economy depends on the quality of training. The quality education and upbringing of a responsible, ethically literate personality of a specialist depends on the teacher, who is the central figure in the educational process.&#x0D; A multicultural audience deals with students’ diverse backgrounds in terms of mother tongue, ethnicity and culture. In the process of teaching and learning, diversity is taken into account when deciding on appropriate educational strategies. The National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" conducted a set of applied research in the field of training of foreign citizens.&#x0D; Observational data are analyzed descriptively using innovative teaching methods of international students, and it can be concluded that the study will contribute to the formation of spiritually rich, highly educated professionals in various technical fields. Moreover, the results of this study show that teachers still play a significant role in the multicultural classroom.&#x0D; Therefore, teachers of foreign language training faculties should have knowledge of the peculiarities of students’ national culture, mentality and etiquette, religious traditions. It will help mitigate the rapid immersion of foreigners in the socio-cultural and linguistic environment of Ukraine. At the same time, among the professional qualities of a modern teacher, the innovative type of thinking, the ability to see and predict probable prospects for the development of applied technologies, as well as active independent research activities are of particular importance.

Blended and collaborative learning: Case of a multicultural graduate classroom in Taiwan.

As internationalization of higher education has become more prevalent, the search for approaches to support quality learning within multicultural classrooms has become critical. In this study, we presented a blended and collaborative learning (BCL) method and discussed its potential as a viable learning approach for graduate classrooms with culturally-diverse students. We first discussed implementation of a BCL approach in a multicultural graduate course, then explored learnings gained from the BCL experience in terms of three interdependent Community of Inquiry elements: teaching, cognitive, and social presences, and in terms of its implementation in a multicultural setting.

Reflecting Culturally Responsive and Communicative Teaching (CRCT) through Partnership Commitment

The strategic approach to enhance cultural skills is aligned with social feeling and sense of belonging as an important element to underlie the interaction pathway with others’ diverse backgrounds. Such an approach of teaching model could be transformed and prepared to encourage ability to communicate and relate to others from diverse backgrounds. The following phase of sufficient integration amongst cognitive, social and emotional substance is reflect in the culturally responsive and communicative teaching (CRCT). This mode is an important element to advance the diverse students amidst an increasingly complex and pluralistic society. This paper is aimed at examining CRCT by having a critical look into the partnership commitment amongst interracial teachers’ daily school interaction. Data collection was conducted with 10 interracial teachers with a focus on the approach of how their partnership commitment is reflected and practiced in their daily school interaction. Thematic analysis was employed to obtain the main points of data to give insight into the multicultural school society. The findings reveal that an understanding of CRCT articulated into partnership engagement commitment has a core of three main points. These are: expanding self-awareness on cultural identity; enhancing culturally mediated emotion of social situations; and developing instructional practice for cultural sensitivity. The implication for students’ experiential learning in the multicultural classroom was also discussed. The contribution of this paper can be exerted among those involved in the education sectors. These include students, educators, principals, learning facilitators, researchers, educational technologist, instructional designers and practitioners. This is also included among the researchers who are interested in exploring, understanding and developing discerning perspectives on diversity and diverse learners in 21st century education. This study is expected to contribute by giving solving skills with the strategic approach articulated into a particular guideline to give a clear understanding in responding the multicultural classroom in the interracial school society context. This study is considered to elaborate the good feedback on the importance of CRCT in responding to emerging trends on the facades of diversity among diverse learners.

Pedagogical challenges and practices in multicultural classrooms: a praxeological study

ABSTRACT This article addresses the pedagogical practices applied by teachers at pre and primary school level when working with children with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD) as well as potential challenges in a research collaboration between teachers and academics. A praxeological study was conducted with two preschool teachers and two primary school teachers participating. Additional data was obtained through interviews with the principals of the two participating schools. The aim of the study was for the teachers to reflect on their own practices, and in collaboration with the researcher, create and develop new knowledge and approaches on how to better respond to and work with their CALD students. Findings suggest that observed pedagogical practices, as well as the class and school environment, exhibited few characteristics of a culturally responsive pedagogy or cultural diversity. The principal’s encouragement and support seemed to be an influential factor regarding the teachers’ overall research experience and the teachers who felt more support from their principal during the research period reported more benefits from the study. The findings also reveal some of the challenges that can arise in a research collaboration between teachers and researchers, such as identifying shared goals and mutual understanding of important concepts.