Towards a Cultural Understanding of the Disability and Deaf Experience: A Content Analysis of Introductory Multicultural Education Textbooks

This paper reports the findings of a simple normative content analysis of 11 multicultural education textbooks to determine the extent to which disability and deaf culture are represented. In addition, this study examines multicultural education textbooks to assess the extent to which perspectives of members of the disability and deaf communities are represented in the discourse about disabled and deaf persons. Results indicate that on average less than 1% of the total pages of text reviewed addressed or mentioned disability or deaf culture. Of these, it was found that on average about 6% of the pages addressed disability or deaf culture. In addition, inaccurate information was presented and perspectives were often not informed by a substantial body of literature that has emerged in the field of disability studies. It was found that multicultural education textbooks rely heavily on information about persons with disabilities from Special Education that may not be widely accepted by disabled or deaf persons. A follow-up paper examines the implications of the exclusion of disabled and deaf persons and their perspectives from the discourse about the shared and collective disability and deaf experience in favor of a dominant perspective widely held by the nondisabled professional community. Questions are raised about whether this is consistent with the values and goals of multicultural education and teaching. A rationale and recommendations are proposed for engaging disabled and deaf persons about their shared and collective experience and for promoting cultural competence and proficiency with respect to the disability and Deaf experience in multicultural education.     

Overcoming Cultural Racism: The Promise of Multicultural Education

The author argues that cultural racism undergirds both individual and institutional racism, and, thus, it is the driving force behind racist policies and practices in educational institutions and in society. Because both liberal and conservative agendas operate within an ideology of White supremacy, both have been inadequate in addressing cultural racism. A multicultural movement that explores the concept of "Whiteness" and that encourages educators and students to take an antiracist stance can provide an important response to cultural racism.     

Diversity and the Modeling of Multicultural Principles of Education in a Teacher Education Program

In this study, we examined preservice teacher perception on the modeling of principles of multicultural education at a university of predominantly White students. Preservice teachers (N = 79) at the end of a multicultural education course responded to a survey based on the principles of multiculturalism. The students conducted an 8-week evaluation of the modeling or integration of multiculturalism in their teacher education classes. Statistical analysis indicated that 95.4% of preservice teachers perceived an integration of instructional principles of multicultural education, whereas 69% perceived integration of curricular principles of multicultural education. Findings suggested that diversity is a critical element of multiculturalism in the teacher education program needing attention.     

Making Meaning of Work: Uncovering the Complexity of Immigrant Experience in a Multicultural Landscape

Odd people have always been identified and often treated differently in human societies. In modern times, they have been described as being afflicted with a psychological condition to be treated by specialists and assigned to a “crazy” category by general society. Movies about such odd people have a long history. A recent movie, Silver Linings Playbook, presents a picture of mental patients displaying symptoms, but accepted into their home community. A pair of them shows the beginnings of a subcultural community among “odd people,” a version that has not been seen before.     

Multicultural Education Within the Era of Internalization and Globalization

In this article, the author presents the results of a multistate study examining how teachers, and specifically secondary English Language Arts (ELA) teachers, conceptualize and implement teaching for social justice in standards-based contexts. Additional analysis underscores how this practice both reflects and extends earlier equity-oriented reform movements.     

From Common Struggles to Common Dreams: Neoliberalism and Multicultural Education in a Globalized Environment

Major troubling contours of neoliberalism and high-stakes education have common features. Consequently, the author discusses how multicultural education can serve as praxis for collective empowerment in a globalized context. The author asserts that equitable representation and localized multicultural knowledge production are the foundation of a transformative democracy and engaged citizenry.     

The Social Stratification of Cultural Consumption: Some Policy Implications of a Research Project

The paper briefly describes a recently completed research project on the social stratification of cultural consumption, presents some major findings from this project, and considers their implications for public policy in relation to the arts. A central theme is the inadequacy of the ‘homology’ argument, claiming that social hierarchies and cultural hierarchies map closely onto each other. This argument is shown to be empirically unsound and to underestimate the complexity of the relationship between social stratification and cultural consumption, as this is determined by the combined effects of income, education and social status. One question that then arises is what policy response, if any, is required by the fact that many individuals do not participate extensively in the arts even though they have the economic and cultural resources required to do so (self-exclusion rather than social exclusion). And a second is that of how far, in attempts at increasing participation, status-linked motivations might be exploited.     

Assessing Performance-Based Outcomes of Multicultural Lesson Plans: A Component Within a Comprehensive Teacher Education Assessment Design

Lesson plans can serve as a rich means of evaluating multicultural/diversity (MCD) learning outcomes for student teachers. However, a structured evaluation procedure is needed to effectively elicit meaningful data for program feedback. This study examines the evolution of a lesson plan evaluation component and presents the lesson plan instrument, rubric, and evaluation data. The lesson plan assessment was one part of a comprehensive, university-wide evaluation project funded by the U.S. Department of Education to assess MCD outcomes. Results indicated only about 50% of teacher education candidates demonstrated at least minimal skills in creating an effective, meaningful MCD lesson plan. Implications for teacher training are discussed.     

Introducing Multicultural Education to the Digital Age: A Review of Culture,Difference, & Power

Teacher candidates must metaphorically "step out of their own skins," challenging stereotypical cultural metanarratives, to teach effectively. This study describes results of collegian mentoring 1stthrough 12th-grade students representing diverse ethnic and/or socioeconomic status groups in conjunction with a sophomore-level course on diversity taught at a university in the Northwest area with less than 10% ethically diverse populations. Analysis of surveys administered to participants, comments, and participant observations showed that some students developed more understandings of diversity than others by semester's closing. Discussion of the results and recommendations for integration of diversity throughout the teacher education curricula are presented.     

Nagy Lin： a Cultural Ambassador Linking China and the Rest of the World

<正>Nagy Lin is an active figure in the diplomatic circle of Beijing. She is currently the president of the Silk Road of Europe magazine and the editor-in-chief and publisher of the multi-lingual magazine The World China.     

Toward an Expanded Understanding of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education: Constructing Identity through a Critical,Additive Bilingual/Bicultural Pedagogy

This literature review will take a focused look at the three currently accepted theoretical foundations upon which two-way bilingual immersion programs are based. Through an examination of research on identity construction in childhood and adolescence, particularly as seen through a critical pedagogical lens, it proposes that there exists a fourth and relatively unexamined component: identity construction. Further, it postulates that identity construction is of particular relevance to linguistic minority students.     

Cultural Honours and Career Promotions: Re-conceptualizing Prizes in the Field of Cultural Production

Despite their implications for careers, cultural goods and honours in the field of cultural production have rarely been examined as career events by culture researchers. More typically, cultural prizes are examined as they relate to the process of cultural valorization or are used to construct samples of venerated cultural products or producers for subsequent analysis. However, embedding cultural goods and distinctions in the career trajectories of cultural producers provides important neglected context. The example of the Academy Awards, the equivalent of a promotion in film acting, demonstrates the usefulness of the perspective. The research concludes that previously understood gendered age disparities are linked to earlier life course events, social networks, and structural factors that govern access to the career track. Implications for cultural policy are discussed.     

Uncovering the Hidden Power of Language: Critical Race Theory,Critical Language Socialization and Multicultural Families in Korea

This study utilizes critical race theory and critical language socialization to unpack embedded ideologies regarding language usage and immigrant wives’ heritage language transmission within multicultural families in Korea. Specifically, this study unveils hidden structures and beliefs which hinder or promote immigrant women’s use of heritage languages, and its intergenerational transmission. According to Sizemore, the language used by various ethnic group members often reflects their interethnic relationships. Exploring Asian female immigrants’ experiences of marginalization in Korea, this study uncovers the complex interethnic relationship among Asians, as well as show how immigrant wives’ language usage reflects power relations within Korea.