Developing Teaching-Specific Spanish Competencies in Bilingual Teacher Education: Toward a Culturally,Linguistically, and Professionally Relevant Approach

The emergence of K-12 bilingual/dual-language schools¹¹ Although we recognize the distinction between “dynamic” forms of bilingualism characteristic of bilingual education programs and “compartmentalized” forms generally characteristic of “dual-language” programs (García, 2014), in this article we employ the term “bilingual/dual-language education” to include both programmatic approaches and to reclaim the term “bilingual.”View all notes in the United States require bilingual teacher education programs across the nation continue to “build on the language strengths”²² See Zentella (2005).View all notes of bilingual teacher candidates and provide them with ample opportunities to acquire the language competencies needed for teaching content-area knowledge across the bilingual curriculum. Although the need to prepare linguistically qualified bilingual/dual-language teachers is relevant to all language programs comprising the bilingual teacher education field, in this article the authors describe a culturally, linguistically, and professionally relevant approach for developing the teaching-specific Spanish language competencies of future bilingual teachers. Educating the new generation of linguistically qualified bilingual educators calls for an engaged and responsive pedagogy that will prepare teachers to orchestrate K-12 teaching and learning experiences where languages (Spanish, in this particular case) function as multidimensional bodies encompassing and empowering the cultures and funds of knowledge teachers and students bring to the classroom.     

Multiracial and Multiethnic Students: How They Must Belong

The number of multiracial and multiethnic children in our nation's schools continues to increase. This population is challenging our schools-and our schools' multicultural efforts-to be truly inclusive. This requires schools to examine what historically has been a single-race approach to diversity: curriculum materials, curriculum content, celebrations and holidays, student organizations, and teacher training. Schools, multicultural programs within schools, and teacher preparation courses must find ways to support and celebrate multiracial and multiethnic children, their families, and their histories.     

Teaching for Social Justice: Resources,Relationships, and Anti-Racist Practice

Fear and bigotry have spread through schools on the heels of a presidential campaign that promoted divisiveness grounded in racism and discrimination. This article describes the need for and a path toward explicit anti-racist teaching and anti-racist action to counteract this surge of hate speech. In addition, to create a more equitable and just education system and society, the article outlines actions needed to change key aspects of institutionalized racism and intolerance that are embedded in our schools: a) Correcting the unequal resources leading to inequitable opportunities, programs, teacher and leader distribution; b) providing equal opportunity for the kind of deeper learning demanded in the 21st century: A curriculum that supports critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, and applications of knowledge to real-world problems; c) developing social/emotional as well as academic skills; and d) supporting personalization and relationships so that students feel cared about and cared for and experience culturally responsive, engaging, and empowering learning opportunities in contexts that provide supportive relationships and community.     

Ethnic school composition and peer victimization: A focus on the interethnic school climate

Does de facto school segregation have an impact on ethnic minority and majority pupils’ chances of being victimized by their peers? Moreover, does the interethnic climate at school mediate the relationship between the ethnic school context and peer victimization? To answer these questions, this article examines the association between the ethnic composition of a school—as measured by the ethnic school concentration and the school's ethnic heterogeneity or diversity—and self-reported peer victimization. Multilevel analyses on data based on a survey of 2845 pupils (aged 10-12) in 68 Flemish primary schools revealed differential effects for natives and non-natives. In line with the imbalance of power thesis, and disconfirming the group threat theory, we find that non-native pupils report less peer victimization in schools with a higher minority concentration—that is, in schools with higher proportions of non-native pupils. Our findings indicate that this relationship is mediated by the interethnic school climate. In contrast, for native pupils, the concentration of ethnic minority students is not associated with peer victimization. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the literature on interethnic relations and educational policy.     

A Culturally Responsive Alternative to “Drill and Kill” Literacy Strategies: Deep Roots,Civil Rights

This article describes two approaches to improving literacy in a high poverty, diverse urban high school. One curriculum program, “Striving Readers,” included a prescribed course of study for students reading below grade level along with schoolwide strategies. This approach did not improve targeted students’ reading scores or motivation to read. The alternative approach, “Deep Roots: Civil Rights,” was a culturally responsive curriculum that had a strong impact on the identified students’ academic development as well as their understanding of racism in this country. An examination of “Striving Readers” and “Deep Roots: Civil Rights” projects provides insight into the impact of the curriculum on student achievement and motivation. At a time when many schools are implementing the Common Core State Standards, this article is a reminder that a compelling, rigorous, culturally responsive curriculum best serves all our nation's schoolchildren. Projects such as “Deep Roots: Civil Rights” provide an effective alternative or complement to prescribed reading programs.     

History in Discursive Limbo: Ritual and Conspiracy Narratives on the History Channel

This study provides a narrative analysis of documentaries on the History Channel that treat historical episodes as possible conspiracies. The analysis approaches these programs in terms of ritual, collective memory, and narrative theory. Conspiracy programs present unresolved historical episodes in which conflicting interpretations vie for dominance. It is argued that the content and structure of these programs, as well as the way they promote narrative ambiguity, provide a window into the construction of historical reality. In doing so, the programs act as a ritual cessation of the assumptions that govern predominant modes of thinking about history. Linear, conclusive narratives give way to timeless, figural open-endedness. As part of a larger genre of conspiracy texts, these programs may be emblematic of a perceived fiat of powerful groups to transgress the moral and logical bounds that structure everyday reality.     

Exploring the other side of cultural boundary-crossing teaching in the polarized Israeli society: Jewish teachers from the majority group who teach at the Arab minority's schools

One of the methods of multicultural societies for advancing a shared society is cross-cultural teaching. Commonly, teachers from the majority group apply to teaching at the majority's schools through the acculturation process. The current study, however, illuminates the understudied situation, in which teachers of the Jewish majority group in Israel teach at the Arab minority's schools. Our findings indicate that these Jewish teachers are mostly motivated by their ideology and moral values, mainly a yearning to bridge between two hostile societies. These teachers' integration into the minority's schools is challenging due to cultural differences, lack of familiarity with Arabic, and difficulties introducing informal pedagogy, that is not common in Arab schools, discipline problems among students, and a challenging national-political discourse.     

PART IV: THE MULTICULTURAL LIBRARY

The changing demographic representation of students in United States public schools has significant implications for colleges of education. These changes make it imperative for colleges of education to produce candidates that possess the knowledge, skills, and sensitivity to deal with diverse student populations. To do so effectively, teacher educators would have to understand the meaning of cultural diversity and how to effectively integrate it into all facets of their teacher education programs. Such integration processes will include helping candidates to become more diversity mature (that is, to be comfortable with who they are) so that they can develop the self-efficacy that will propel them to contribute to the goals of a multicultural society. This article suggests the systems approach based on the systems analysis theory as a model for integrating cultural diversity in colleges of education. The process of systems analysis consists of a sequence of activities that includes (a) definition of the problem, (b) determination of the objectives and criteria for performance, (c) examination of alternative plans, and (d) evaluating the chosen alternative in light of resulting outcomes from the process. Using the systems approach to integrate cultural diversity will lead to a comprehensive assessment of current diversity efforts in individual colleges of education. Integrating cultural diversity will also entail collaboration among the systems and subsystems within and outside the college community, and finally, it will lead to the designing of a cultural diversity plan that takes advantage of the values inherent in the material and human resources possessed by the institution. This article challenges educators to examine their commitment to promoting cultural diversity and offers a plan to make their programs more multicultural in nature.     

Asia's Chinese name

Abstract

Although the mother-tongue of some 90% of the population in Hong Kong is Cantonese, schools and universities in Hong Kong have witnessed the downgrading and even abandoning of Cantonese as a medium of instruction (MOI) in classrooms. For universities, this process is accelerated by the discourses of “internationalization.” For primary and secondary schools, the main compelling force is parents’ anxiety over their children's future. This paper discusses the social context in which the forsaking of Cantonese as a medium of instruction has occurred, and also the unintended consequences of silencing the mother-tongue of most of the Hong Kong students (and teachers) in secondary schools and universities.     

A More Diverse Circle of Friends

In this study the authors explored the social inclusiveness of classrooms with culturally competent teachers who were identified both by their participation in in-service diversity training and by principal nomination. The design of this study is quantitative, using a one-way ANOVA to analyze whether students (N = 125) in classrooms with teachers identified as culturally competent are more inclusive in their mutual friendships than students (N = 117) in classrooms with untrained teachers at the same schools. Sociometric questionnaires were used to collect data on mutual friendships. In the social psychological research mutual friendships are considered to be a strong indicator of less social distance between diverse social groups. Findings from the sociometric questionnaire suggest that students with culturally competent teachers, also referred to as culturally responsive teachers in the literature, have broader and more diverse social networks than students in classrooms with teachers that were not trained.     

“Can't Nobody Sleep” and Other Characteristics of Culturally Responsive English Instruction

In this article the author presents a collective case study of two English teachers identified as particularly successful with Black students. Through the use of ethnographic techniques, the study provides a snapshot of how these teachers facilitated academic gains in urban high schools through their use of culturally responsive English instruction.     

Theater

In this study, I examine the perspectives of preservice teachers enrolled in a multicultural education course at a large predominately White Midwestern university. Past research on the development of multicultural attitudes and knowledge of White preservice teachers is inconclusive. In an effort to examine the multicultural perspectives of preservice teachers, 13 prospective teachers enrolled in required semester-long multicultural education courses were regularly interviewed and observed. Results of the study indicate that preservice teacher perspectives toward diversity were influenced by their social and educational histories; popular culture, such as the news media and movies; and the traditional structure of the teacher education program. The single course had minimal impact on their perspectives. Recommendations include infusing a multicultural perspective throughout the teacher education program and the development of collaborations between the program and culturally diverse schools.     

Okinawa's ‘postwar’: some observations on the formation of American military bases in the aftermath of terrestrial warfare1

Abstract

By looking at Muhammdiyah's educational programme and examining the discourse of its thinkers concerning modern conditions, this paper explores the ways in which this modernist Islamic movement deals with modernity. The different curricula that Muhammadiyah schools and colleges adopt reflect the tension of its efforts of reconciling religious requirements with those of modernity. The need to prepare students for life in modern times has led Muhammadiyah schools and universities to emphasize the teaching of modern general knowledge and skills, often at the expense of religious subjects. The difficulties of reconciling Islam and modern science, as well as making Islam remain a viable system of values in the midst of industrialization, however, has become a source of energy for Muhammadiyah thinkers to keep searching for new formulations. The fact that the public sphere seems to need an even greater dosage of infusion of Islamic values as Indonesia industrializes and modernizes itself does not discourage them. Their debate indicates a critical understanding of modernity and the challenges and opportunities it offers Muhammadiyah in 21st century Indonesia. Their disagreements show unresolved difficulties as to how modernism and Islam can be fused. They also show, however, a confidence that Islam can be a basis to think of ways of how to confront and shape modernity in Islamic terms.     

A comparison of Iranian high school students in single-sex and mixed-sex bilingual schools: Intelligence and vocational aspiration

The purpose of this study was to compare the intelligence and vocational aspirations of students in single-sex monolingual high schools with those in mixed-sex bilingual high schools. Subjects were 153 boys and girls from the upper middle class in Tehran, Iran. There were 50 girls and 44 boys from single-sex monolingual high schools with 44 girls and 15 boys from mixed-sex bilingual high schools. Measures included Raven's Progressive Matrices, asking the subjects to write their aspired vocation and Kuder's Preference Record (Form C Vocational) which was adjusted to the Iranian culture and the goals of the schools sampled.Chi square, t test, and two-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results showed that bilinguals scored higher than monolinguals on nonverbal intelligence and mathematical preferences; girls in mixed-sex bilingual high schools and those in single-sex monolingual high schools had the highest and lowest mean scores on Raven's test, respectively. No significant difference was found between the IQ scores of the boys from the two types of high schools. The girls showed higher preferences in literary, artistic, and mathematical areas than the boys. No significant differences were found between the mechanical and the scientific preferences of the two sexes. The girls in both types of schools showed high occupational aspirations and vocational preferences due to their social class and their parents' level of education. It was concluded that bilingualism seems to have had a salutary effect on nonverbal intelligence of Iranian high school students in general and of girls in particular.     

Connected and satisfied. The relationship between ethnic connectedness,life satisfaction and ethnic school composition among adolescents from nine ethnic groups

For young people with a migration background it has never been easier to create and maintain a bond with their country of origin (further: feelings of ethnic connectedness). Previous research has already revealed the importance of such feelings of ethnic connectedness for (young) people’s subjective well-being. In this study we investigate whether the relationship between the presence and the degree of ethnic connectedness and life satisfaction is moderated by the ethnic school composition. We study this relationship by performing multilevel analyses on 2091 adolescents (aged 14–18 years old) from nine different ethnic groups. Our results shed light on the importance of the ethnic composition of the school in two ways. First, the proportion of adolescents from one’s own ethnic group at school is related to higher life satisfaction. Second, the relationship between life satisfaction and the presence of ethnic connectedness is moderated by the extent to which schools are ethnically diverse. More specifically, ethnically diverse schools have a positive influence on the life satisfaction of young people who feel connected to their ethnic group, whereas ethnic diversity at school is negatively related to life satisfaction among young people who do not feel connected to their ethnic group. In the conclusion we elaborate on the implications of our findings.     

When worlds collide: Academic adjustment of Somali Bantu students with limited formal education in a U.S. elementary school

This paper reports on the findings of a two-year ethnographic study of newly arrived Somali Bantu refugee students in a U.S. elementary school (K-6) in Chicago. These data paint a detailed picture of students’ behavioral and academic adjustment to school, and the drivers behind “behavioral incidents” (instances when children’s behavior presented a problem for school staff) and their academic engagement or disengagement. Bantu students required a degree of flexibility and accommodation from their teachers, whose attitudes toward acculturation could generally be characterized as “assimilationist” (requiring students to conform to U.S. culture and school rules) or “multicultural” (respecting and accepting the students expressing their heritage culture at the school). This study illustrates the difficulties faced by refugee students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) when adjusting to U.S. schools, and the pressures placed on teachers and other school staff. Strategies used by teachers in working with SLIFE are described. These findings also extend the literature on the academic engagement of immigrants to this group of SLIFE. In this study, SLIFE were disengaged not because of disinterest or resisting adult expectations at school but because they were unfamiliar with the culture of schooling and did not have the academic background necessary to complete school tasks. The study also illustrates the need to provide schools with adequate support to accommodate the needs of SLIFE.     

Navigating multiple worlds of Ghanaina-born immigrant adolescent girls in US urban schools

African immigrant populations are among the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States, yet they are understudied and are invisible immigrant group in the educational literature, particularly, in the context of educational discourses in the United States urban schools. Drawing on Phelan et al.’s multiple worlds model, we analyzed individual and focus group interviews of forty students, thirty-six parents, and twelve teachers from two schools. Findings showed that Ghanaian-born immigrant students undergo several complex transitional paradigms combining two worlds (school and home) of Ghanaian culture, past educational experiences, family values, and adapting to new school environments to achieve success in American educational systems. In addition, they faced racial and ethnic discrimination and stereotypes from peers, which negatively impacted their academic progress and social adjustments in school. The authors recommend that teachers should establish new ways of understanding the multiple worlds of African-born adolescent immigrant girls by accounting for their culturally diverse ways of navigating their worlds of school, peers, and families to achieve academic success in US schools.     

Immigrant Tibetan Children in U.S. Schools: An Invisible Minority Group

Most scholars believe that home and school cultural discontinuity contributes in a significant way to lower self-esteem and differential academic failure of many immigrant children. Academic and social adjustment problems of many recent immigrant Tibetan children in public schools clearly indicate the critical need to examine home and school conditions limiting their ability to experience success. Therefore, the primary purpose of this inquiry is to bring heightened awareness to the challenges and issues of educating a growing number of Tibetan children who otherwise may remain invisible in U.S. public schools. This article has three purposes. First, a literature review is undertaken to identify major issues of educating immigrant children in U.S. public schools. Second, the article proposes a three-pronged framework as a way to integrate Tibetan studies into existing curricula for the purpose of developing a culturally responsive learning environment. Finally, the study offers a number of ideas for future research studies that may identify home and schooling conditions that hinder or facilitate the learning of children-specifically Tibetan children as an invisible minority cultural group.     

Enhancing trainee satisfaction with cross-cultural training programs via prior warning

A review of the cross-cultural training literature indicates that trainees frequently enter training programs with mental sets which are incongruent with the goals of the programs. This condition (termed in the literature the “Einstellung Effect”) sometimes results in substantial dissatisfaction with the training program experience on the part of the trainee. Prior warning has been used successfully in some areas of psychological research to counteract Einstellung effects, but it has yet to be utilized in an attempt to reduce the effect of negative mental set on a training program. This study examined the effect of prior warning in cross-cultural training programs on trainee satisfaction. Students enrolled in four “Missionary Preparation” courses at a large, church-related university served as subjects. Two of the groups (each receiving one of two training methods) had the prior warning treatment, while the other two groups (one receiving each method) received no prior warning and served as control groups. Consistent with the hypothesis that trainee Einstellung effects can be reduced via prior warning, it was found that the subjects' satisfaction scores in the prior warning conditions were significantly higher than those in the no warning conditions.