Culturally Responsive Teaching through the Lens of Dual Language Education: Intersections and Opportunities

Students benefit from culturally responsive teaching (CRT). CRT is central to dual language (DL) education - an additive approach that is effective for educating emergent bilinguals and closing the achievement gap. Students\u27 achievements in DL education models are higher than in any other type of language learning pedagogy – ESL, Bilingual and Monolingual. The purpose of this research was to identify the CRT practices that are employed in DL classrooms; so that teachers in other educational settings (i.e. mainstream, ESL, bilingual) might implement similar practices and improve their effectiveness with diverse students. Using survey responses from Dual Language teachers (N = 151), this study examined the intersection of CRT practices and DL teachers self-reported practice. This empirical study reveals that three out of the eight features of Gay\u27s CRT framework were present in DL teachers\u27 practices: validating, multidimensional, and empowering. DL teachers validate students\u27 experience through speaking affirmations, offering texts that represent and reflect students\u27 culture, differentiating instruction, and providing cooperative learning experiences for students. The CRT practices that are multidimensional involve establishing a welcoming and safe climate and including performance assessment to authentically evaluate students\u27 learning. Finally, DL teachers empower their students by offering instruction that facilitates independence in learning. These study findings provide a unique window into DL teacher practice, which can be leveraged by administrators and mainstream teachers to improve the achievement of diverse learners in every classroom

Salsa dancing in gym shoes: Exploring cross-cultural missteps with Latinos in the classroom

Consider how you would typically greet a friend or a relative. Perhaps you would shake hands or even hug. But this might not be the norm in another culture. For example, in the Latino culture, it’s common to greet loved ones with an embrace and a kiss on the cheek, and anything less may be taken as an affront. If something as simple as “hello” can create a culture gap, how can teachers navigate a multicultural classroom? Salsa Dancing in Gym Shoes takes a close look at the cultural missteps increasingly preventing Latinos from succeeding in education and offers steps that teachers can take to reverse this harmful pattern. Preservice and veteran educators alike will absorb the book’s current research and theories on Latinos and education as well as its personal essays presenting both historical and current experiences of racism and marginalization. By the final pages, educators will have a brand-new bag of real-world strategies for creating a positive and effective classroom for students of any background

The practice and evaluation of culturally responsive literacy for English Language Learners in the 21st century

The racial, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic demographics in the United States have dramatically shifted in the past 20 years, becoming more diverse. Latinos are the largest, fastest growing racial-ethnic group in U.S. classroooms (Humes, Jones, & Ramirez, 2011), and by 2050, Latino student enrollment will represent the largest group in K-12 education (Fry & Gonzales. 2008). As population demographics in the nation and U.S. classrooms become increasingly diverse, school leaders and administrators are responsible for establishing policies, developing teachers, and demonstrating values that support the achievement of all students (Austin, Brown, & Forde, 2006). In culturally responsive institutions, students\u27 cultural and linguistic differences that have been historicaly perceived as liabilities are instead perceived as strengths and utilized to promote student achievement. In this chapter, we examine research-based and culturally responsive literacy practices (CRLPs) that target the academic development of multicultural and multilingual students. We assess to what degree current observation instruments capture CRLPs, and present a new supervision tool for administrators to use in supporting and extending teachers\u27 use of culturally responsive instructional practices to enhance the achievement of all students