Culture and Language

The Importance of Culture and Language

Culture and language matter in the classroom and out.  Culture isn’t just a set of holidays or a list of traditions and recipes or even a language.  It is a lived experience unique to each of our students (Hawly et al, n.d.).  In reality most educators look like me, white.  In fact, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2019) reports that nearly 80% of teachers are white.  You can see in the figure below from NCES that the percentages of teachers that are black and people of color (BIPoC) are significantly lower.

However, the cultural profile of students in our classrooms is increasingly different.  As a white male, the faces looking back at me while teaching may not look like me.  In this second figure from the NCES (2020) we can see that the number of students identifying as white is decreasing in public schools and is on trend to continue.

Since this is the case, we as educators must provide a classroom that is culturally responsive to all the students that cross its threshold.  In order to do this we can focus on four major elements:

• Understanding our implicit biases and avoiding stereotypes.

• Providing representation in our classroom.

• Choosing or creating culturally relevant curriculum.

• Honoring home languages.

Let’s take a look at each of these topics.

Understanding Implicit Biases / Avoiding Stereotypes

Taking that stance that, for the most part, educators are not biased about student achievement based on cultural background consciously or purposefully, most bias would fall into the category of implicit bias.   Implicit bias or unconscious bias “refers to attitudes and beliefs that occur outside of our conscious awareness and control” (Ruhl, 2020, para. 12).  This makes these biases very hard to control.  In fact these biases may be contrary to a teacher’s conscious beliefs.  Meaning that they may consciously disapprove of the unconscious bias they hold. 

These biases can come from or create stereotypes that educators can hold about their students.  As educators, we must acknowledge our implicit and explicit biases and any stereotypes we hold about our students.   If we acknowledge these things about ourselves, we can take steps to counteracting them.

Check out this video about the difference between explicit and implicit biases:

Test yourself for implicit biases at Project Implicit.

Providing Representation

As a white male it is often that I see a representation of myself in the media.  Think about T.V. shows, movies, and books.  I know I can think of many characters that look like me.  Though I can think of some examples of black, indegious, people of color (BIPOC) characters they are often a side character or in positions that are not in a powerful role.  This is important to our students because 

...attitudes, values and self-esteem are well developed by the mid-teen years, or even earlier. What young people see and hear in the media helps them to figure out how the world works and who and what is valued in our society” (Eileen, n.d., para. 4).

Logically then, if white males are shown in the protagonist role over and over, it is established that they are valued more in our society.  That is a definite advantage to people that look like me.  I am considered the norm and there is power and advantages attached to this.  On the other end of the spectrum, power and advantage are subtly denied to those who are not represented.  What our students see around them positively or negatively shapes their expectations and informs them of their level of power in our society (Thomas, 2016).

Here are some links for representation in the classroom:

• UDL Guideline Representation - Guidelines for Universal Design for Learning.

• Why Representation in Classroom Books is Important: Culturally Inclusive Books by Valentina Gonzalez (2019).

Culturally Relevant Curriculum

Even a standard curriculum chooses what books are worth reading and whose history is worth studying (Hawly et al, n.d.).  Choosing or creating a curriculum that includes many voices and points of view will allow your students to  find value in their own experiences and voice.

Here are some links for culturally relevant curriculum:

• Foster Dickson’s Reading list - Provided by Teaching Tolerance.

• Culturally Relevant Curriculum and Culturally Responsive Schools Toolkit - from Dignity in Schools. 

Honoring Home Languages

Check out this video about honoring home languages.

Here are some links for honoring home languages:

• The Psychological, Behavioral, and Educational Impact of Immigration: Helping Recent Immigrant Students to Succeed in North American Schools by McIntyre et al (2011).

• In the Classroom with Liliana X. Aguas / Honor Students' Language Diversity by Liliana X. Aguas (2013).

References

Aguas, L. X. (2013). In the Classroom with Liliana X. Aguas / Honor Students' Language Diversity. Education Update, 55(3), 2-3. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/feb13/vol55/num02/Honor-Students'-Language-Diversity.aspx

Bruin X. (2016, September 9). Implicit Bias | Lesson 4: Explicit v. Implicit Bias [video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=102&v=5S7Je6kbGDY&feature=emb_logo

Dignity in Schools. (2017). Culturally Relevant Curriculum and Culturally Responsive Schools Toolkit. Retrieved from https://dignityinschools.org/crctk

Eileen, B. (n.d.). The Impact of Stereotyping on Young People. Media Smarts. Retrieved from https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/media-issues/diversity-media/aboriginal-people/impact-stereotyping-young-people

Gonzalez, V. (2019, October 30). Why Representation in Classroom Books is Important: Culturally Inclusive Books [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://seidlitzblog.org/2019/10/30/why-representation-in-classroom-books-is-important-culturally-inclusive-books/

Hawley, W., Irvine, J. J., & Landa, M. (n.d.). Culture in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/professional-development/culture-in-the-classroom

McIntyre, T., Barowsky, E., & Tong, V. (2011). The psychological, behavioral, and educational impact of immigration: Helping recent immigrant students to succeed in North American schools. JAASEP, 4-21. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1137000.pdf

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2019, February). Spotlight A: Characteristics of Public School Teachers by Race/Ethnicity. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/spotlight_a.asp

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2020, May). Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cge.asp

ProjectImplicit. (n.d.). Take a Test. Retrieved from https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

Ruhl, C. (2020, July 1). Implicit or unconscious bias. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/implicit-bias.html

Seattle Public Schools. (2016, November 16). Honoring Home Languages [video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywVw37L1tV4

Thomas, L. (2016, August 22). Why Representation Matters. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-representation-matters-laura-thomas

Universal Design for Learning (UDL). (2018, January 12). Representation. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org/representation