Culturally responsive pedagogy is crucial in education, valuing diverse backgrounds to create inclusive learning environments. This paper synthesizes 32 literature sources systematically highlighting ...the importance of recognizing cultural backgrounds, building relationships, adapting instruction, and promoting critical consciousness. Recognition of students' backgrounds enhances academic achievement and engagement, while positive relationships foster belonging and well-being. Adapting instruction meets diverse needs and improves outcomes. Promoting critical consciousness empowers students to challenge stereotypes and address social injustices. Ongoing professional development and support are essential for effective implementation. By addressing these areas, educational institutions can create equitable and inclusive environments. Further research is needed to explore effective strategies for recognizing cultural backgrounds, investigate the impact of inclusive communities, study strategies for diverse learning needs, and examine the outcomes of promoting critical consciousness. Addressing these gaps enhances understanding and informs evidence-based practices in culturally responsive teaching.
Purpose
This case study examines the experiences of 20 student teachers at an Indonesian private university in enhancing their self-efficacy in utilizing instructional technology.
...Design/methodology/approach
The participants of this study had different cultural backgrounds and spoke different indigenous languages. Situated in diverse classroom settings, the participants were interviewed using online platforms to examine their learning experience when learning to integrate technology into teaching. Furthermore, observational data were collected through photographs taken during the learning process to triangulate the findings.
Findings
Grounded in case study analysis, the study reveals three emerging themes indicating the development of the preservice teachers' confidence in multilingual classrooms: (1) designing technology-mediated learning activities, (2) using learning technology to foster students' autonomy in learning and (3) promoting peer engagement in diverse classrooms through technology-based learning. Furthermore, the participants demonstrated their ability to develop self-efficacy in overcoming the challenges associated with technology use in education by adapting, innovating, and collaborating.
Research limitations/implications
The study has three limitations. First, the limited number of participants involved in the study restricts the generalizability of the findings and does not allow for testing the potential influence of variables such as age, gender or experience on preservice teachers' beliefs. Second, limitation pertains to the reliability of self-report data provided by the preservice teachers. Given that self-efficacy can fluctuate over time, a longitudinal study is needed to investigate whether preservice teachers' self-efficacy in utilizing technology for learning evolves over time. Third, while the study was conducted in diverse classroom settings, it lacks an in-depth exploration of how cultural diversity impacts the learning outcomes of these preservice teachers.
Originality/value
The findings suggest that nurturing the technological self-efficacy of preservice teachers enhances their competence in technology-mediated pedagogy, both during the pandemic of COVID-19 and in the future.
This article demonstrates how stories serve as effective methodology when scrutinizing the meaning of social and political conflicts in diverse classrooms. I base my argument on a story about a ...distressing conflict among students from different ethnic, and national backgrounds occurring in an academic course at an Israeli college. A detailed description of the clash, which eventually evolved into a moment of mutual support and solidarity, provides a sense of immediacy and verisimilitude, and thus is the best way to introduce the dynamic, messy reality of the classroom. Moreover, I argue that story-like documentation may well expose social and political processes and subtleties better than any thin report and theoretical analysis and can form an archive of hope amid seemingly social and political estrangement and despair.
This study focuses on teaching and learning science in three secondary public school classrooms with mostly culturally marginalized students from Gurung and Magar communities in a semirural district ...in Nepal. The study aims to understand how three science teachers in different schools engage students in culturally relevant transformative science learning. I use a constructivist case study design. Data were collected through 18 classroom observations, three interviews with science teachers, and a student focus group interview. Analysis of the data showed that culturally marginalized students are experts in the cultural knowledge they bring into the classroom, science teachers felt ambivalence between culturally relevant science and success in tests, and science teachers showed a need for greater pedagogical skills in cultural relevancy. The study suggests a need for focused and intentional culturally relevant courses in science teacher education programs and professional development. Educating teachers for more transformative and relational science teaching will support embedding cultural knowledge and values in classroom teaching and curriculum.
Marketisation, increased student mobility, the massification of Higher Education (HE) and stagnating staff numbers in universities have combined to cause a ripple effect of change both in the ...demography and size of university classes across the world. This has implications for the quality and equity of learning and the need to examine and to transform pedagogical practices. Despite the growing attention of literature on teaching large classes, there is a scarcity of research addressing the twin issues of large classes in an increasingly internationalised context. This paper seeks to contribute towards filling this gap. The paper provides a theoretical exploration of the causes of such classes in HE, reviews the empirical evidence against large class teaching and examines the difficulties associated with teaching demographically diverse classes in HE. The paper identifies eight pedagogical strategies to address the issues of class size and diversity, which relate to increasing student participation and engagement; increasing curricula access and the language of instruction; increasing staff intercultural understanding; increasing opportunities for deep learning for all; on-going monitoring of student satisfaction; increasing opportunities to achieve; diversification of assessment; and the merit of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS). It calls for new research on global learning cultures; reviews of global assessment and promising pedagogical practices and processes.
It has previously been suggested that there is a need for a more language focused science instruction, especially in linguistically diverse classrooms, where many students are second language ...learners. But it has also been suggested that teachers may feel uncertainty about how to teach in ways that promote learning of both subject matter and language. Previous studies have revealed how the language of science, especially the written language of science, is used to create a certain meaning. Research on interventions shows how this knowledge, through a functional metalanguage, can be used successfully. However, few studies explore how teachers in science instruction themselves integrate a language focus in their linguistically diverse classrooms. This ethnographic case study investigates how a teacher, through her planned metalanguage activities, integrated language in her physics classrooms in Year 5. The results reveal that (1) the activities focused on the students' literacy development; (2) the activities sometimes had an integrated language and subject focus and sometimes an isolated language focus; and (3) the students put a great deal of effort into understanding how they were to perform the various framed activities. The study has implications for how a language focus can be integrated in subject teaching.
A game-based approach is widely used to increase students’ motivation through their active participation, whereby research is interwoven with fun and competition is incorporated with cooperation. ...Working in teams or groups encourages students to exchange their opinions, to try to find solutions together or to win a game. In this way, they learn and improve skills such as collaboration and responsibility. Several activities involving the 5E model as part of inquiry-based science education and an escaperoom as part of game-based learning were used in science classes (chemistry, biology and physics). The activities were designed on three different topics – gases, ecology and electrical circuits – within the project “Diversity in Science towards Social Inclusion – Non-formal Education in Science for Students’ Diversity”. The activities focused on the students’ self-concept towards science, interest in the subject, motivation and careeraspirations in STEM, as well as the effectiveness of the implemented activities. The study aimed to assess the potential advantages of implementing activities in an ethnically diverse environment, benefiting both students and teachers. Pre- and post-questionnaires were designed and distributed to 190 students from various primary and secondary schools in Macedonia. The present paper provides an overview of game-based activities as well as a brief analysis of the pre- and post-questionnaire responses fromstudents, focusing on the topic of ecology.
With the growing attention paid to fear of missing out (FoMO) psychological phenomenon in explaining social media engagement (SME), this mixed-method research measured the relative impact of FoMO on ...students’ SME for personal reasons during lectures. The moderating effect of culture (minority vs. non-minority students) on the connection between FoMO and SME was also considered. Quantitative data were gathered from 279-undergraduate students. The structural equation modeling results showed a positive moderate connection between the FoMO and SME variables. The bootstrapping result showed a significant indirect effect between the minority group of students and SME through increased levels of FoMO. A sequential explanatory strategy was used to refine and interpret the quantitative results. Accordingly, qualitative data were gathered by using semi-structured interviews to assist in explaining the findings of the quantitative phase. The qualitative data suggested several explanations for students’ distractive behavior enabled by technology during class. The main recurrent theme was the frequently used instructional activities based on the teacher-centered pedagogical approach. This approach imposed greater challenges for minority students as they tend to grapple with a host of language barriers. These students reported using social media tools to seek help from friends during lectures and feared missing out a useful assistance. Another finding showed that mainly non-minority students who experienced FoMO admitted using social media during lessons regardless of the teaching method implemented.
In a climate of increasing multiculturalism in education, classrooms have become more diverse, offering educators and institutions both opportunities and challenges. In response to changing ...advancements and trends in education, school administrators claim that classroom diversity can develop students’ learning potential when properly harnessed and matched with inclusive pedagogy. This research reflects how diversity within the Omani education system can be enhanced by comparing the beliefs and experiences of students in diverse classrooms. This information provides a better understanding of students’ learning needs based on their perception of diversity. A descriptive study was performed with a quantitative approach, whereby a sample of 283 students completed a survey. The results indicate that female students rated more highly on the teaching method scale in comparison to male students. Additional post hoc tests on simple effects confirmed that non-Arab students tend to rate their teachers comparatively more highly in terms of teaching methods, curriculum design, assessment techniques, and practical skills than Omani and Arab pupils across the different subjects. This study offers valuable insights and practical strategies for cultivating diversity and inclusion in diverse settings in Omani schools.
Modern college classrooms are increasingly diverse. We face classes where 18-year-olds sit beside grandmothers, native speakers of English sit beside speakers of other languages, and Christians, ...Jews, and Muslims share classrooms with atheists and agnostics. The question is: how do we take such a varied and ideologically differentiated group of pupils and bridge their differences in order to bring them together into a classroom community? Not only is the creation of such a community critical to the success of the classroom, but in a larger sense it is critical as a model for the effective functioning of a democratic society. My purpose is to suggest that the concept of listening rhetoric, as it informs classroom practice, has the potential to serve this goal. Therefore, in this article I will propose practical methods for incorporating the practice of listening rhetoric into college courses.