Cultural Competency

Although not all teachers become English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, many will work with English language learners (ELLs) at some point in their careers, and a knowledge of culture and its effect on education remains an important goal for teachers-in-training, particularly given the large numbers of ELLs in schools. After all, nearly one in five school-age students in the United States comes from a home where a language other than English is spoken, and the majority of American classrooms consist of students from several different racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds (Thevenot, 2012).

Cultural competence, which Martin and Vaugn (2007) define as an ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures, is generally considered to be a developmental process that evolves over an extended period. Yet for many teachers-in-training, a one-semester ESL methods course may be their only opportunity for exposure to cultural issues. Course designers have responded to this by integrating cultural components into their ESL methods courses; they realize that teachers who lack opportunities to develop cultural awareness will eventually find themselves unprepared for the dynamics of multicultural classrooms.

Incorporating Cultural Awareness

The question remains, however, whether integrating modules on culture in a one-semester class can really make a difference with preservice teachers and lead them to a deeper understanding of the notion of culture and its influence on learning. If so, what types of activities seem to be the most effective? After experimenting with various means of introducing preservice teachers to cultural issues, Thevenot (2012) found changes in perception and attitude among her students in an ESL methods course, especially an increased global perspective. In this 2012 study, Developing Cultural Awareness: a Qualitative Case Study of Pre-service Teachers' Experiences in an Introductory Course in ESL Methods and Technique, Thevenot outlines various pedagogical strategies used in an ESL methods class that resulted in student change in cultural perspectives.

The one-semester class, an ESL methods course offered at the University of Memphis, was revised to incorporate selected nontraditional, culture-specific texts and ELL experiential field study projects. Pedagogical strategies included focused, reflective discussion board questions to explore the immigrant’s voice, field research to investigate the views and perceptions of ELLs, and discussion and analysis of Steves’ (2009) book, Travel as a Political Act, to introduce global perspectives. A more detailed look at each of the activities and at student reactions to them demonstrates some change in attitude of the trainees and at least some movement toward more cultural awareness.

The students were first asked to respond to an essay by Tan (1990), “Mother Tongue,” which tells of her life as a Generation 1.5 English speaker. The students participated in an online discussion board activity after reading the essay and reacting to the voice of an ELL. Common observations of the participants were categorized into subtopics that arose in this assignment and that related to the students’ study of ESL issues. For this first reading, for example, those subtopics included the notion of Generation 1.5, surface culture vs. deep culture, language and identity, code switching, avoidance, foreign talk, Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS)/Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), social distance, and the ELL perspective. Although some responses to this early assignment demonstrated an awareness of the ELL’s perspective, others represented the tendency for monolingual preservice teachers to negate the importance of the heritage language. The variance in the responses signaled a wide range of preexisting intuitive second language acquisition knowledge on the part of the participants at the beginning of their study.

The second activity was the ELL interview project, designed to provide preservice teachers a chance for cross-cultural communication with nonnative speakers of English. For many, this was a first-time opportunity. Each student interviewed two ELLs, and the interviews took place 4 to 5 weeks into the 14-week course. The interview results that related to this activity included the notions of stereotyping, social interaction, language interference, critical period, the English only debate, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Student attempts to apply terminology learned in class were sometimes appropriate but other times showed a disconnect between meaning and application. One student wrote, for example, “They both were on the same level of schema of English.” The benefit, though, was the opportunity for authentic cross-cultural communication.

An innovative part of the class was the use of Steves’ (2009) book, Travel as a Political Act, which is certainly not a traditional textbook but one that challenged the preservice teachers to broaden their perspectives. Assigned questions challenged them to think globally but process locally—or personally. Early in the course, the introduction and first chapter were introduced. Those first parts of the text cover multicultural perspectives and present an overview that is subjective in nature. Later in the semester, the students chose chapters that were culture-specific and required participants to objectively confront positions and feelings. Those chapters included “Europe Unites: Successes and Struggles,” “Resurrection in El Salvador,” and “Turkey and Morocco: Sampling Secular Islam.”

The categories arising from the first assignment with the text, evident through their discussions and writing, included such themes as cultural cognition, deep culture, acculturation in the classroom, teaching as a political act, cross-cultural approaches, policy and planning, fear and complacency, confusion, and motivation. In the second assignment with the text, the one with the specific cultural information, student comments revealed a focus on presuppositions, multilingualism, the role of history, gender roles, voices, and comparative religion, among other cultural notions. For many students, the text offered an alternative way for readers to “visit” other countries and cultures through “armchair travel.” Students found value in this and discussed possibilities for cross-cultural communication through technology.

Effect of Incorporating Activities

Did preservice teachers perceive their experiences as influencing their global perceptions? It was possible to see changes in awareness from a top-down perspective beginning with the first reading. Deep cultural issues began to bleed through as participants discussed “Mother Tongue” (Tan, 1990). Early on, participants made a connection between surface and deep culture. They then expanded this knowledge and applied it to the academic environment. As students interviewed ELLs, there was a shift in focus, or role reversal, from being the American observer to the American being observed. This reality shift came about not as the result of travel or immersion but through social interaction with nonnative speakers in the United States.

After reading Steves’ (2009) book, the preservice teachers turned the discussion to cross-cultural classrooms, indicating an increasing awareness of how they are culturally different from many of their international students. In response to the global overview that is the introduction and chapter one of the book, the students questioned their feelings about policy and planning, and the social and political roles played by the United States around the world. Finally, many participants manifested cultural disengagement as they encountered more country-specific differences. Many preservice teachers began to struggle with American positions, in general, and their own principles and values, in particular. These general illustrations suggest that they, in fact, do perceive their experiences as making them more aware of their own cultural background.

Perhaps a more important question is: “Did preservice teachers perceive their experiences as influencing their future teaching in a class with ESL students?” Here the data showed that there appeared to be a progression of awareness of the importance and significance that cross-cultural experiences bring to the classroom. Initial comments, especially in the first reading, are general and refer to language acquisition and academic culture. As the class progressed, however, and especially through the interviews, preservice teachers recognized the uniqueness of each ELL. As the preservice teachers moved through the course, they began to see their future classrooms as classrooms for all students, including the ELLs. In turn, they began to focus on maximizing the classroom environment and developing methods that would address the particular cultural and linguistic needs of ELLs. The conversations with nonnative speakers also afforded the participants the opportunity to understand an ESL classroom from the ELL’s perspective. In reading Travel as a Political Act (Steves, 2009), participants recognized their own perspectives as teachers and addressed teacher acculturation in the ESL classroom.

Most preservice teachers anticipated an ESL honeymoon experience; however, some were quick to point out the reality of adjusting to a multicultural teaching environment and the need to prepare for ESL classroom acculturation. The majority of American classrooms consist of students from several different racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. These multicultural classrooms are real-time archetypes of a “shrinking world.” As preservice teachers began to understand this truth, they began to assess alternative approaches to teaching.

REFERENCES

Martin, M., & Vaugn, B. (2007). Cultural competence: The nuts and bolts of diversity and inclusion. Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management 1(1), 31–38. Retrieved from http://dtui.com/Magazine/MagArticles/March2007pub/cultural_competence.doc

Steves, R. (2009). Travel as a political act. New York, NY: Nation.

Tan, A. (1990, Fall). Mother tongue. The Threepenny Review, 11(3), 7-8.

Thevenot, A. (2012). Developing cultural awareness: A qualitative case study of pre-service teachers’ experiences in an introductory course in ESL methods and techniques (Doctoral dissertation). University of Memphis, Memphis, TN.

Angela B. Thevenot teaches ESL at the University of Memphis. She has taught English as a Foreign Language in the Czech Republic and Mexico. She also conducts local pop-up schools providing inservice teachers with ESL training and tools for bridging English learners to the Common Core State Standards.

Teresa Dalle is an associate professor of ESL/linguistics in the English Department at the University of Memphis. She has worked in ESL teacher training for more than 30 years, has codirected federal grants on teacher training, and has presented and published on a variety of topics related to ESL/TESL.