Teachers' Discoveries of Their Cultural Realms: Untangling the Web of Cultural Identity

Ndura, Elavie

doi:10.1207/s15327892mcp0603_3

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Researchers have found that teachers may be so entrenched in a culture that they fail to recognize it or its influence (Ndura, 2004). They position themselves as individuals without a culture and their students as individuals whose culture needs to be fixed or responded to in some way.…”

Section: Values or Charactermentioning

confidence: 99%

Teacher Positioning in Rural Spaces

DiCerbo

Baker

2021

tpre

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In this qualitative study, we ask how 40 rural educators of English learners (ELs) culturally position themselves and their students. We obtained data through a cultural autobiography assignment that prompted teachers to describe their interactions and relationships with others. Drawing on both rural and non-rural experiences, teachers established their ability to exercise agency, mediated by individual histories and beliefs and the context of their rural settings. Teachers developed their capacity to reflect on the ways they position themselves toward their ELs, a crucial first step in creating culturally sustaining pedagogy. Implications point to the potential of cultural autobiography as a means to heighten rural teachers’ awareness of how their experiences and interactions nuance their cultural identity. Such reflections can expand notions of culture beyond common social identifiers and enable teachers to forge links with their students that would otherwise not be apparent. We suggest this autobiographical process is particularly important for rural teachers who are new to teaching ELs in their classrooms.

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Section: Values or Charactermentioning

confidence: 99%

Teacher Positioning in Rural Spaces

DiCerbo

Baker

2021

tpre

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“…Recent research has focused on several features of published textbooks, including both the representation of target‐language speakers and the textual construction of the reader. In both cases, work has frequently been organized around such categories as gender (e.g., Sutherland, Cowley, Rahim, Leontzakou, & Shattuck, 2001), class, and culture (e.g., Canagarajah, 1993; Ndura, 2004). Relatively little research in language teaching has approached the matter from the perspective of race, though, of course, there is a long tradition of such analysis in other areas of education (see e.g., McCarthy & Crichlow, 1993; McCarthy, Crichlow, Dimitriads, & Dolby, 2005; Woodson, 1990).…”

Section: Representation and Ownership Of Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Invisibility and Ownership of Language: Problems of Representation in Russian Language Textbooks

Azimova¹,

Johnston²

2012

The Modern Language Journal

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Using the 2 theoretical lenses of representation (Barthes, 1977) and ownership of language (Higgins, 2003), this article offers a critical analysis of representations of Russian speakers in 9 widely used Russian language textbooks aimed at university‐level learners. Particular attention is paid to representations of Russian speakers other than white Orthodox Christian ethnic Russians. Findings indicate that there are virtually no representations of such “other” speakers in the materials under investigation. This absence is framed as an erasure (hooks, 1992), a violent removal that significantly misrepresents the actual diversity of speakers of Russian and restricts putative ownership of the Russian language. The authors argue that not only is this inaccurate portrayal pedagogically problematic; it is also politically so, as it coincides with a rising tide of ethnic Russian nationalism in the Russian Federation. The article ends with a call for more accurate portrayals of the actual diversity of users of Russian.

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“…9 For this understanding to occur, teachers must first explore their own cultural backgrounds and unveil the personal narratives that shape their worldviews as well as their classroom practices and relationships. 10 Thus, effective teacher education programs must facilitate this process and help teachers understand that these personal narratives are sacred and must be honored, instead of trivialized and dismissed. To borrow Feuerverger's contention, without crossing into the land of personal history, there is much territory on which we cannot begin to walk within the context of the quest to speak for the common good.…”

Section: The Role Of Education In Affirming Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the context of US schools where the majority of teachers are white and female and the cultural diversity of the student population continues to increase, tension and conflict often arise from cultural misunderstanding 13 and misperceptions of the contributions of nonmainstream communities to society. In order to affirm cultural diversity, teacher education programs must engage the participants in discussions and activities that explore and highlight various contributions of underrepresented groups and communities to the prosperity of the nation in all sectors of development.…”

Section: The Role Of Education In Affirming Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

From Vision to Action: Fostering Peaceful Coexistence and the Common Good in a Pluralistic Society through Teacher Education

2009

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This article examines the role of education and the responsibilities of teachers and teacher educators in working for social justice and peace. It describes a nontraditional professional development master's program designed to empower practicing teachers to become active contributors in the quest for social justice and to speak for the common good in their increasingly diverse schools and society. In the context of continuing intolerance and violence in schools and society, the program offers a model for preparing educators with the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and commitments necessary to engage in transformative social action. The article draws on teachers’ written feedback responses to examine the impact of particular curricular experiences and cumulative influences on teachers’ struggles for awareness of human diversity issues and commitments to transformative social action in their own classrooms.

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Teachers' Discoveries of Their Cultural Realms: Untangling the Web of Cultural Identity

Cited by 14 publications

References 8 publications

Teacher Positioning in Rural Spaces

Teacher Positioning in Rural Spaces

Invisibility and Ownership of Language: Problems of Representation in Russian Language Textbooks

From Vision to Action: Fostering Peaceful Coexistence and the Common Good in a Pluralistic Society through Teacher Education

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