Culturally Responsive Teaching in Practice: Exploring English Language Arts Classrooms That Serve Ethnically, Linguistically, and Culturally Diverse Students

Abstract

Abstract Public schools in the United States are witnessing an increase in the cultural, linguistic, and ethnic diversity of their student bodies. In addition, many of the students do not share the same cultural backgrounds and worldviews as their teachers. Since education is mainly influenced by the dominant culture in society, there is potential for incongruity between the expectations of the students and those of the school. Over the course of one semester, the researcher conducted a qualitative multi-case study to investigate how three English language arts teachers, who mainly teach English learners in an urban high school located in the Midwest United States, incorporated culturally and linguistically relevant and responsive standards-based instructional practices in their taught curriculum. The guiding research questions included: What is the teachers’ understanding of culturally relevant education? How do the teachers incorporate culturally relevant education in standards-based instructional practices in their classrooms? What motivates teachers to engage in culturally relevant education? Data analysis consisted of within case and across case analysis in order to answer the research questions. The findings indicated that teacher agency played a big role in how teachers not only prepared themselves to teach students with diverse cultures and languages, but also how they incorporated culturally relevant education in the standards-based curriculum. In addition, among English learners with diverse cultures and languages, sociopolitical consciousness can mean being change agents at school and at home through learning English, volunteering, and providing translation and interpreter services for their families and communities.