Teaching Diverse Populations
By Idris Hsi, Last Modified October 18, 2000
· Cultural Awareness
· Adapting to Americans
· Teaching Diverse Populations
· Learn about various barriers to understanding that are results of differences in culture
· Learn/discuss various peculiarities about American culture that may be jarring
· Understand what is meant by diversity.
· Become acquainted with skills and habits that will enable better interaction
· Learn/discuss methods for using diversity opportunistically.
Understanding one’s own culture and how one’s behavior is affected by upbringing is very useful. From a professional perspective as a student, teaching assistant, instructor, or a professional, developing this awareness is very important in our increasingly multi-national interactions. Having an awareness of your behaviors and how they may be perceived by people from other cultures will facilitate your ability to work with and communicate with a variety of people.
Perceptions are:
· Selective – We screen out most of what we see, hear, taste, and feel.
· Learned – Our experience teaches us to perceive the world in certain ways.
· Culturally Determined – We learn to see the world in a certain way based on our culture.
· Constant – Once we see something in a particular way, we continue to see it that way.
One consequence of our perceptions is that we may see things which do not exist and do not see things which do exist.
· Language
· Insufficient knowledge about other culture
· Unwillingness to perceive and interact past preconceived notions
· Unwillingness to interact with other cultures
· Cultural information should be used as a first best guess to explain/interpret another’s behavior. It should not be used to categorize someone.
· Should be conscious that cultural information generalizes across a group and not to individuals.
· Recognize your own assumptions and stereotypes of others. It’s important to know how these models affect your interpersonal behaviors.
· Verify your assumptions about others – ideally by chatting with them about these kinds of cultural differences. Use these verifications, derived from actual experience and observation, to modify your mental models of their culture.
· Be non-judgmental. Recognize that differences exist across cultures. Avoid making value distinctions.
· Occurs when there is a conflict between how a set of behaviors is perceived or when there are a set of conventions which contradict one another.
· Many of these are communication-related.
· An example of cross-cultural misunderstanding is eye contact. Culture A, which values direct eye contact, may view indirect eye contact as a sign of lack of honesty, inattentiveness, or timidity. Culture B, which values indirect eye contact, may view direct eye contact as a sign of rudeness, lack of modesty, or a prelude to hostile action.
· Other things to watch include proximity, body language (gesturing, folded arms, etc), and emotional expressions.
· In most cases, you can help ameliorate your reaction to these sorts of misunderstandings through introspection and by verification.
· Philosophical Foundations of Society (From Cornell University’s Teaching Assistant Manual)
American |
Some other countries |
|
Egalitarian |
Hierarchical |
|
Directness/Openness |
Indirectness / Ritual / “Face” |
|
Pluralism (Heterogeneity) |
Uniformity (Homogeneity) |
|
Equality in diversity |
Distinction in diversity |
|
Gender Equality |
Gender Distinction |
|
Individualism / Competition |
Cooperation / Group Welfare |
|
Practicality / Efficiency |
Theory / Analysis |
·
Student Teacher
Relationship
American |
Some other countries |
|
Egalitarian (Teaching by dialogue) |
Hierarchical (Teaching by lecture) |
|
Informality (Open or Sibling relationship) |
Formality (Distant or Parental Relationship) |
|
Earned respect |
Respect inherent in role |
|
Personal Accountability |
Anonymity of the system |
|
Emphasis on originality / Creativity |
Emphasis on knowledge of material |
|
Emphasis on “hands-on experience” |
Emphasis on Theory |
|
Students expected to challenge and engage |
Students expected to listen and absorb. |
· Egalitarianism / Democracy – Idea that all men and women have equal social and political rights has implications for student/teacher relations. Students in the American educational system are expected to participate and engage in the material. Those that do are seen as active learners. Other cultures may perceive this behavior as rude or aggressive.
· Individualism, Independence, Originality – The “rugged individual” or “cowboy” metaphor still persists today. American students appreciate and expect individual recognition and attention. They are encouraged to think for themselves and to express their creativity by thinking and working unconventionally. Thus, the process of coming to a consensus or a compromise on various issues may seem difficult or even antagonistic to people from other cultures. Also, open assignments that encourage creativity and free thinking may be daunting to those used to structured environments.
· Informality – Students are expected to build closer relationships with their instructors and a higher degree of informality may exist. Titles are used sparingly and most instructors prefer to be referred to on a first name basis (depending on the school, of course). American instructors may also interact with the class more informally than those instructors from other cultures. The casual demeanor of the students should not be mistaken for disrepect.
· Americans employ a number of colloquial expressions, both linguistic and culturally-driven. For example, “Doh!” – comes from The Simpsons, a popular animated series on television and is usually used as an expression of dismay. Sources for these expressions will come from media, sports, local academic cultures, and various historical personages (“Read my lips.”).
· A comprehensive list of everything that you’d need to know to understand Americans would fill up a good sized book and is changing constantly. It’s not important that you understand or memorize everything but you should try and develop a sufficient library to help your social interactions.
· It’s absolutely appropriate to stop a speaker and ask what they meant by a certain phrase. It avoids misunderstandings later on.
A brief list would include:
· Nationality
· Cultural Heritage
· Language
· Academic / Intellectual Background
· Work History
· Age
· Gender
· Religion
· Family Background
· Economic Background
· Political Affiliation
· Disabilities
· Activities, Hobbies, Interests
· Sexual Orientation
· Recognize any biases or stereotypes you may have absorbed. Do you interact with people in ways that manifest double standards? For example, is your grading consistent across students independent of historical performance or background?
· Create a friendly environment for dialogue. – This is a good heuristic for teaching in general but it’s especially good to take into account cultural differences. Treat each student as an individual and deal with all of them equally. Remember to respect differences.
· Watch choose examples and words that can be universally understood. Try an avoid local colloquialisms whenever possible. Also avoid examples that assume universal experience – such as those drawn from popular media in a particular country. Sometimes culturally relevant examples are interesting and should be used but remember to explain the background.
· Ask for periodic feedback. Make sure that you’ve created an atmosphere such that the person that you’re interacting with knows that they can let you know when you’ve said or done something that made them uncomfortable somehow.
· Ask students to clarify special needs. - They should have a letter from ADAPTS (Access Disabled Assistants Program for Tech Students) that clarifies what they need in the way of lecture and/or test-taking support (such as more time).
· Remember that disabled students are students first, disabled second.
· Be sensitive to non-visible disabilities.
· Ensure access to out-of-class activities.
· In conversation, directly address the student, not an aide or interpreter.
· Listen attentively when a student with a speech disability is speaking.
· Do not interrupt.
· Observe seating needs.
· Become more informed about other cultures through interactions with people from these cultures and through research into their language and history.
· Stay current with world events. It’s very easy to develop a certain shortsightedness about how important your country’s events are in relation to the rest of the world. What types of problems are facing someone else’s country? Because of the interconnectedness of our economic and political systems, events in other countries can have great impacts on your own. In addition to improving your current events literacy, you can form a better common ground for dialogue when you encounter people from these countries.
· Ask questions of people from different backgrounds about your own culture. For example, asking foreign students about their perceptions of life in your country can give you some interesting insights into your own culture.
· Ask questions of people from different backgrounds about their own lives. What do they like most about their home? What is it like living there? What kinds of foods do they eat? What kind of music do they listen to? And so on.
· Be evenhanded in how you acknowledge students’ good work.
· Convey the same level of respect and confidence in the abilities of all students.
· Speak up promptly if a student makes a distasteful remark, even jokingly.
· Make it clear that you value all comments.
· Many students may have personal anecdotes or information that will bring interesting insights to the discussion. The more views and approaches you have into a particular problem, the better chance that you will discover a good answer or analysis.
· In an increasingly multicultural world and especially in a heterogeneous culture like the United States, you may be required to interact with people from many different backgrounds. The classroom can be a useful environment for learning the heuristics necessary for understanding, collaborating, and communicating with people from other cultures. This is a useful life skill.
Davis, B., Tools for Teaching, Jossey-Bass, Inc.: San Francisco, 1993.
Eschenbach, B., Parrott, R. and Arneson, I., “Teaching in a Diverse Community: Multicultural Awareness”, in Teaching Assistant Development Program, College of Engineering, Cornell University, 1993.
Hewlett-Packard, Managing Diversity / Affirmative Action, Corporate Training and Development
Streicher, R., Graduate Teaching Assistant Handbook, Center for Teaching Development, University of California, San Diego, 1996.