Essay Example: How Using Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Aides the Language Learners

Pedagogy is an approach to teaching that generally defines the teaching process and the interaction between the teacher and the learner. It can be influenced by several factors, most notably cultural, social, and economic backgrounds (Kessler, 2018). Culture can be defined in different ways, but in this context, it is an aggregation of beliefs, norms, and behaviors of a specific group of people over a long period. For example, in a work environment, a business may have certain beliefs or practice that has been done over time like dress code, and organizational policies which can be classified as the culture of the company. Responsiveness is the ability to react to a given event in the fastest time possible.

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Over the years in the educational field, there has been an increase in diversity in gender, culture, ethnicity, and race. As a result of diversity, there was a need to ensure that learning institutions had a diverse group of students, all these students were treated in the same way, and they had equal opportunities in their education, among other things. Cultural responsive pedagogy is the solution to diversity in learning institutions. It is the integration of student's cultural references to their educational curriculum. Cultural responsive teaching aides emergent language learners in various ways; for example, it motivates and encourages the students, and nurtures critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities. Therefore culturally responsive teaching has a huge impact on the learning process of emergent learners.

Lack of culturally responsive teaching could have negative impacts on the learning of emergent language learners. Since culturally responsive teaching gives the instructor the opportunity to understand the learners more and understand their perspectives lack of such a teaching method would mean that their instructors will often misunderstand learners. There will be a lack of sync between the teacher and the student since the teacher does not understand the student’s culture and their behavior or perspective on certain things.

Learning is not only an in-class experience but an outside class experience. Cultural responsive teaching allows the teacher to use different cultural backgrounds to deliver a meaningful message from an educational perspective (Obot, 2019). In the process of using different cultures to induce a teachable moment, this brings about a different perspective of teaching altogether. Students can now think outside the box, and they can be able to relate their education to some of their practices at home. The result is students become more motivated to study, and the learning process is made enjoyable. Without culturally responsive teaching, students are not able to relate what they have learned to their cultural references, which stunts the growth in students as far as critical thinking and problem-solving skills are concerned.

In any educational facility, the goal is to produce students who will make the world a better place through their different contributions to society and the nation. Culture is an area of debate that brings about different perspectives from different people. A culturally responsive education setup allows teachers to encourage their students to embrace their cultural backgrounds and heritage. To achieve this, teachers may create a session where different students give a brief description of their culture and an overview of their culture's perspective. The effect of this is that students can be more comfortable about their cultural backgrounds, and there is respect between the students and their different cultural backgrounds. Where such a teaching method is not applied, many students may end up being ashamed of identifying with their culture because of fear of discrimination or being ridiculed, and such negative experiences can make such a student's performance drop considerably.

In a teacher-student environment, the teacher's perspective is considered the most compared to the opinion of a student, which means that the teacher has the most influence on a student's performance in their educational journey. A culturally responsive teaching system helps a teacher understand his students better, meaning he can help them, whether individually or collectively, without discrimination (Samuels, 2018). Where a teacher does not understand his students because of differing opinions or pre-judgment because of one's culture, then learning will not be effective. As a result, the teacher-student relationship will be compromised, and such a situation would demoralize a student. Some students may also need personal attention, and they may be afraid of seeking attention from the teacher because they feel that the teacher may already have a predetermined judgment in their regards.

Cultural responsive teaching is important to emergent language learners as it has a huge impact on their learning development. Diversity in and outside a classroom set up is inevitable, and hence, such a teaching method helps such students adapt to a diverse environment in the future (Behrend, 2019). Some of the benefits that they can obtain from this method of teaching include being open-minded. Students will be exposed to a diverse range of opinions and perspectives, which helps them be open-minded. They become open to new ideologies and can view different issues from different perspectives, which creates a holistic approach to things.

Students get an opportunity to learn about their own cultures and that of others. Getting a good understanding of one's culture is crucial in responding to a different culture. One has to understand himself to be able to understand others. It is also applicable to culture. Students learn about their cultures and that of others, which makes them free and comfortable with any differences arising from different backgrounds as they progress in their future. This understanding encourages interaction between students of different cultures and increases confidence in the students.

It helps students better understand lessons and people with diverse cultures. For instance, if there was a topic on immigration to be discussed in a class setup, different students from different cultures may have mixed opinions. Allowing the students to express their opinions and the teacher, then considering all these opinions and relating it to the educational aspect behind the discussion, makes them relate better to the topic being taught. It also makes them able to use their strengths and perspectives to contribute constructively in a learning environment.

Globalization has brought about an increase in diversity in different countries. Students are regarded as tomorrow's leaders, and it is the teacher's responsibility to guide the students along the right path. Enabling cultural awareness through culturally responsive teaching is a positive step in preparing students to be fine people in society. As many companies embrace a more diverse workforce, people must work or coexist peacefully with persons from different cultures. Cultural responsive teaching gives a chance for students to be nurtured early enough on how to get along with people of different cultural backgrounds (Schwarzenthal, Schachner, Juang & Vijver, 2020). Such teaching methods prove useful to the student in their future when they get to live or work in a diverse environment, and they adapt easily without any problems.

Through culturally responsive teaching, there is equality and acknowledgment of the diverse cultures in learning institutions. Such awareness gives all students equal opportunities to succeed. Similar treatment from teachers and equal chances to participate in different school activities. School performances massively improve as there is an understanding between the teacher and his students. Such understandings bring motivation to the students who are now determined to succeed and to apply the different lessons they gained in class in the outside world.

References

Kessler, K. (2018). Culturally Responsive Teaching And Social Emotional Learning: A Self-Assessment Tool For Educators.

Behrend, K. (2019). Culturally Responsive Curriculum and Literature for Primary Grade English Learners.

Schwarzenthal, M., Schachner, M. K., Juang, L. P., & van de Vijver, F. J. (2020). Reaping the benefits of cultural diversity: Classroom cultural diversity climate and students’ intercultural competence. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(2), 323-346. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2617

Samuels, A. J. (2018). Exploring Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Teachers' Perspectives on Fostering Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms. SRATE Journal, 27(1), 22-30.

Obot, I. M. (2019). Culture, education, and philosophy: towards an effective integration into the Nigerian school curriculum. International Journal of Educational Research, 6(2), 174-183.