Running head: CULTURE AND LANGUAGE GAPS

Culture and Language Gaps

Monet Nielsen
Foundations of Education in a Diverse Society

Running head: CULTURE AND LANGUAGE GAPS

Main Purposes of Education

The purpose of education is to develop a childs critical thinking, problem solving, and
social skills through a multicultural, inclusive classroom that works on hands-on, real world
problems.
The Problem
Todays classrooms are becoming more diverse, which leads to culture and language gaps.
Diversity in the classroom is essential to social learning, including ideas of tolerance and
equality. Students also can learn about other students backgrounds and discover new
perspectives and beliefs. Without teachers who have proper training, backgrounds in TESOL
(Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) or CRP (Culturally Relevant Pedagogy)
todays education system can easily fail students of color, students without documentation, and
English learners. To address language and culture gaps in the public school system, teachers
need further education and training in teaching English for speakers of other languages and
culturally relevant pedagogy; more teachers from diverse backgrounds are needed in the field,
and systematic inequalities must be changed including, but not restricted to, high stakes
standardized testing, school funding, and socially and culturally homogenous schools. However,
teachers being trained in TESOL and CRP and teachers from more diverse backgrounds are only
the beginning of the process for systematic change, including teaching children the importance of
multicultural education and additive language programs. This paper will focus on the
importance of TESOL and CRP.
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
When teachers are not trained in TESOL, English language learners may be wrongly
placed in Special Education, instead of receiving the help they really need. It can be difficult to

Running head: CULTURE AND LANGUAGE GAPS

tell the difference between a child struggling with a language and a child with a disability. Many
programs for ELLs or English language learners in the US are subtractive, which means the
student loses his/her first language when learning English. Subtractive programs are English
Only, while in additive programs, the student continues to develop her first language in some
way. Some believe subtractive programs are cheaper or work faster to get a child into the
mainstream public school and if a value is not placed on the students heritage language, then a
subtractive program is put in place. This can be especially difficult for a student who is
struggling to learn English while losing her heritage language, making it difficult for him to
communicate with anyone. Subtractive language programs mean a loss of culture, relationships
with ones family and community, and do not produce better outcomes.
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Culturally Relevant Pedagogy is effective teaching in culturally diverse classrooms.
Teachers must use knowledge of students funds of knowledge, including their cultural
backgrounds in instruction. A culturally relevant classroom is based on the idea that learning is a
social process that is related to students past experiences, including their culture, i.e., children
are not blank slates. Teachers can therefore enhance a students success by learning about the
students funds of knowledge or background, and using this knowledge to engage and motivate
the student. If content knowledge is relevant to a students culture, he will be more likely to
remember it (Irvine, 2010, p. 58-59). All students can gain from having culturally relevant
instruction because they all have different funds of knowledge that will shape the way they learn.
Culturally Relevant Instruction uses real world examples to help students relate and remember
the content. Teachers use multiple representations of the content knowledge that employs the
students lived experiences. The real world experiences may relate to multiple spheres of

Running head: CULTURE AND LANGUAGE GAPS

influence in a childs life. Every student has many different forms and levels of knowledge from
his/her lived experience, which can be built upon, based on her ZPD or Zone of Proximal
Development. Culturally relevant teaching can work in any subject and at any level. Culturally
relevant instruction creates supports for students by creating effective instruction through a
cultural lens and helping students understand new concepts and ideas or build upon old ones. By
basing instruction on a students lived experiences, the content knowledges meaning is
constructed from the students point a view. If a teacher tries to build fluency on a concept that
is not part of a childs ZAD or Zone of Actual Development due to cultural differences, there
may not be a successful learning outcome. For example, a class might be working on
classification and the teacher wants the students to classify different objects. The teacher is
assuming the students can identify these objects correctly. Some children may view the chosen
objects differently or may not have been exposed to them (Irvine, 2010, p. 60-61). The teacher
then has the responsibility to bridge the cultural gap and build off of their lived experiences and
cultural differences, choosing objects to which all the students can relate. Part of being a
culturally relevant teacher is having a caring relationship with students and simply getting to
know their interests as well as their funds of knowledge. Culturally relevant teachers reflect on
classroom experiences so they can learn more about a students cultural experiences and
preferred learning environment. Culturally relevant teachers extend the reflection into action
research or identifying problems, finding solutions, implementing aforementioned solutions and
reflecting on the results. A culturally relevant teacher also works on confronting inequalities in
our society and empowering students to change our society.
Conclusion
TESOL and CRP are ways to help minority students to be successful in school and achieve

Running head: CULTURE AND LANGUAGE GAPS

higher learning outcomes. Moreover, TESOL and CRP can enrich all learners education, not
only diverse learners. Another important solution is attracting more teachers of color. Changing
immigration policies can help with this, to let people who are already here who have an interest
in education become teachers and get the proper documentation. Currently, additive dualimmersion programs that typically serve white students who want to learn a second language, are
populated by white teachers and white foreign teachers instead of the people of different cultures
who are already in our country. Our system currently favors bringing in a white teacher from
Spain to teach Spanish instead of giving documentation to a teacher of color who is already here.
If we make having teachers of color a priority, we can create scholarship programs and make
hiring teachers of color a priority for districts. Some of the solutions for teacher shortages will
also encourage teachers of color to join the profession, including but not restricted to, increasing
education funding, increasing teacher salary, having more principal and administration support,
which in turn increases teacher retention.

Running head: CULTURE AND LANGUAGE GAPS

References
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Irvine, J. J. (2010). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Education Digest: Essential Readings

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