Correlation between Students Progress and Cultural Awareness - Research Proposal Example

Correlation between Student’s Progress and Cultural Awareness xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Circumstances That Hinder Student from Certain Background from Academic Success xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date 1.0. Correlation between Student’s Progress and Cultural Awareness 1.1. Introduction The student’s diversity is on the increase through out the world. As the world develops to a global village, there is a concern on factors that affect students’ performance. The concern of all stakeholders is enhancing equity in all education institutions. The main challenges that result to poor performance in students from certain cultural backgrounds include absenteeism, discipline referrals, lack of school fess, difficulties faced in adapting to a new culture and ignorance by the teacher where the teaching module does not consider the diversity of students. The student’s diversity is in form of race, ethnicity, culture, spoken language, disability and class (Popkin 2002). Curriculum and teaching materials are developed with the majority students in mind who in most cases are the citizens of the country where the school is located. Learners are also influenced externally especially within family members, extended community as well as culture (Bryan & Atwater 2002). Most 21st Century schools reflect cultural, ethnically as well as racially diverse scholars population ever witnessed in the history of education in UK. Institution should establish programs that will address this sensitive issue if effective performance is to be achieved. 1.1.1 Objectives To identify any factor that affects student performance To establish the group of student vulnerable to poor performance as a result of the effect of social cultural issues To identify the solutions to current challenges facing students from identified social cultural backgrounds 1.2. Issues Hindering Student Performance A research by the national Research council conducted indicated that certain students performed poorly in science subjects due to discrimination. These groups included those who were not proficient in English, those living with disabilities, students of color, girls and women. Common misunderstandings that students from given cultural back grounds cannot perform well limits the teacher’s support to the student which is necessary for improved performance. According to Gay (2000), negative attitudes towards students of color by their teachers, personal rejects, cultural ethnocentrism, ethnic stereotyping and racial biases result to teachers fearing, demeaning and devaluing Asian American, Native American, Latino, African American and African students in their institutions. Due to this attitude, the teacher is not in a position to meet the student needs. Class instructions and policies governing the education institutions fail in that they do not offer equal opportunities for diverse students and these results to their poor performance in class and in the job markets. Developed approaches in dealing with cultural diversity also fail in that they do seek to understand the social cultural influences and student thinking. Designed approaches try to develop or socialize the student in to a new culture rather than integrate meaning into their cultural experiences (Aikenhead 2001). This isolates the class from the community resources and the social worlds. When teachers fail to draw to students’ cultural knowledge, the relationship between the two institutions is at stake. The child does not get support from the family which may think that the school is trying to instill a different culture in their children, and the school which does not relate the class ideas with students’ awareness of their culture and the environment surrounding them. There is a disconnection between the community which the student is a member and the school. This means that the ideas learnt in class are not applicable in the day to day lifestyle of the student (Bouillion & Gomez 2001). 1.2.1 Language barrier Traveling students’ performance is greatly affected by language barrier. Most students are not conversant with the foreign language. Language skills are perceived as the basic reason for inequality in many work places as well as schools and also seen as a lower mark. This makes many students not to contribute to group discussion and other social function in school. According to past studies, student that did not converse well in English were not included in interior discussion and only contributed their views in a very structured manner (Davis & Krajcik 2005). Though most teachers often try to include them in discussions but the group finally gets tired as their level and process of creativity is slowed down. Diversity as far as academic objectives were concerned appeared to largely influence students’ frustration as well as satisfaction of work done by the group. Most students do not efficient and fail to submit quality work due to language barrier. They prefer to work with other students with similar cultural difference because it is easier and are able to produce quality work and also equal group participation. Nevertheless, this automatically leaves out foreign student who might have shown interest in joining the group (Davis 2006). Creativity is then delayed by group diversity because they take time to create understanding and norms that will positively influence results. It was found out that students worked successfully with their friends. This only favors the native students because they relate well hence making it hard for foreign student who take time to establish friendships (Kesidou 2002). To solve this problem there should be an increase in number of instructors whose goal is to create an environment that will enhance student learning. Teachers are therefore urged to go beyond nationality as well cultural diversity so as to accurately assess and analyze the effects of group diversity in work. Students who travel to foreign country to further education sometimes face rejection simply because they do understand to interpret verbal or non verbal messages used in that country. Most country pays more attention to nonverbal expression. This may become extremely difficult to understand and interpret because of cultural differences. 1.2.2. Cultural differences For instance students from many Latin American and Asian cultures express respect by avoiding eye contact of authority persons. A teacher who may be unfamiliar with this kind of cultural norm might however interpret it as sign of disrespect (Edelson 2001). For many American Indian students they avoid looking the teacher in the eye because it is seen as disrespect yet teachers from different culture may think that the students were not motivated or even attentive. Attitudes about physical contact are greatly influenced by cultural diversity that is whether to greet a person by a handshake, hug or even a pat on the shoulder. In Asia, female pals can comfortably hold each other hands and men can also embrace each other as they walk along the streets however, Americans may feel a little uncomfortable with such public displays. In some parts of Middle East and South America, people stand very close while conversing. Europeans Americans likes more distance between them while talking while some African Americans maintain distance while conversing. If foreign students in UK have no idea about such cultures they may feel embarrassed incase they showed the wrong gestures. Having no idea of these behaviors can hinder someone from comprehending or even accepting the message one is trying to put across. Foreign students are urged to learn and be sensitive to these silent ideas (Fradd et al 2001). The students are not comfortable socializing and this may greatly affect their performance. Teachers from all walks of the world are urged to embrace and accept students’ cultural differences and diversity for them to deliver effectively. Teachers should correct their students promptly if a student made an offensive remark that express racism or one that would impact negatively to foreign students. Both racisms and classes have greatly contributed to conflicts that occur between institutions. For instance, when institutions represents an Anglo centric and middle – class views and ideas these students and families often feel undermined and devalued (Lee 2004). This is mostly experienced to many Spanish – speaking students. For these students, the common issue is that English is not their native language hence making it hard for them to understand. This makes them feel undervalued yet many student to whom English is not their native language continues to enroll in different learning institutions in UK. Instead of encouraging and reinforcing student’s self- confidence as well as self esteem, most schools compromises their learning potential by undermining and rejecting both their language and culture. It is even worse when they undermine and undervalue the culture of poor and minority student. Teachers on the other hand encourage ominous choice of culture that only identify with friends and immediate family members and fail to embrace school culture. The result is that many students choose family and friends thus becoming unwilling to engage socially in school culture. Foreign students who do not know the language nor have relatives in the native country have a worse experience. The students feel stressed and if these issues are not addressed the performance level drops and the intended goals are not achieved (Lynch 2005). Some students may also create opposition’s vices that draw separation that prevents them from bonding and supporting each other. Thus, institution achievement leads to reduction of peer affiliation as well as support. Teachers should encourage the native students to embrace and respect difference cultures show by foreign students for them all to achieve. For foreign students to increase their performance teachers should learn to listen to their voices the same way with native students. Teachers should practice patience with these students as they learn to communicate to avoid discouraging them to participate in class and other social function. Institutions should establish and use different alternative assessment that will enhance equitable learning results for all students. 2.0. Addressing Issues that hinder student performance To enhance student performance at any level continuous teacher development programs are necessary and the teacher should be trained to meet the needs of the diverse students in the institutions. High performance and persistent expectations have been found to greatly contribute to student’s success. Only those teachers that respect cultural diversity support their students in learning as past researches indicate that teachers’ expectations on a student influence his or her performance. It has been a common belief that students from families with diverse characteristics such as the social class and race are less capable as compared to others. The social experiences of the students are very diverse as their culture. As a result, the teacher fails when he or she draws examples explaining an idea based on one specific culture. To ensure equity in the learning process, the teacher should draw from all culture when giving illustrations (Gay 2000). It is thus the role of the teacher to appreciate the fact that the students are different, have been brought up in different cultural setting and that the knowledge they already hold is not useless or one that should be dismissed but is important and the teacher should seek to build on that. This means that the language, ideas, concepts and student experiences are all important in the learning processes. 2.1. Stakeholders in a Learning Environment 2.1.1. The teacher For a teacher to deliver successful and equal learning opportunities to all learners it is important for him to know them. This comprises knowing about inborn personality and even the acquired cultural values that might affect behaviors. It is true that every student no matter the age is an immediate product of nature as well as nurture. Everyone is born with predisposition for acquiring knowledge in certain manners. Researchers have also confirmed that learning patterns and process are a direct function of nature as well as nurture. Cultural diversity is a great contributory to student failure in many schools. Students of different color who are seem as inferior and of low self esteem. This negatively affects their performance and is not in a position to freely socialize with other students. Teachers should encourage positive self esteem to these students for effective performance to be achieved. They other expectation is that they understand and encourage students, taking their differences into consideration. By doing so they will be able to respond to diversity they often encounter in institutions. They should implement learning styles, concepts as well as research challenges that will help in understanding of individuality. Teachers will also be committed to help each and every individual to perform his or her best in learning as well as teaching process. The initial practical application is create awareness of style and cultural differences. This include the acceptance of the fact that people learn in different manners therefore they should be prepared to face decisions about uniformity and diversity. Students can all be successful learners if teachers established effective learning styles and have knowledge on how to handle cultural diversity. This will certainly enhance both domestic and foreign students to achieve their intended goal in school. Alternative assessments should be merged with both curriculum and instructions for them to enhance equity in students learning. These alternative assessments should also be able to cover cultural diversity thus promoting performance of foreign students. Equity might not be achieved if everyone involved in students’ education does not see the assessment tools as responsible for enhancing fairness. Therefore it is very important for teachers’ parent and community that are held responsible for alternative assessment should to comply so to enhance fairness in learning process. 2.1.2. Educator and school counselors Educator and school counselors search for various effective ways of increasing academic excellence, reduce levels of discipline referrals and also curbing absenteeism. Foreign students’ needs should also be taken into consideration as far as this program as concerned. Some countries have tried to address this. UK has not been left behind in this as she tries to work on new policies as well as train her teachers to appreciate diversity through various developed programs (Barab & Luehmann 2003)). These programs provide essential counseling session, guidance and parent education to individuals and also small groups. This is very important to foreign student who can now comfortably express their needs. In return this will increase student participation and also performance (Popkin 2002). 2.1.3 Parents Though schools may provide essential programs to help address the issues of diversity and cultural differences, parents should play the greatest role. Parents should often offer their full support to their students, this helps to minimize discipline referrals and also increased student performance (Mattingly et al 2002). 3.0. Conclusion The need for involvement of all stakeholders is evident especially when dealing with the vulnerable group of students such as travelers and those speaking a different native language. A teacher’s attitude is one of the aspects that greatly affect the students’ performance. With the support of the teachers, these vulnerable groups will be able to enjoy a comfortable learning environment as well as be able to freely socialize with fellow students. Cultural issues should be addressed when developing and effecting learning policies. 4.0. Bibliography Aikenhead, G, 2001, Integrating Western and Aboriginal sciences, Cross-cultural science teaching, Research in Science Education, 31, 337-355. Barab, A, & Luehmann L, 2003, Building sustainable science curriculum, Acknowledging and accommodating local adaptation, Science Education, 87, 4, 454-467. Bryan, A, & Atwater, M, 2002, Teacher beliefs and cultural models, A challenge for science teacher preparation programs, Science Education, 86,6, 821-839. Bouillion, L, & Gomez, L, 2001, Connecting School and Community with Science Learning: Real World Problems and School-Community Partnerships as Contextual Scaffolds, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(8), 878-898. Davis, E, 2006, Pre-service elementary teachers' critique of instructional materials for science, Science Education, 90, 2, 348-375. Davis, E, & Krajcik S, 2005,, Designing educative curriculum materials to promote teacher learning, Educational Researcher, 34,3, 3-14. Edelson, C, 2001, Learning-for-use, A framework for the design of technology-supported inquiry activities, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38, 3, 355-385. Fradd, H, Lee, O, Sutman, X,, & Saxton, K, 2001, Promoting science literacy with English language learners through instructional materials development, A case study, Bilingual Research Journal, 25,4, 479-501. Gay, G, 2000, Culturally responsive teaching, theory, research, and practice, New York, NY, Teachers College Press. Kesidou, S, & Roseman, E, 2002, How well do middle school science programs measure up? Findings from Project 2061's curriculum review, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 36, 6, 522-549. Lee, O, 2004, Teacher change in beliefs and practices in science and literacy instruction with English language learners, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41,1, 65-93. Lynch, S, Kuipers, J, Pyke, C, & Szesze, M, 2005, Examining the effects of a highly rated science curriculum unit on diverse students, Results from a planning grant, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 42,8, 921-946. Mattingly, D, Prislin, R, McKenzie, L, Rodriguez, L, & Kayzar, B, 2002, Evaluating evaluations, The case of parent involvement programs, Review of Educational Research, 72,4, 549-576. Popkin, M, H, 2002, Active parenting now, A parent’s guide, Kennesaw, GA, Active Parenting. 5.0. Appendix Questionnaire Questionnaire code No:……………………. 1. Sex 2. Marital Status single Married Divorce Separated 3. Race 4. Native language African Asian American Native American Latino African American Part B 1. What do you think are the main challenge to your performance while schooling in a foreign country? 2. Does the school environment discriminate you in any way? Yes No 3. Is communication a challenge for you? Yes No 4. How has the school environment affected your performance?................................................................................................................................................. 5. Does a teacher’s attitude affect your contribution in class Yes No 6. Do you frequently participate in class discussions? Yes No 7. If not, why?................................................................................. Read More