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The Times of Science
Surzhyk Alona Vadumivna
Kirovohrad Fligft Academy of at National Aviation University Theory and methodology of higher education(1st year)
Scientific supervisor: Plachynda T.S. the candidate of pedagogical science,
assistant professor
BUILDING CULTURAL BRIDGES DURING MULTICULTURAL STUDY
Annotation. This article deals with the influence of cultural differences and the peculiarities of foreign cadets during their studying at higher establishments. Author describes the way of teaching at multicultural classes. Also the article deals with such phenomenon as «triple quandary». It also covers the cultural aspect of teaching in order to find the right way in some problematic situations connected with cross-cultural environment at the academy. The author describes the program which can help teachers to solve multicultural problem at their classes.
Аннотаттия. ^атья описывает влияние культурных различий и особенностей иностранных курсантов в процессе их обучения в высших заведениях. Автор описывает способ преподавания в мультикультурных классах. Также в статье описывается такое явление как «тройное недоумение». Так же в статье обсуждается культурный контекст преподавания, для того чтобы найти правильный путь в некоторых проблемных ситуаций, связанных с кросс-культурной средой в академии. Автор описывает программу, которая может помочь учителям решить мультикультурные проблемы во время занятий.
Key words: cadet, socio-culture, multicultural education, cross-culture, training programe.
Ключевые слова: кадет, социо-культура, мультикультурное образование, кросс-культура, программа обучения.
The fact is that one of the most compelling features of current academies demographics is the growing socio-cultural gap between teachers and cadets. Although the percentage of Kirovohrad Flight Academy foreign cadets one is poor, and limited English speaking is increasing significantly, the number of teachers from similar branches is declining. This distribution has some major influence on professional preparation of teachers and for how classroom instruction is conducted. The discussion
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that follows describes some of the specific demographic characteristics of students and teachers, explains some of the implications of these for teacher education, and offers some suggestions for how teachers’ preparation programs should be worked out to meet these demographic realities.
There are nearly 40% of foreign students from different countries with different cultures study at Kirovohrad Flight Academy. And sometimes it is hard for teachers to build a warm cultural relationship. Also, there are some cases when the cultural problem becomes primary between students with different cultures.
Some of the most crucial cultural misunderstanding in classrooms occur in the areas of cultural values, patterns of communication and cognitive processes, task performance or work habits, self-presentation styles, and approaches to problem solving. Many of these incompatibilities happen subconsciously; although it does not distract from their importance. Moreover it increases their significance as obstacles to successful teaching and learning in culturally pluralistic classrooms and it is to be targeted for implementation into the multicultural teacher preparation programs.
Living and functioning effectively in culturally pluralistic classrooms can be highly stressful for both students and teachers. Trying to unite two or more different cultural systems can take psychoemotional priority over attending to academic tasks. Stress and anxiety correlate inversely with task performance. As psychoemotional stress levels increase in culturally pluralistic classrooms, teaching and learning task performance declines, thereby reducing the overall quality of academic efforts and achievement outcomes [2]. Teachers spend grate amounts of time for classroom control and maintaining the Anglocentric cultural hegemonic status quo. Culturally different cadets spend much of their psychoemotional and mental resources defending themselves from attacks on their psychic senses of well-being. Many find themselves in what Banks [1] calls a “triple quandary,” having to negotiate simultaneously in three often-disparate realms of experience: the mainstream school culture, their natal ethnic cultures, and the status of being members of oppressed, powerless, and unvalued minority groups.
These conditions do not create “safe and supportive” environments for learning, one of the commonly accepted requirements for effective schooling. Instead it results in classroom climates charged with adversarial opposition, distrust, hostility, and heightened levels of discomfort and tension. Neither students nor teacher can function at their best under these circumstances. Thus being able to identify stress-provoking factors
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in cross-cultural instructional interactions and knowing how to alleviate them can be a vital way to improve the overall quality of teaching in pluralistic classrooms.
An assumption held by many teachers is that students from certain ethnic groups and social classes are “universally disadvantaged or incompetent” because they do not do well on academic tasks. These teachers further assume that the normative ways of doing things at the academy, whether they deal with social adaptation or academic issues, are the only “correct” and •acceptable ones.
Furthermore, all individuals are not equally capable in all intellectual areas. Some are artistic; others are more scientific, mechanical, literary, or musical. Gardner [3] supports this opinion in the scientific work on multiple intelligences, and explains the benefits of teaching according to different students’ modality strengths. But teachers frequently do not apply this principle to functioning in different cultural systems. They assume that deficiency in one area extends to all others. Thus cadets who are poor and from racial minority groups become “culturally deprived,” “at risk,” “learning disabled,” and “socially maladaptive,” and all of their educational experiences are very affected. Cadets with limited English proficiencies are too often assumed also to have limited intellectual potential in mathematics, science, computers, and critical thinking. These orientations need to be replaced with ones that emphasize situational competence and the understanding that all students are competent in some things within certain environments. The challenge for teachers is to determine what individual strengths and cultural competencies different students present in the classroom and to design learning experiences to inspire them.
These positive perceptions of personal competence begin to erode for many culturally different cadets shortly after they start their studying. A persistent message is sent to them, in innumerable ways, of all the things they do not have and cannot do. The longer they stay at the academy, the more persuasive this message becomes. They become helpless, insecure, and incompetent. This concept of learned helplessness is crucial for understanding the place of these cadets at the academy and teachers’ attitudes and behaviors to avoid its prevailing.
Basic principles of learning is more likely to master new learnings through the previous experience. These principles apply to the content of the material to be learned, as well as to the structures, conditions, and environments under which learning occurs. Setting, environment, and climate are important factors in fostering desired behavior.
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Thus students who are accustomed to work being framed in informal social relations and group structures outside school will perform better if this tradition is continued in the classroom, rather than in formal, highly competitive, and individualistic situations.
This challenge can be achieved by doing cultural context teaching. That is, placing the mechanics and technical components of teaching and learning into the cultural frameworks of various ethnic, racial, and social groups. Stated somewhat differently, cultural context teaching synchronizes various cultural styles of teaching and learning and creates culturally compatible classrooms that provide genuine invitations and opportunities for all students to engage involve maximum academic issues without any group being advantaged or penalized [3]
Cultural context teaching is somewhat analogous to segmented marketing in business and industry. As the United States evolved from a factory-driven to a consumer-driven economy, corporations moved rapidly from total reliance on mass media advertising to marketing strategies designed for specifically targeted segments of the population. The shift involves identifying the values, institutions, connections, concerns, experiences, and motivations of key consumer segments; affiliating with esteemed individuals, organizations, and activities that embody these features to enter into the “circles of trust” of different consumer groups; and packaging products and services to match the life-styles of the various groups. The merits of these strategies are readily apparent -“increased consideration translates into increased sales” [4].
Educational institutions are very susceptible to the opinions of business and industry. They have a long tradition of borrowing models from the corporate world and using economic reasoning to justify program priorities. Education, like other consumer goods and services, must be marketed effectively if it is aimed at “selling” and success. Just as mass, homogeneous advertising is necessary in the economic marketplace, so it’s the same in the educational marketplace.
The results obtained from small-scale pilot studying indicate that most of the special education administrators insist that special education teachers, who work with foreign students, should participate in multicultural education in-service training that focuses directly on issues relevant to their youth and their families. Twenty out of 21 directors conducted a seminar or taught a course in multicultural education. But only four of the special education administrators stated that they received formal training in multicultural education. Because leadership in multicultural in-service training appears
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to fall to them, statewide training of administrators must be addressed. Exposing them to a high-quality multicultural educational training program is of primary importance. Such a program would include the components described previously (e.g., attitudinal selfawareness activities, accurate knowledge about cultural ethnic groups, and implementation of this knowledge into the classroom and parental interactions).
The current study is a small exploratory one. A larger, more detailed research project is needed to acquire a better understanding of the perceptions of people who conduct multicultural educational training for special education teachers and their competency to develop and implement this training. Such research should investigate the competencies of trainers who have received formal training in multicultural education inservice programs versus those who have not. All in all it is needed on how formally prepared trainers show leadership in proposing and supporting multicultural education in-service programs.
Another area of inquiry should center on how these leaders enhance a positive relationship between special education personnel and foreign cadet’s families. For special educators working at the academy with large percentage of foreign students such training programs should include attitudinal awareness activities, specific topics, and concrete experiences that result in an profound understanding of these students and their families.
According to Banks [1], despite the increase in multicultural education in-service training workshops, little information may be carried over into the school and classroom environment. Therefore, factors that increase the probability of carryover into daily teaching practices warrant research. One of these essential factors may be the amount of time, which special educators are engaged in multicultural education in-service programs. In general, effective in-service programs should use formats that encourage ongoing education (conducted over a period of time), not “one-shot” programs. Learning to teach multicultural education perspective is a process involving attitudinal and overt behavioral change, it needs an extended training. Research does not provide a standard timeline for such training. However, literature pertaining to in-service models in general suggests several options: monthly training sessions focusing on a specific topic (e.g., learning styles, positive classroom interpersonal communication patterns); several (3-4) sessions every semester (fall and spring); or 2-3 weeks of daily meetings during the summer. Regardless of limitations in time, self- evaluation of attitudes concerning cultural diversity must be an integral part of any multicultural education in-service
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training program. Culture: Differences? Diversity! is an example of a comprehensive in-service/preservice training program developed for special education personnel at Kirovohrad Flight Academy academy. The training resource includes activities that lead personnel, over time, through the sequential stages of cultural awareness (beginning with self-awareness), understanding differences, appreciating diversity, valuing diversity, grid a commitment to the maintenance of diversity. A key component of this resource is its adaptability.
As we can see, it is imperative that we establish systematic retraining programs for special educators, for a multicultural perspective. It is suggested that we are to reduce or eliminate the barriers to equal educational opportunities and experiences for foreign student disabled. Three essentials of high-quality programming (both preservice and in service) are positive perceptions and attitudes of trainers concerning multicultural training, adequate qualifications of trainers, and the provision of ongoing multicultural education training.
REFERENCES
1. Banks, J.A. Multicultural education. Boston: Ally& Bacon. - 1989, pp.2-26.
2. Beeman, P.N. School stress and anxiety: Theory, research and intervention. New York: Human Sciences Press. 1978. - 345p.
3. Gardner, H. Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligence. New York: BasicBooks. 1983. - 241p.
4. Rueda, R.,&Prieto, A. G. Cultural pluralism: Implications for teacher education. Teacher Education and Special Education. 1979. - pp.4-11.
