Straddling Two Cultures: Uncovering Parts of a Transnational Chinese Teacher's Implicit Cultural Model of Teaching Within the Context of American Kindergarten

• In Event: 18.071 - Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: 18.071-6 - Chinese Teachers and North American Schools: Navigating Language, Culture, and Identity

Abstract

This paper seeks to show how a transnational teacher’s thinking and classroom practices are influenced by cultural contexts and to uncover the parts of her cultural models of teaching. Data sources for this paper include self-reported data from a questionnaire and an interview and classroom observation. Through a preliminary analysis of a case subject’s data, the results show some disparities between Chinese and American ideologies and practices of teaching. It is also found that the teacher's deeply internalized cultural model may have had a more profound impact on her than previously expected.

Author

• Pei-Ying Wu, California State Univerisity - Fresno