Truth on This Side of the Pyrenees: Rural Teacher Narratives of Culture and Language

• In Event: 75.027 - "Post-Truth" Discourses in Rural Educational Contexts: English Learner Students, Families, and Teachers

Abstract

Purpose
The rapid increase of English learners (ELs) in rural communities means that content teachers are challenged with new expectations to teach linguistically and culturally diverse students (Reed, 2010). These teachers are part of a profession that remains largely white, middle-class, and monolingual. Research continually confirms that educators do not feel prepared to teach ELs who do not share their students’ backgrounds (Pettit, 2011; Reeves, 2006; Walker, Shafer, & Liams, 2004). Their “truth” suggests that either educators or their ELs are deficient in some regard.
Building rural teachers’ capacity and confidence to work with ELs involves cultivating self-reflection and sense-making (Phelps & Graham, 2012). Our study examines the narratives of rural content teachers enrolled in a course on teaching diverse students. In doing so, we uncover the often-overlooked perceptions of rural teachers of ELs.

Theory
Pascal’s statement “truth on this side of the Pyrenees, error on the other side” characterizes truth as socially, culturally, and geographically bound. Truth depicted in this light relies on evidence but also acknowledges differences in how we understand and interpret that evidence. Our study builds on Author’s previous work on teacher narrative. It draws from sociocultural and positioning theories, positing that interaction between self and “other” shapes social reality (Andreouli, 2010; McVee, Brock, & Glazier, 2011), and that deeply-held beliefs about culture and difference impact educational equity (Bassey, 2016). We explore teachers’ beliefs as articulated through written cultural narratives (Assaf & Dooley, 2010), with the understanding that narrative is a dialogic process (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000).

Methods & Data Sources
This qualitative study examines 41 teacher narratives as represented in a “cultural autobiography” assignment to describe their professional identity in terms of individual, interactional, and institutional cultural influences. Participants hailed from seven rural districts in one mid-Atlantic state that has experienced demographic shifts resulting in increased numbers of ELs in rural settings. Consistent with qualitative methods (Creswell, 2014), data analysis was an iterative process resulting in codes and thematic findings.

Findings
Four main themes depicting teachers’ view of their cultural place emerged from the data. Specifically, teachers (a) discussed culture in terms of social identifiers (e.g., race, class, gender); (b) understood their identity as consistent with mainstream culture; (c) acknowledged their social and economic privileges in relation to ELs; (d) assumed they did not hold biases towards students. These themes were evidenced not only by the content of teachers’ narratives, but also by their language choices. The full paper unpacks each of these themes.

Significance
This study holds significance for teacher education that builds on existing understanding. Findings reveal ways in which one group of rural educators narrates their cultural “truth.” Writing their narratives afforded opportunities for establishing meaningful interactions around culture, questioning taken-for-granted notions of culture, and, ultimately, viewing “cultural difference as a rich source of learning opportunities rather than a threat to classroom cohesion” (Ndura, 2004, p. 16). Future work can explore the implementation of similar approaches to professional learning in other rural communities.

Authors

• Patricia A DiCerbo, The George Washington University

• Lottie L. Baker, The George Washington University