Preparing Culturally Competent Teachers Using Disciplinary Multicultural Writing Assignments: A Mixed-Methods Study

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Reading the Word and Writing the World: Critical Literacies and Equity in Teacher Education

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to provide teacher candidates with the opportunity to further develop their multicultural lens through disciplinary writing assignments. Multicultural attitudes and perceptions were collected from TCs in five courses (N = 42) through pre-/post- administration of the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS), written reflections, and focus group participation. Quantitative results were analyzed using ANOVAs and paired t-tests, while qualitative results were analyzed using open coding for emergent themes. Overall TCs’ multicultural attitudes did not change significantly. The results indicate participants recognized strategies of multicultural education (MCE), but they had not experienced these strategies as students in their courses; also, TCs did not readily identify all components of culture (e.g., gender, religion, sexual orientation).

Authors

• Kristie S. Gutierrez, Old Dominion University

• Jori S. Beck, Old Dominion University

• Kelly Rippard, Old Dominion University

• Yonghee Suh, Old Dominion University

• KaaVonia Hinton, Old Dominion University