Cross-Cultural Relationships Between Teachers and Students: A Multiple-Case Study

• In Event: The Consequences of Teacher-Student Relationships Across Academic Contexts

Abstract

This ethnographic multiple-case study considers the practices of two high school teachers of English for Speakers of Other Languages in relation to the following question: How do teachers bridge the cultural divide with students whose backgrounds are different from their own? Data collected through participant observation, interviews, and document analysis are analyzed using the framework of care ethics, while simultaneously pushing beyond current understandings of care to consider how it intersects with culture. The teachers’ practice is found to be suffused with care such that the native cultures of students are recognized and respected. While only cursorily acknowledged by the district through empty slogans, relationships with students are integral to these teachers’ pedagogy and are leveraged to promote learning.

Author

• David R. M. Saavedra, University of Virginia