Culturally Fluid Teaching: Casting a Lens on Cross-Cultural Professional Experiences

• In Event: Post-Pandemic Teaching Preparation With a Global Focus: Reimagining Educational Inequalities to Embrace Equity and Justice

Abstract

Objectives: In this presentation I explore teachers’ stories regarding intercultural professional experiences. I examine the ways that teachers story their cultural identities and cultural understanding as a result of teaching abroad. I further develop the term “culturally fluid teaching” in casting a lens toward the ways that teaching in international settings may serve as training for interacting with students and school community members in diverse schools and globalized societies.
Theoretical Framework: This study centers on notions of the interrelation of education and experience (Dewey, 1938). Adopting a viewpoint of education as experience embeds the concept of concentrating on the specific contexts of curricular engagement as a means of closely aligning curriculum research and theory with curricular practices (Schwab, 1969, Schwab, 1983). This presentation builds on work in intercultural teaching (Cushner & Brennan, 2007; Garii & Schlein, 2011; Phillion et al., 2008; Walters, Garii, & Walters, 2009). Narrative inquiry investigations of cross-cultural teaching were also influential in shaping this investigation (Elbaz-Luwisch, 2004; Eng, 2005, 2008; He, 2002).
Method: This study follows the narrative inquiry research tradition (Connelly 7& Clandinin, 2000). This research specifically focuses on collecting stories of experience as data.
Data Sources: This investigation examined the lived experiences of three novice teachers from Canada, Catherine, Dallas, and Anastasia, who taught in schools in either Japan or Hong Kong prior to returning to Canadian schools. This study further included deep researcher positioning in which I became involved directly as a co-participant. Each participant completed five 90–minute informal, tape–recorded interviews. I wrote detailed field notes after interviews and composed reflective writing after interviews and after interview transcription review to include stories of my own experiences as a third dimension of dialogue. Following data collection, I analyzed data to uncover common narrative themes. I searched for patterns of meaning in terms of time periods, personal and social interactions, and context or culture with the use of the narrative inquiry three–dimensional framework for data analysis.
Results: In this presentation, I outline narratives of cross-cultural teaching among novice teachers. I consider stories that display ways that cross-cultural teaching might shape the cultural identities and teacher identities of educators. I also deliberate over culturally fluid teaching as a possible outgrowth of cross-cultural teaching. I consider how this approach may serve as educator professional development for work in diverse schools within the backdrop of globalization.
Scholarly Significance: The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the great level of interconnection that exists between nations. Educational life during the pandemic has experienced a rapid shift toward adopting technologies and making use of online modes of communication that pave the way for incorporating global knowledge and intercultural learning activities. Increased cross-cultural connections require developing cultural knowledge and understanding. Importantly, this study highlights ways teachers might adopt culturally fluid teaching practices that envision schools as transnational spaces where students learn how to engage meaningfully in globalized societies.

Author

• Candace M. Schlein, University of Missouri - Kansas City