WIXLIB

Universal Journal of Educational Research 5(1): 45-53, 2017DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2017.050106http://www.hrpub.orgA Validation Study of the CulturallyResponsive Teaching SurveyChristy M. RhodesCollege of Education, East Carolina University, Greenville, 27858, North Carolina, United StatesCopyright 2017 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under theterms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International LicenseAbstract Amidst the ethnic and linguistic diversity intheir native cultural group and developing relationshipsadult English language classes, there is heightened within their adopted cultural group [6]. Culturally responsiveimportance to using culturally responsive teaching practices. teaching mediates the challenges of this process by placingHowever, there are limited quantitative examinations of this students’ cultural norms and practices at the center of theapproach in adult learning environments. The purpose of this learning process [7]. In essence, culturally responsiveinvestigation was to describe patterns of culturally educators are proficient at discerning subtle and overtresponsive teaching practices of adult ESOL teachers and to differences and developing culturally-sensitive andestablish the psychometric properties of the Culturally appropriate learning environments [8,9]. However, whileResponsive Teaching Survey (CRTS), a newly-developed interest in culturally responsive teaching is high, there areself-assessment survey. Based on Ginsberg and limited quantitative examinations of this approach in adultWlodkowski’s Motivational Framework for Culturally learning environments. In general, research has beenResponsive Teaching [1], this 17-item online survey conducted through qualitative methods or assessments ofestablishes patterns of teaching praxis appropriate for adult teachers’ cultural sensitivity, racial bias or culturalEnglish language classrooms. Findings revealed a trend of competence [10], not teaching practices. Therefore, there isregular to frequent use of the majority of the culturally limited quantitative data describing how adult ESOLresponsive teaching practices indicated in the CRTS. In teachers incorporate their student’s cultural norms andaddition, analyses demonstrated that the CRTS is a reliable, values into their curriculum and instruction.uni-dimensional scale which yielded positive correlationsThe purpose of this investigation was twofold: to describewith multi-cultural knowledge and teaching skills. Thus, the patterns of culturally responsive teaching practices of adultCRTS provides a useful tool for examining the praxis of ESOL teachers and to establish the psychometric propertiesculturally responsive teaching in adult, second-language of the Culturally Responsive Teaching Survey (CRTS), aclassrooms. These findings will lead to improved newly-developed self-assessment survey. Specifically, Iunderstanding of how adult educators incorporate culturally examined: (a) the self-reported frequency of use of 17responsive teaching practices in ethnically and linguistically teaching practices, (b) the factorial structure of the CRTS,diverse learning environments, in addition to supporting the and (c) the construct validity of the CRTS in studiesuse of this instrument in future research studies.conducted with English language teachers of adults. Thesefindings will lead to improved understanding of how adultKeywords English for Speakers of Other Languages,educators incorporate culturally responsive teachingCulturally Relevant Pedagogy, Adult Educationpractices in ethnically and linguistically diverse learningenvironments, in addition to supporting the use of thisinstrument by researchers and practitioners.1. IntroductionGiven the ethnic and linguistic diversity of adult Englishfor Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, theincorporation of culture and student cultural identities intothe learning environment has heightened importance [2-4].While highly diverse in age, country of origin, and nativelanguage [5], adult English language learners all experiencethe acculturation process, simultaneously maintaining ties to2. Theoretical FrameworkCulturally responsive teaching is an umbrella term whichencompasses a variety of approaches, such as culturallyrelevant, culturally sensitive, culturally congruent, andculturally contextualized pedagogies [7]. This equity-basedapproach places students’ cultures at the core of the learningprocess and utilizes the “cultural knowledge, prior

46A Validation Study of the Culturally Responsive Teaching Surveyexperiences, frames of reference, and performance styles ofethnically diverse students” [7 p. 29]. By creating classroomnorms reflective of the students’ native cultures, and notthose of mainstream culture, the culturally responsiveeducator mitigates the challenges of overcoming “culturalmismatches” between the home and school [11,12].Culturally responsive teaching is distinguished by itsemphasis on validating, facilitating, liberating, andempowering minority students by “cultivating their culturalintegrity, individual abilities, and academic success” [7 p. 44]and is based on the four pillars of “teacher attitude andexpectations, cultural communication in the classroom,culturally diverse context in the curriculum, and culturallycongruent instructional strategies” [7, p. 44].While much of culturally responsive teaching theoryrefers to K-12 settings, Ginsberg and Wlodkowski developedthe Motivational Framework for Culturally ResponsiveTeaching [1] for application in adult learning environments.They posited that culturally responsive teaching increasesthe intrinsic motivation of students of non-dominant culturalgroups. This framework describes the norms and practices ofan environment in which “inquiry, respect, and theopportunity for full participation by diverse adults is thenorm” [14, p. 161] and is based on the integrated use of fourelements: establishing inclusion, developing attitude,enhancing meaning, and engendering competence [1,14].Each element, or criteria, has corresponding norms andpractices that adult educators can use in creating orevaluating their praxis.Teaching practices that create an environment of respectand connectedness and that use cooperation and equitabletreatment of all learners reflect the element of establishinginclusion. The element, developing attitude, includes normsand practices that help students develop a positive attitudetoward the learning process by building on students’personal experiences and knowledge and by allowinglearners to make choices throughout the learning process.The third element, enhancing meaning, includes norms andpractices that encourage students to engage in deep reflectionand critical inquiry, such as role-plays and simulations. Thefinal element, engendering competence, are practices thatshow the learner evidence of his or her learning andproficiency and the use of assessments that arecontextualized in the learners’ experiences [1,14].Ginsberg and Wlodkowski’s framework served as theoperational framework of the CRTS due to its originaldesign as “a tool for continual reflection” [1, p. 39] to helpeducators examine their teaching in an effort to improve thecultural responsiveness of their practices. In addition,although this framework was designed for the highereducation classroom, it could be adapted to include theunique patterns of teaching practice relevant to adultlanguage learning environments.3. Survey DevelopmentDevelopment of a survey instrument can beaccomplished through various methods; however, theprocess entails the following steps: clear identification ofthe construct to be measured, item generation, expert reviewand refinement of item pool, a pilot or development study,and item evaluation and reduction [13]. A list of culturallyresponsive teaching characteristics compiled during aliterature review served as the theoretical foundation of theitem development process. A literature review using the keyterms “culturally responsive”, “culturally relevant”, and“culturally congruent” teaching yielded findings frompredominantly qualitative examinations of culturallyresponsive teachers in a variety of teaching environments.All characteristics were compiled into a master list andcategorized by the four elements of the MotivationalFramework for Culturally Responsive Teaching [1]. Thelist was then consolidated by eliminating redundantcharacteristics, resulting in a master list of 23 characteristics.These represented general beliefs and experiences and wereused to develop items of specific teaching practicesappropriate for an adult English language learningenvironment. This was achieved by a panel of ESOLpractitioners describing teaching practices that manifestedeach characteristic. The draft item pool contained 27teaching practices.To assess the content validity of the item pool, theexpertise of two panels was utilized. The first validationpanel consisted of individuals with extensive teachingexperience in the field of adult ESOL and Teaching Englishto Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) who evaluatedthe items for clarity and relevance to second languageteaching theory [15]. The second validation panel consistedof experts in culturally responsive teaching who evaluatedthe items for relevance to the theories of adult learning andculturally responsive pedagogy. Ranked on a five-pointscale, items with means of 3 or below were deleted, while 2items were reworded or combined. At the conclusion of thisstage, the draft survey included 17 culturally responsiveteaching practices. The final phase of survey developmentconsisted of both cognitive interviewing and a pilot studywith a representative sample of 100 adult education ESOLteachers. To assess the reliability of the pilot survey,Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient was calculated and deemedacceptable at .752. Based on these data, all 17 items wereretained for the final version of the CRTS.4. Study 14.1. Sampling and ProcedureThe CRTS was first used in a study of adult educationESOL teachers in Florida in late 2012 [16, 17]. The purposeof this study was twofold: to develop and validate the CRTSand to describe the self-reported use of 17 specificculturally responsive teaching practices of adult ESOLteachers throughout the state of Florida. The target