Search results for: Cultural identity

This study was an attempt to probe the perceptions of the English as a foreign language (EFL) students about the cultural identity development of the EFL teachers who participated in cultural negotiation programs. To that end, the interactionally oriented narratives of four EFL students were collected. The narratives were about the cultural performance of the EFL teachers who participated in the cultural negotiation programs in the EFL classes. The narratives were codified based on the principles of Strauss and Corbin (1998) systematic approach. The findings indicated that the EFL students had positive opinions about how their teachers dealt with cultural issues in the classrooms after participating in cultural negotiation programs. The findings also indicated that the EFL students perceived that the EFL teachers engaged more in cultural discussions, they used more interaction types, they were more motivated to address cultural issues in the classes, and they took into account the emotions of their students in cultural discussions in the classrooms. Moreover, it can be concluded from the findings that cultural negotiation programs have positive effects on the EFL teachers’ cultural identity development if the principles of identity-as-practice and identity-in-discourse will be followed in the EFL teacher education programs.

The authors are interested in identifying and understanding community and indigenous strengths of “othered” youth as embedded in social and ecological systems. The authors used an ecological approach to dissect the experiences of “othered” youth through an investigation of their marginalization and assets. Multi-informant data with ten Native Hawaiian adolescents and five teachers and counselors of Native Hawaiian youth were used. The findings revealed five emergent themes: multiple identities, stereotypes, racism, coping strategies for racism, and cultural pride that highlight cultural assets and experiences with being the “other” at school.

This research reflection articulates complex, viable, and creative White identities, reconceptualized here as creative identifications. Using life history methodology, this research reflection articulates respondents' identifications as they emerge in life histories. Critiquing, engaging, and extending scholarship on White teachers, this reflection reveals respondents' recodings of White identifications and articulates how these recodings become useful in classrooms. Specifically, respondents recode bounded identifications, at times in progressive ways, using alternative media, illegal drug experiences, process spirituality, and other cultural resources in processes of “self” identification.

The article seeks to expand pre-service teachers' understanding of cultures, through critical examination of personal cultural backgrounds. The authors share justice oriented teacher teacher oriented teacher education, and analyze preservice teacher awareness of their cultural identities.