Exploring Diversity Issues in Teacher Education

Shelley Hong Xu

Along with the concept of multiple literacies, a focus on diversity issues in the literacy field -- particularly in teacher education -- is relatively new (García, Willis, & Harris, 1998, online PDF document). Diverse students have been part of school populations for many years, but as we enter the 21st century, schools in the United States include increasing numbers of students from a range of cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1998, online document). Achievement gaps between students of the cultural and linguistic mainstream and their peers from diverse backgrounds continue to exist (Au, 1998, online PDF document; Au & Raphael, 2000, online document).

The teaching force in U.S. schools, however, is still comprised predominantly of middle-class European Americans (Ladson-Billings, 2000; Nieto, 2000). My experience as a teacher educator of preservice and inservice literacy teachers bears this out. In the courses I have taught over the past 4 years, I have had only five African American students and no more than a dozen Latinos or Latinas. Additionally, 90 percent of the preservice and inservice teachers in my courses have never been taught by someone, like myself, whose cultural and linguistic background is different from theirs.

My own work with diverse students has informed me of the crucial role that teacher educators can play in preparing preservice and inservice teachers to teach literacy to students from a range of backgrounds (Xu, 1996, 1999). It is my belief that diversity issues should be integrated into teacher education. In this article, I share my own experiences with exploring diversity issues in my teacher education courses. I begin with a description of some challenges we face in relation to multiple literacies. Then, I share three examples of how preservice and inservice literacy teachers in my courses have examined the relationships between diversity and literacies.

Diversity Issues in Literacies: New Challenges in the New Millennium

In the first issue of Reading Research Quarterly in 2000 (online document), scholars from across the literacy community called for attention to diversity issues in literacy research (see, e.g., Au & Raphael, 2000; Hoffman & Pearson, 2000; and, in a later issue of RRQ that year, McCarthey, Dressman, Smolkin, McGill-Franzen, & Harris, 2000, online document). Similarly, in the first issue of the Journal of Teacher Education under the editorship of Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Nieto (2000) and Ladson-Billings (2000), leading scholars on diversity issues, argued for continued exploration of these issues in teacher education. Within the broad context of teacher education and the specific context of the education of literacy teachers, I note four interrelated challenges related to diversity issues. The challenges are not particularly new, but the emergence of multiple literacies has added a new layer of complexity to them.

Understanding and Addressing the Issue of Equal Access to Technology

The first challenge for teacher educators is to continue helping preservice and inservice teachers understand and address the issue of equal access. In the realm of traditional literacy, access to print materials has been highly and positively associated with successful literacy acquisition and overall school success. Students from diverse backgrounds have traditionally not enjoyed the same level of access as have their European American peers. The concept of multiple literacies has made equal access an even more complicated issue, since it now includes access both to texts (print and nonprint) and technology. While most students in the United States have access to a television set, greater variability exists in diverse students’ ability to access more advanced technology -- computers, compact disc (CD) players, and so on. Financial conditions certainly play a crucial role in this disparity of access: A significant number of families from diverse backgrounds live in poverty and are unable to afford such equipment (United States Census Bureau, 1999, online document).

It can be difficult for teachers who have always lived with modern technology to realize that its lack of availability in many homes affects diverse students’ experiences with multiple literacies and their literacy learning in school, just as lack of access to print materials affects development of traditional literacy abilities. Teacher educators need to assist preservice and inservice teachers in understanding that disparity of access to technology is a social issue rather than the personal or family “problem” of an individual student. By so doing, teacher educators will help preservice and inservice teachers understand the importance of maximizing students’ interactions with technology in school.

Understanding and Addressing the Issue of Equal Access to Acquisition and Exercise of Multiple Literacies

Diverse students’ limited access to technology restricts their opportunities both to practice and expand their print literacy skills and to acquire multiple literacies. Teachers’ differing expectations for high-achieving and low-achieving students complicate the issue of providing equal access to literacies. For example, teachers are more likely to require low-achieving students from diverse backgrounds to use a computer to improve their print literacy skills, while their high-achieving counterparts may be exploring multimedia, the Internet, and other resources (McCarthey et al., 2000).

Just as teacher educators may explain to preservice and inservice teachers that worksheets are not effective for improving children’s basic literacy skills, so must we help teachers understand that diverse students’ interactions with technology support and enhance both print literacy learning and the acquisition of multiple literacies. Technology provides diverse students with an avenue for demonstrating their rich knowledge. Teachers need to show diverse students how to use computers and other tools not solely for basic skill development and remedial practice, but as a way to learn more about multiple literacies. Technology needs to be seen as supporting students as they thrive in their learning through their teachers’ guidance, rather than as a means by which teachers can lessen their responsibilities (Zhao, Tan, & Mishra, 2000, online document).

Acknowledging, Valuing, and Supporting Students’ Range of Literacy Knowledge

The third challenge for teacher educators is to help preservice and inservice teachers acknowledge, value, and support diverse students’ rich literacy knowledge of various types and levels, and to build classroom literacy instruction on that knowledge. Research indicates that diverse students may not possess the print literacy that seems to be positively associated with school success (see, e.g., Gee, 1996, 2000; Moll & Gonzàlez, 1994; Purcell-Gates, 1996; Valdés, 1996, 1998). They do, however, possess a rich body of literacy knowledge that is uniquely embedded in their life and their community.

Within the context of multiple literacies, the concept of “funds of knowledge” (Moll & Gonzàlez, 1994) can be expanded to include diverse students’ understandings about visual literacy, media literacy, and critical literacy, all of which are deeply embedded in the popular culture in which students live. For example, Latino students’ singing of songs written by Latino artists and imitatation of the dance moves those artists perform on MTV suggest experiences with visual and media literacies. Teachers can expand on these experiences by asking students to explore the meanings of the lyrics. This can move into the area of critical literacy as students examine in depth the explicit and implicit meanings of the lyrics in relation to the images from music videos (Alvermann, Moon, & Hagood, 1999).

The emerging research on popular culture in relation to literacy sheds light on how students interact outside of school with print and nonprint texts that are uniquely meaningful to them in a cultural and linguistic way (see, e.g., Alvermann & Hagood, 2000; Alvermann, Moon, & Hagood, 1999; Buckingham, 1993; Buckingham & Sefton-Green, 1994; Chandler, 1999; Finders, 1997; Gee, 2000; Lewis, 1998; Luke, 1998). Dyson’s (1993, 1997) work with teachers who supported diverse students’ integration of popular culture into their reading and writing experiences at school suggests a crucial role for popular culture in students’ acquisition and exercise of skills in multiple literacies. If these teachers had focused on teaching traditional print literacy and had not allowed their students to write and act out stories about superheroes, popular songs, and so on, the students’ rich literacy knowledge might not have been apparent. Thus, it seems important that teacher education courses emphasize the need for preservice and inservice teachers to become knowledgeable about their students’ experiences with popular culture, to examine the multiple literacies involved in interactions with popular culture, and to explore ways to integrate popular culture into teaching.

Providing Opportunities for Teachers to Learn About, Respect, and Value Diversity

The fourth challenge for teacher educators is to provide preservice and inservice teachers with opportunities to become knowledgeable about, respect, and value students’ linguistic and cultural diversity. Research informs us that teachers in the United States, most of whom are European American and middle class, have little or no life experience with diverse populations, and they have scant understanding of their students’ backgrounds (Ladson-Billings, 1995, 2000). In many ways, teachers and their diverse students live in two separate worlds, with differing sets of values, beliefs, and experiences. Being in the same classroom does not automatically bring teachers closer to their students; it does not necessarily make them more knowledgeable about their students’ academic, linguistic, or cultural backgrounds.

The presence of massive amounts of media outside school can make teachers more removed from their students than ever before. For example, teachers may have only limited knowledge about African American culture, and even less about media-influenced African American popular culture such as rap and hip-hop music. Teacher educators must provide experiences through which preservice and inservice teachers can learn to fill such gaps. Courses could be designed to help teachers learn about and become familiar with African American dialect -- its structure and vocabulary but, more important, its richness and beauty as evidenced in the music written and performed by African American artists. By paying attention to both the dialect and its use in social settings, teachers will gain a better chance of understanding their African American students’ cultural and literacy experiences outside school. Thus it will becomes possible for teachers to build school literacy learning on their students’ rich experiences.

Back to menu

Examining Relationships Between Diversity and Literacies: Three Examples

Although the predominantly European American middle-class preservice and inservice teachers in my classes have often taken a course on diversity, multicultural education, or cultural foundations before I meet them, our interactions suggest a need to promote the connections they make between understandings of diversity and literacy teaching. In all my courses, I make efforts to include exploration of diversity issues as an integral part of course content. Specifically, I assign readings related to diversity issues, use class discussions as a forum for tackling the issues, and provide teachers with opportunities (through class projects) to implement what they have learned about teaching diverse students.

In the sections that follow, I share examples of projects from three courses I have taught. These courses represent different stages of professional development for preservice and inservice teachers; the three examples accordingly reflect different levels of connection between teachers’ understandings of diversity and actual teaching of diverse students.

Multicultural Plays in an Applied Linguistic and Literacy Course

Applied Linguistics and the Teaching of Literacy is an interdisciplinary course in which theories and research in applied linguistics are discussed in relation to literacy teaching. In particular, the course focuses on sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics and their application to literacy teaching and learning. Literacy Instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students (Opitz, 1998), the required text, features a collection of articles on research, theories, principles, and teaching practices. Additional readings include works on literacy teaching and learning for African American students (Ball, 1996; Diller, 1999; Hoover, 1998), media literacy (Alvermann, Moon, & Hagood, 1999; Fehlman, 1996), information technology (Rekrut, 1999), sociocultural aspects of literacy teaching and learning (Gee, 1997; Heath, 1983; Moll, 1998), teaching English language learners (Hadaway & Mundy, 1999; Jiménez, García, & Pearson, 1996; Xu, 1996), and literacy teaching and learning for students with disabilities (Williams & McLean, 1997). The students in this course are preservice and inservice teachers working on master’s or doctoral degrees or state reading specialist certification.

Of the 16 teachers in one recent section of the course, two were Mexican American and one was Japanese American. Half had worked or were working with diverse students from prekindergarten to college level.

Class discussions on the readings and on class members’ personal and professional experiences with diverse students allowed us to explore our perceptions and biases about literacy teaching and learning. We did not always arrive at solutions for addressing diversity issues in the classroom (e.g., Is it appropriate to celebrate a religious holiday such as Christmas at school?), but the teachers demonstrated, to varying degrees, an enhanced awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity.

In order for the teachers to gain a better understanding of the application of sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic principles in literacy learning and teaching, I asked them to compose and perform a play. While I required that the script be based somehow on the course readings and on children’s books with which the teachers were familiar, I did not specify required content for the play. It came as a pleasant surprise that two of the three groups wrote plays that reflected their awareness of cultural and linguistic diversity. This suggests the teachers’ conscious efforts to consider diversity issues as an integral part of curriculum.

The First Day of School, by graduate students Miki Inkyo, Janie Lopéz, and Tom Cox, focused on how children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds learned to get along and became interested in learning about others’ cultures and languages. Miki played a bilingual Japanese American girl; Janie played a Latina; and Tom played a boy who spoke English and also knew American Sign Language (ASL). The play was inspired by the authors’ cultural and professional experiences. Miki, like her character, was a bilingual Japanese American student who often experienced the need to balance Japanese and American ways of living and learning. Janie, a Spanish and English speaker, had worked with deaf children (in particular, with Latino deaf children), and knew ASL. Tom also knew ASL and had worked with deaf children at varying grade levels. Integrating their own experiences, Miki, Janie, and Tom enriched the content of the play and made it more reflective of the reality of many school settings.

A second inspiration for Miki, Janie, and Tom was Rosemary Wells’ 1998 children’s book, Yoko, which describes a Japanese American girl’s experiences at school. Yoko feels alone and different when her classmates find her lunch of sushi strange, but the teacher suggests that they have an international day when everyone can bring in special food from their ethnic backgrounds. The international day helps Yoko and her peers become aware of and learn to respect various cultural traditions.

A second play, Holidays Around the World by Ingrid Graves, Karla Lewis, Mary Mielczarek, Jennifer Reed, Lois Stark, and Luc Velez, was about December holiday celebrations in the European American, German, Latin American, Jewish, and African American cultures. During the play, excerpts from books about holiday celebrations were read aloud, and food associated with the celebrations in different cultures was passed around. This group also integrated into their play the mirror from J.K. Rowling’s popular book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and a line (“I see dead people”) from the 1999 movie The Sixth Sense.

Like Miki, Janie, and Tom, the authors of the second play added a touch of their own cultural experiences to their work, sharing the December holiday traditions of their families. And although none of these playwrights celebrated the African American festival of Kwanzaa, they felt that it was important to include it in their play, since many African American students do celebrate it.

The preservice and inservice teachers in this course enjoyed the process of writing a play and performing together. The project also gave them an enhanced understanding of the sociocultural aspect of the writing process and, in particular, the relationship between this process and multiple literacies. For example, music, nonprint text (e.g., props and images), and objects and words from popular culture were often used by the authors to help convey the theme of their plays.

Although writing, rehearsing, and performing is time consuming, the process and the final product are worthwhile. As Jennifer remarked, “The play idea is a great way to teach literature. I know I really learned characteristics of these cultures. The play shows a lot of diversity that will relate to everyone.” I hope that this project serves as an example of ways in which teachers can model respect and valuing of students’ cultural and linguistic experiences, to the extent that they blend them into instruction.

Using the ABCs Model in an Undergraduate Literacy Methods Course

While all preservice teachers at the university where I teach are required to take a multicultural education course in their teacher education program, the course seems to have minimal connection to the actual teaching of diverse students. Preservice teachers simply do not always apply to actual teaching their knowledge and perspectives on diversity issues, despite having taken a diversity course (Goodwin, 1997; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Mahan, 1982; McDiarmid & Price, 1993).

Over the years, I have explored how to assist preservice teachers in integrating their knowledge of diversity into literacy teaching of diverse students (Xu, 2000a, 2000b). Inspired by “the ABCs of cultural understanding and communication” (Schmidt, 1998a, 1998b, 1999), I have started to use the ABCs model in my undergraduate field-based literacy methods course. In one recent semester, the 17 female preservice teachers in the course spent 3 hours per week for 10 weeks in a school with a predominantly African American and Latino population. In addition to teaching two lessons, each preservice teacher was assigned to work with one student whose cultural or linguistic experiences were different from her own.

Schmidt’s ABCs model includes five components:

• Autobiography
• Biography
• Cross-cultural analysis
• Cross-cultural discussion
• Modifications for classroom teaching in response to the information obtained from the first four components

Autobiography. I asked each preservice teacher in the class to write an autobiography detailing cultural beliefs, values, and experiences, family histories, and home and school literacy experiences.

Biography. During the field experiences, each preservice teacher formally and informally interviewed a student about his or her cultural beliefs, values, and experiences, family history, and home and school literacy experiences, and then wrote a biography of the student.

Cross-cultural analysis. The preservice teachers conducted cross-cultural analyses based on their autobiographies and the case study students’ biographies. They listed the similarities and differences in a comparison chart. I encouraged each preservice teacher to modify the chart based on evolving knowledge of the case study student.

Cross-cultural discussion. In class, the preservice teachers discussed their views toward differences; they also wrote about their views in reflective journals. I encouraged each preservice teacher to try to identify the sources of any discomfort with or negative attitudes toward differences.

Teaching and working with a case study student. In addition to teaching two lessons to a whole class, each preservice teacher worked individually with a case study student. Specifically, the preservice teacher implemented various assessment tools (e.g., reading inventory, spelling and writing samples, anecdotal records), used children’s literature to teach literary appreciation, comprehension, and other literacy skills, and applied various instructional strategies (e.g., writer’s workshop) with one child. The preservice teachers were required to reflect on their overall field experiences and on their experiences with their individual case study students. In particular, they commented on the use of assessment tools, children’s literature, and instructional strategies in relation to the case study students’ cultural and linguistic experiences.

The experiences of one preservice teacher, Joan, serve as an example of how the ABCs model can be used to support culturally responsive teaching. Writing her autobiography allowed Joan to explore her cultural background. In her autobiography, Joan stated that her strong family values were honesty, kindness, respect for others, treating everyone equally, having a strong character, and taking pride in success. She felt that her family values taught her “how my family viewed the world,” and showed her “how to be a successful teacher.... I must respect all and practice patience, kindness, and understanding.”

In an informal conversation with me, Joan shared that writing her autobiography made her more aware of how her work in the classroom was “a reflection of my values.... Such values can be similar to my students, but also different from theirs. I just need to be aware of that, and respond to such differences in a positive and supportive way.”

Joan’s case study student was Maria, described in the biography Joan prepared as a “shy, hesitant, and...average” second grader. Maria’s father was “a main figure in her life.” Her family had strong religious faith, and “her father reads her the Bible on the weekend and at night when they eat dinner.” Joan was surprised to find out that Maria was not able to maintain her Spanish: “Maria’s parents spoke to her in Spanish when she was young. Now she does not understand Spanish, because she hears mostly English spoken from her siblings and friends.” Later Joan learned, from Maria’s perspective, about how important school can be in supporting -- or negating -- a child’s native language. Maria told Joan that her parents continued speaking Spanish to her, but “it is hard [to learn it], because everything at school is in English.” Joan later told me, “I guess it is very hard for me, an English monolingual, to see the importance of Spanish in Maria’s life. I am glad that she openly voices her view. Now I need to keep this language issue in mind when I am teaching.”

In the cross-cultural analysis comparison chart (see Table 1), Joan outlined similarities and differences between herself and Maria in terms of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, cultural values, home and school literacy experiences, and family composition. Creating the chart allowed Joan to discover many similarities between herself and Maria, which challenged her preconceptions about students whose backgrounds were different from hers. She noted, for example, that she “used to believe that only middle-class parents read to their children, although all the readings in the diversity course told me that was not true. Now, I am convinced by Maria’s experiences that my belief is wrong and stereotypic.”

As to the differences between herself and Maria, Joan stated in cross-cultural discussions throughout the course that they helped her become aware of how she should support bilingual students in capitalizing on their strengths. For example, Joan commented, “I need to have some books written in Spanish in my classroom if I have a student like Maria. I can ask Maria to be my teacher of Spanish. I just want her to know that I support her native language.” Joan also voiced her concerns about the availability of quality Spanish books and how her limited knowledge of Spanish would make it difficult for her to make good selections. Joan viewed the difference in her and Maria’s linguistic backgrounds in a positive way and perceived it as a means to stimulate her thinking about teaching in a way that supported her students’ maintenance of their native language.

Joan connected her belief in the importance of making literacy learning personally meaningful to her work with Maria. Joan first chose Jamie Lee Curtis’s Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods That Make My Day to share with Maria. The 1998 book details different moods that a little girl experiences and the sources of those moods. Joan read the book aloud to Maria, who made many comments about the illustrations. Joan later said, “Maria was more interested in the illustrations than the text. I should have looked at the illustrations with her first and then read the text.” After a second reading of the book, Maria couldn’t wait to draw joyful, silly, sad, grumpy, and angry faces herself.

This activity seemed successful, but Joan noted that at one point, Maria stated, “There’re no girls just like me in the bunch of girls in the book. They must go to a different school.” Joan shared her reflection with the class:

I later carefully looked at the illustrations again, and agreed with Maria. My experience with children’s literature on a cultural basis was an eye opener [to me]. I now think that we need to encourage diverse students to talk more, and we need to listen to them more often, because they can tell us about cultural and linguistic biases. It is this kind of little things (to us) that would hurt students to great extent.

The most important thing that Joan learned from working with Maria was to listen to her students. She explained, “I believe in the classroom, we should have the children write a journal about themselves and their family. Family stories encourage students to learn about their own heritage and to develop greater respect for the multicultural differences and experiences that make them who they are.”

Joan’s experiences with the ABCs model illustrate how preservice teachers can apply their conceptual understandings of diversity to actual teaching of diverse students. Most important, the model allowed Joan to become aware of her own and Maria’s cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The model also helped her to note how her teaching affected Maria’s perception of herself and of school learning. For inservice teachers, the ABCs model can be easier to integrate in the classroom. Because of larger blocks of time in which teachers and students are together, there are more opportunities for inservice teachers to get to know their students, compare themselves with their students, and reflect on using multicultural literature and on engaging students in learning. The use of the ABCs model can also be a means for teachers and students together to build a multicultural community in the classroom through engagement in various literacy activities, and to learn about one another and promote respect for differences (Schmidt, 1998).

Popular Culture Project in an Early Literacy Course

Because of the pervasiveness of media in the United States, all students in this country have had some level of interaction with popular culture. No matter how some adults may try to limit the “invasion” of popular culture into the schoolyard and curriculum, we must acknowledge that it is here to say. Inspired by the works of Alvermann, Moon, and Hagood (1999), Alvermann and Hagood (2000), Dyson (1993, 1997), Gee (1996, 1997, 2000), and Allan Luke (1998) and Carmen Luke (1999), I have started exploring the relationships among popular culture, literacy instruction, and diversity issues in my teacher education courses. I aim to prepare preservice and inservice literacy teachers for the reality of school learning and teaching. In this section, I share one inservice teacher’s experiences with exploring a connection between students’ popular culture and literacy teaching and with enhancing multicultural awareness in herself and among her students.

Sherry works with an early reading intervention program with 5- to 8-year-olds in a Title I (the U.S. federal government’s compensatory education program) school. Some of these kindergarten through third-graders are Spanish-English bilingual students; others are native English speakers experiencing reading difficulties. The students come to Sherry’s room for 30 minutes several times each week for additional assistance in reading and writing.

Recently, Sherry was enrolled in my early literacy course, in which we read Dyson’s (1993) Social Worlds of Children Learning to Write in an Urban Primary School. In particular, we discussed possibilities and opportunities, as described in Dyson’s book, for teachers to respect, value, and support the popular culture that students bring to school. For the popular culture project, Sherry decided to work with a group of five third graders that included three Latinos, one African American, and one European American. She explained that all were “reading below grade level and needed a ‘boost’ in motivation.”

Sherry started the project with a survey. She asked her students about their favorite television shows, movies, videos, music, magazines, books, and Web sites. The survey indicated students’ interest in Latino music and rap music. Sherry decided to let her students make decisions on the content of the lesson, which included five components.

1. Selecting a common interest for the lesson. “When we discussed and voted on the choices [for the lesson], a high level of excitement and anticipation prevailed. The culturally diverse group wanted to use music as a springboard for literacy,” Sherry explained. “They chose two songs as the foci of the lesson: ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ by the Baha Men, and ‘Azucar’ by Los Kumbia Kings.” The Baha Men are from the Bahamas. The band’s songs reflect a blend of indigenous junkanoo music, funk, rhythm and blues, hip-hop, and danceball. Los Kumbia Kings is a group of Tejano artists led by A.B. Quintanill III, the brother of the late Latina pop artist, Selena.

2. Reading the lyrics. Sherry and her students felt it was important to learn more about the songs, so they went to Web sites (the Baha Men’s own site and a page at Tejano Web for Los Kumbia Kings) to look for the lyrics. They printed out the lyrics, and followed along with them as they listened to the songs.

3. Learning about the artists. Sherry and the students then became interested in the artists. They again went to Web sites to search for information about The Baha Men and Los Kumbia Kings. The text on the Web turned out to be too difficult for the third graders to read and understand, but they were still eager to learn what was written about the artists and decided to keep the text to show their friends “the coolest thing they got at school” that day. Sherry printed out the text, provided each student with a copy, and explained the content in simplified language. After learning more about the artists, Sherry and her students “decided these two groups were decent role models.” Both shared their cultures -- the Baha Men play the junkanoo music of the Bahamas, and Los Kumbia Kings play tejano from the Latin culture.

4. Learning “La Cumbia.” At this point, Sherry and her students could not wait to learn “La Cumbia,” a traditional dance Los Kumbia Kings perform while they sing. Some students had seen the dance on MTV. Two parents volunteered to teach the children the dance. The students practiced skills of following instructions while learning the dance.

5. Comparing and contrasting two songs. Sherry felt that the two songs offered a perfect opportunity for the students to practice skills of comparing and contrasting. As a whole group, Sherry and her students compared “Azucar” and “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Sherry asked the students to listen to the two songs and then to discuss the similarities and differences between them. Sherry jotted down, in a Venn diagram on the chalkboard, the key points that students mentioned. The students then copied the points in their own Venn diagrams (see Figure 1 for an example).

Then each student wrote a journal entry about the two songs and drew a picture to express his or her views on the artists and their work (Figure 2).

Throughout the lesson, which lasted several days, the students showed a high level of engagement and critical thinking. Sherry had only planned the component of comparing and contrasting two songs, which was tied to an important concept assessed on the state standardized test; the students had generated ideas for the lesson’s other components. Sherry commented, “The activities grew according to students’ interest and needs. It sort of took on a life of its own.”

Sherry’s popular culture lesson exemplifies a way to engage students in experiencing media, visual, and critical literacies in addition to print literacy. Further, the lesson gives a context to the examination of one’s own and others’ cultures, making it more meaningful and authentic. Sherry expressed it best:

This lesson using students’ popular culture was effective in teaching literacy skills. It was very motivating. The lesson provided opportunities to learn and appreciate the cultural practices of others as well as gain knowledge of the history of these practices. Vocabulary was increased and we learned some Spanish words, such as “bailar” (to dance) and “azucar” (sugar). It also created a closer relationship between the students and me, because it showed that I cared and valued their interests and cultures. I learned “la cumbia” right along with them!

Back to menu

Conclusion

In this article, I have discussed four challenges for literacy teacher educators:

• Understanding and addressing the issue of equal access to technology
• Understanding and addressing the issue of equal access to acquiring and exercising multiple literacies
• Acknowledging, valuing, and supporting students’ range of literacy knowledge
• Providing opportunities for teachers to learn about, respect, and value diversity

These challenges are not new, but they have taken on a deeper complexity in this age of increasing classroom diversity and pervasive technology and multimedia. They are interrelated and will continue evolving as our knowledge about multiple literacies, the strengths and needs of diverse students, and teacher education grows.

I have also shared my personal experiences with tackling diversity issues in my teacher education courses. The three examples presented in this article are not intended to suggest that how I explore diversity is the only way to help preservice and inservice teachers consider diversity issues in literacy education courses. Rather, they are meant to illustrate various ways that diversity issues can be integrated into literacy teaching and learning, both in colleges of education and in schools. It is my hope that attention to the issues of diversity in literacy teacher education will continue to increase.

Back to menu

References

Alvermann, D.E., & Hagood, M.C. (2000). Critical media literacy: Research, theory, and practice in “new times.” Journal of Educational Research, 93, 193-205.
Back

Alvermann, D.E., Hagood, M.C., & Williams, K.B. (2001, June). Image, language, and sound: Making meaning with popular culture texts. Reading Online, 4(11). Available: www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=action/alvermann/index.html
Back

Alvermann, D.E., Moon, J.S., & Hagood, M.C. (1999). Popular culture in the classroom: Teaching and researching critical media literacy. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Sample chapter available: newbookstore.reading.org/cgi-bin/OnlineBookstore.storefront/EN/Product/245-553
Back

Au, K.H. (1998). Social constructivism and the school literacy learning of students of diverse backgrounds. Journal of Literacy Research, 30, 297-319. Available (PDF format): nrc.oakland.edu/jlr/archive/v30/article_30_2_7.pdf
Back

Au, K.H., & Raphael, T.E. (2000). Equity and literacy in the next millennium. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(1), 171-188. Available: www.catchword.com/ira/00340553/v35n1/contp1-1.htm
Back

Ball, A. (1996). Expository writing patterns of African American students. English Journal, 85, 27-36.
Back

Buckingham, D. (1993). Children talking television: The making of television literacy. London: Falmer.
Back

Buckingham, D., & Sefton-Green, J. (1994). Cultural studies goes to school: Reading and teaching popular media. London: Taylor & Francis.
Back

Chandler, K. (1999). Reading relationships: Parents, adolescents, and popular fiction by Stephen King. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 43, 228-239.
Back

Diller, D. (1999). Opening the dialogue: Using culture as a tool in teaching young African American children. Reading Teacher, 52, 820-828.
Back

Dyson, A.H. (1993). Social worlds of children learning to write in an urban primary school. New York: Teachers College Press.
Back

Dyson, A.H. (1997). Writing superheroes: Contemporary childhood, popular culture, and classroom literacy. New York: Teachers College Press.
Back

Fehlman, R.H. (1996). Viewing film and television as whole language instruction. English Journal, 85, 43-50.
Back

Finders, M.J. (1997). Just girls: Hidden literacies and life in junior high. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Back

García, G.E., Willis, A.I., & Harris, V. (1998). Introduction: Appropriating and creating space for difference in literacy research. Journal of Literacy Research, 30(2), 181-186. Available (PDF document): nrc.oakland.edu/jlr/archive/v30/article_30_2_1.pdf
Back

Gee, J.P. (1996). Sociolinguistics and literacies (2nd ed.). London: Falmer.
Back

Gee, J.P. (1997). Meanings in discourse: Coordinating and being coordinated. In S. Muspratt, A. Luke, & P. Freebody (Eds.), Constructing critical literacies: Teaching and learning contextual practice (pp. 273-302). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
Back

Gee, J.P. (2000). Teenagers in new times: A new literacy studies perspective. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 43, 412-420.
Back

Goodwin, L. (1997). Multicultural stories: Preservice teachers’ conceptions of and responses to issues of diversity. Urban Education, 32, 117-145.
Back

Hadaway, N.L., & Mundy, J. (1999). Children’s informational picture books visit a secondary ESL classroom. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42, 464-475.
Back

Heath, S.B. (1983). Ways with words: Language, life, and work in communities and classrooms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Back

Hoffman, J., & Pearson, P.D. (2000). Reading teacher education in the next millennium: What your grandmother’s teacher didn’t know that your granddaughter’s teacher should. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(1), 28-44. Available: www.catchword.com/ira/00340553/v35n1/contp1-1.htm
Back

Hoover, M.R. (1998). A recommended reading list for teachers of students who speak Ebonics. Journal of Negro Education, 67, 43-47.
Back

Jiménez, R.T., García, G.E., & Pearson, P.D. (1996). The reading strategies of bilingual Latina/o students who are successful English readers: Opportunities and obstacles. Reading Research Quarterly, 31, 90-112.
Back

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 465-491.
Back

Ladson-Billings, G. (2000). Fighting for our lives: Preparing teachers to teach African American students. Journal of Teacher Education, 52, 206-214.
Back

Lewis, C. (1998). Rock ’n’ roll and horror stories: Students, teachers, and popular culture. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42, 116-120.
Back

Luke, A. (1998). Getting over method: Literacy teaching as work in “new times.” Language Arts, 75, 305-313.
Back

Luke, C. (1999). Media and cultural studies in Australia. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42, 622-626.
Back

Mahan, J.M. (1982). Community involvement components in culturally-oriented teacher preparation. Education, 103, 163-172.
Back

McCarthey, S.J., Dressman, M., Smolkin, L., McGill-Franzen, A., & Harris, V.J. (2000). How will diversity affect literacy in the next millennium? Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4), 548-552. Available: www.catchword.com/ira/00340553/v35n4/contp1-1.htm
Back

McDiarmid, G.W., & Price, J. (1993). Preparing teachers for diversity: A study of student teachers in a multicultural program. In M.J. O’Hair & S.J. Odell (Eds.), Diversity and teaching (pp. 31-59). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Back

Moll, L.C. (1998). Turning to the world: Bilingual schooling, literacy, and the cultural mediation of thinking. In T. Shanahan & F.V. Rodriguez-Brown (Eds.), Forty-seventh yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 59-75). Chicago, IL: National Reading Conference.
Back

Moll, L.C., & Gonzàlez, N. (1994). Lessons from research with language-minority children. Journal of Reading Behavior, 26, 439-456.
Back

National Center for Education Statistics. (1998). The condition of education, 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. Available: nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=98013
Back

Nieto, S. (2000). Placing equity front and center. Journal of Teacher Education, 52, 180-187.
Back

Opitz, M.F. (Ed.). (1998). Literacy instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Back

Purcell-Gates, V. (1996). Stories, coupons and TV Guide: Relationship between home literacy experiences and emergent literacy knowledge. Reading Research Quarterly, 31, 406-428.
Back

Rekrut, M.D. (1999). Using the Internet in classroom instruction: A primer for teachers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42, 546-557.
Back

Schmidt, P.R. (1998a). The ABCs of cultural understanding and communication. Equity & Excellence in Education, 31(2), 28-38.
Back

Schmidt, P.R. (1998b). The ABCs model: Teachers connect home and school. In T. Shanahan & F. Rodriguez-Brown (Eds.), Forty-seventh yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 194-208). Chicago, IL: National Reading Conference.
Back

Schmidt, P.R. (1999). Know thyself and understand others. Language Arts, 76, 332-340.
Back

United States Census Bureau. (1999). Poverty in the United States: 1999. Washington, DC: Author. Available: www.census.gov/hhes/www/povty99.html
Back

Valdés, G. (1996). Con respeto: Bridging the distances between culturally diverse families and schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
Back

Valdés, G. (1998). The world outside and inside classrooms: Language and immigrant children. Educational Researcher, 27(6), 4-18.
Back

Williams, C.L., & McLean, M.M. (1997). Young deaf children’s response to picture book reading in a preschool setting. Research in the Teaching of English, 31, 337-366.
Back

Xu, H. (1996). A Filipino kindergartner’s successful beginning literacy learning experience in a mainstream classroom. In D.J. Leu, Jr., K. Hinchman, & C. Kinzer (Eds.), Literacies for the 21st century: Research and practice (45th yearbook of the National Reading Conference, pp. 219-231). Chicago, IL: National Reading Conference.
Back

Xu, H. (1999). Reexamining continuities and discontinuities: Language minority children’s home and school literacy experiences. In T. Shanahan & F.V. Rodriguez-Brown (Eds.), Forty-eight yearbook of the National Reading Conference (pp. 224-237). Chicago, IL: National Reading Conference.
Back

Xu, H. (2000a). Preservice teachers integrate understandings of diversity into literacy instruction: An adaptation of the ABC’s model. Journal of Teacher Education, 51, 135-142.
Back

Xu, S.H. (2000b). Preservice teachers in a literacy methods course consider issues of diversity. Journal of Literacy Research, 32(4), 505-531.
Back

Zhao, Y., Tan, S.H., & Mishra, P. (2000). Teaching and learning: Whose computer is it? Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(4), 348-354. Available: www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_index.asp?HREF=/electronic/jaal/12-00_Column/index.html
Back

About the Author

Shelley Hong Xu is an assistant professor of language and literacy in the College of Education at Texas Tech University (P.O. Box 41071, College of Education, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 70409-1071, USA; e-mail shelley.xu@ttu.edu). Her research interests include diversity issues in literacy teacher education, the integration of student popular culture in classroom literacy instruction, and literacy development of young bilingual children. Back to top

For an index of other articles in the New Literacies in Action series, click here. To print this article, point and click your mouse anywhere on the text; then use your browser’s print command.

Citation: Xu, S.H. (2001, July/August). Exploring diversity issues in teacher education. Reading Online, 5(1). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=action/xu/index.html

Reading Online, www.readingonline.org
Posted July 2001
© 2001 International Reading Association, Inc.   ISSN 1096-1232