Issues and Recommendations for Teaching an Ethnic/Culture-Based Course

Abstract

In this article, we present potential pedagogical concerns and strategies for instructors who teach ethnic/culture-based courses. Four specific issues form the basis of this article: (a) student comfort with ambiguous concepts, (b) different levels of student ethnic/cultural identity development, (c) student fears in examining their biases and assumptions, and (d) student emotions when acquiring new and sometimes value-conflicting information. We provide recommendations to facilitate student learning and an open classroom environment.

Gender and Diversity Topics Taught in Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education Programs

“…Traditional didactic approaches appear to be inadequate to address ambiguous concepts and emotionally laden issues related to gender and diversity (Gloria, Rieckmann, & Rush, 2000; Zachry, 1985). Instead, the participants used interactive, often spontaneous discussions.…”

“…Alternative methods of teaching (e.g., group projects, guest speakers, movies, student presentations) and experiential strategies (e.g., journals, small groups or dyads, field trips) help to facilitate student learning, and personal growth and development (Enns, 1994; Gloria et al., 2000; Miller, 1997; White, 1994). Faculty can use such assignments to raise hard questions about racism, sexism, and ageism as well as the phobias that go along with them.…”

Conflict in Multicultural Classes: Approaches to Resolving Difficult Dialogues

“…Four interventions have been found in the literature that conceptually fit this category and have been suggested for mediating emotionally laden student reactions and reestablishing emotional balance. First, accurate listening and reflection involves an instructor's use of reflection as well as summarization of all perspectives of students involved in a conflict (Choudhuri, ; Gloria et al, ; Sue et al, ; Sue, Torino, et al, ; Young, ). Second, acknowledging the difficulty of being in the course is a technique for normalizing the emotional reactions students may experience in confronting certain topics and issues covered in multicultural classes (Jones, Sander, & Booker, ; Sue, Torino, et al, ).…”

“…This approach may be seen as similar to broaching (Day‐Vines et al, ), wherein the instructor addresses the cultural meaning students attach to discussions in the classroom. Third, modeling humility involves the use of the professors’ anecdotal experiences to model that “it's okay to be wrong.” It is based on the premise that instructors’ sharing of personal assumptions and biases regarding course materials has the effect of humanizing the classroom and engendering trust (Gloria et al, ; Sue et al, ), validating diversity acceptance (Hill, ), and encouraging students to become more involved in the learning process through class participation (Sue, Lin, et al, ). Finally, using humor is possibly the riskiest of instructor conflict interventions because it can be seen as lighthearted and also can be misinterpreted as a personal attack.…”

“…Various researchers (Choudhuri, ; Sue, Rivera, Capodilupo, Lin, & Torino, ; Sue, Torino, et al, ) have stated that there is a gap between instructors’ depth of conceptual understanding of multicultural issues and their skills and abilities in responding to challenging interactions with students. Gloria, Rieckmann, and Rush () emphasized how important it is for multicultural course instructors to have previous teaching experience (e.g., coteacher or teaching assistant) in diversity‐related courses as a way of gaining the insight needed regarding class and individual dynamics that are specific to multicultural classes. As with the discomfort students feel in multicultural classes, Abrams and Gibson () asserted that multicultural course instructors must be prepared to feel discomfort as it arises while they teach and raise issues related to difficult multicultural topics.…”