The extent and predictors of linguistically responsive teaching in Southwest China

Abstract

The study of multilingualism has gained prominence due to increases in linguistically diverse student populations. This paper aims to contribute to research on multilingualism by addressing schoolteachers' beliefs and practices related to linguistic diversity. A unique sample of 606 teachers across ten minority-dominant schools from Southwest China participated in the survey study. The results show that schoolteachers hold both monolingual and multilingual beliefs. Teachers' beliefs are mainly positive about multilingual education, and they favor supporting multilingual teachers. However, students' home languages are viewed as the barrier to the school success. Furthermore, many teachers rarely implement linguistically responsive teaching practices. A moderate correlation was found between teachers' beliefs and linguistically responsive teaching practices. Additionally, regression analyses show that teachers' linguistically responsive teaching practices can be predicted by age, gender, language background, travel experience, international news exposure, and culturally relevant teacher training. These findings indicate an urgent need for teachers to participate in professional development to become better equipped to advocate for multilingualism and effectively address the realities of language minority students.

Thinking beyond deficits in Southwest China: Perspectives of ethnic minority teachers on academic achievement disparities among students

“…Some studies have shown that ethnic minority teachers outperform their ethnic majority colleagues and contribute to the positive learning outcomes of ethnic minority students Kleen et al, 2019). However, an earlier survey study undertaken by us (Liu et al, 2021) suggests that someone's ethnic minority status does not necessarily mean an exemption from in-group stereotypes. As such, the research field requires hearing more voices from ethnic minority teachers regarding their students and teaching to increase educational equity.…”

“…In particular, deficit thinking in education remains a severe barrier to creating a caring classroom climate and engaging in culturally responsive teaching (Walker, 2011;Wang, 2022). For example, researchers (Liu et al, 2021;Yuan, 2018;Zhang & Wang, 2016) suggest that Han ethnic majority teachers in China exhibited unclear attitudes towards ethnic diversity, often considering minority cultures as inferior to the dominant Han culture. The results of these studies show that these teachers felt they lacked sufficient academic and cultural readiness to teach a diverse student population.…”

Racialization and belonging in higher education: Counternarratives of Turkish Belgian students from a community cultural wealth perspective.

“…In other words, Yosso conceptualizes different forms of capital based on Bourdieu's theorization of cultural and social capital, while offering a critique of how these notions have been used by others to construct racialized communities as culturally deprived and White middle-class culture as the norm. This means that marginalized youth are often expected to disassociate from their cultures and adapt to inherently unjust educational structures where their cultural identities and knowledge (e.g., home languages) are either overlooked or rejected (Agirdag, 2010;Çolak, 2020;Liu et al, 2022).…”

Celebrating culture and neglecting language: representation of ethnic minorities in Chinese primary school textbooks (1976–2021)

“…Ethnic minority groups in Chinese context usually refer to indigenous minorities who have historical settlements in China (Liu et al, 2021). Prior research contextualized in China has revealed that the experiences, histories, and values of ethnic minority people are highly underrepresented in educational contexts (Chu, 2015;Harrell & Ayi, 1998;Xiang & Yenika-Agbaw, 2019;Zhao & Postiglione, 2010).…”