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Creating a culturally responsive classroom: The diverse needs of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong schools
Author(s)
Date Issued
2009
Conference
Citation
Hue, Ming Tak (2009). Creating a culturally responsive classroom: The diverse needs of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong schools. AERA 2009 Annual Meeting, US, Canada, Australia.
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
Many Hong Kong schools are concerned with the growing number of enrolments of ethnic minority students. This article examines teachers' views ofthe cross-cultural experience of ethnic minority students and how the diverse needs of ethnic minority students are fulfilled. Qualitative data were collected from unstructured interviews with thirty teachers from primary and secondary schools. This study shows that the diverse learning needs of ethnic minority students and their classroom behavior are culturally different from the majority of Hong Kong Chinese students. To manage classroom diversity, teachers struggle to conceptualize a new rationale for responding to cultural diversity. They develop a sense of inter-cultural sensitivity, promote cultural responsiveness to diversity, and strengthen the home-school connection. This article argues that, like students, teachers simultaneously
engage in a cross-cultural process through which they learn the culture of ethnic minority students, re learn their own culture and re-examine the relevant rationale underlying cultural responsiveness. They also adopt a 'relative' view in constructing an understanding the diverse needs of ethnic minority students and the classroom situation in which they participate. Teachers take a 'relative' perspective to examine the diverse needs of ethnic minority students by comparing them with students from the majority culture. Yet teachers realize that ethnic minority students and their parents tend to use another 'relative' perspective to construct their cross-cultural experience by comparing what they currently
have in the host society with what they would have in their home country. This sense of relativism forms an essential element for the creation of culturally responsive classrooms. This gives school practitioners of ethnic minority hope and motivation to face new challenges and to explore new opportunities. Finally, the implications for the creation of a culturally responsive classroom will be outlined.
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