Excerpted from “Fostering and Assessing Cultural Humility in Short-Term Studies Abroad,” Presented at the University of Arizona’s CERCLL-ICC Conference, January 2012

Rebecca Hale and Irene Trunick, University of Cincinnati

A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING CULTURAL HUMILITY

Assumptions•That the majority of U.S. teachers and school administrators are unprepared for working with students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds

•That an experience of cultural/linguistic “othering” can be valuable in changing the perspectives, worldviews, and dispositions of those who participate in it

Becoming “Othered”•Becoming one who does NOT have access to cultural capital, one who does NOT hold a position of privilege and power

•Processes of Othering are linked to power relationships in particular situations. . . . The term Othering refers to the ways in which the discourse of a particular group defines other groups in opposition to itself: an Us and Them view that constructs an identity for the Other and, implicitly, for the Self (Palfreyman, 2005, pp. 213-214)

Robert Selby

•During their studies abroad, our students “are. . . perhaps for the only time in their lives, the existential outsider” (2008, p. 6).

Cultural Humility

• the state “wherein we question the primacy of our worldview and accept—or even enjoy—the creative tension of holding multiple perspectives” (Bennett, 2008, p. 20).

•Concept developed by Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998

Cultural Humility

•Cultural humility is a life-long commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique, to re-dressing the power imbalances in the teacher-student dynamic and to developing mutually beneficial relationships.• Concept developed by Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998

• An isolated increase in knowledge without a change in attitude and behavior is of little value (Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998)

Critical Consciousness• “Having its conceptual roots in the critical theory of the Frankfurt School and the work of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, critical consciousness posits that the thinking subject does not exist in isolation but, rather, in relationship to others in the world. The development of critical consciousness involves a reflective awareness of the differences in power and privilege and the inequalities that are embedded in social relationships—an act that Freire calls ‘reading the world’—and the fostering of a reorientation of perspective towards a commitment to social justice” (Kumagai & Lypson, p. 783).

Power

•Global history of educating culturally & linguistically diverse students has been one of coercive relations of power

Definitions (J. Cummins, 1996)

Empowerment:THE COLLABORATIVE CREATION OF POWER

Transformative Pedagogy:INTERACTIONS BETWEEN EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS THAT ENCOURAGE THE CREATION OF POWER

Theoretical Frame:Transformative Learning Theory

•“Transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991, 1995, 1996; Cranton, 1994, 1996) is the process of effecting change in a frame of reference. Adults have acquired a coherent body of experience—associations, concepts, values, feelings, conditioned responses—frames of reference that define their life world. . . . When circumstances permit, transformative learners move toward a frame of reference that is more inclusive, discriminating, self-reflective, and integrative of experience” (Mezirow, 1997, p. 5).

• Transformation – a structural shift in the basic premises of our thoughts, feelings an actions; evolution in our filtering, engagement in, and interpretation of the world (Mezirow, 1991)

• Transformative learning results from life experiences that challenge learners to reconsider their fundamental reasoning and notions of how the world works, resulting in a change in perspective (Hunter, 2008)

Theoretical Frame:Transformative Learning Theory, Cont.

Transformative Pedagogy

•Refuse the ‘discourse of subordination’

•Diversity is a resource, not a problem to be overcome by minority students

Theoretical Frame: Critical Race Theory

“ ‘seeks to identify, analyze and transform those structural and cultural aspects of society that maintain subordinate and dominant racial positions in and out of the classroom’ (Solórzano & Yosso, 2005, p. 69) Additionally, ‘racism, sexism, and classism are experienced amidst other layers of subordination based on immigration status, sexuality, culture, language, phenotype, accent and surname’ (Yosso, 2002, p. 72)” (Blum & de la Piedra, 2010, p. 8).

Critical Race TheoryMerryfield’s study of 80 teacher educators (2000)

•Middle class, European American teachers, especially, lack the “double consciousness” of having grown up within their primary culture while experiencing discriminatory othering within a society characterized by White privilege and racism

(DuBois, 1903/1989; Cushner, 2009)

Critical Race Theory, Cont.Merryfield’s study of 80 teacher educators (2000)

•These same teachers who are now recognized by their peers as effective in preparing other teachers for work in diverse communities have had their most profound and lasting experiences abroad – experiences in which they were “othered” (Cushner, 2009)

Why Teachers Should Engage in Experiences of “Othering” Abroad•Higher education language teachers are adept at teaching the target language plus the literature, art or history of a region•Teachers of the myriad of subjects offered in a university must deal with students from many world cultures and languages•However, all members of each group do not necessarily understand global citizenship, cultural humility, life-long learning or the need to become agents of change

Tertiary Level

•Additionally, tertiary level teachers who generally focus on adult learning often have insufficient oversight for language pedagogy•Learning theories, assessment, use of technology•Tertiary level includes language centers in the university, language schools and institutes, plus state and county programs

Characteristics to be Developed

Experiential Learners •Educators may find that customary ways of thinking/behaving do not work in the host culture•This mobilizes them to step away from comfort zone and think/behave in new ways• Teachers as learners: Key to holistic

experience is involvement at the affective, cognitive and behavioral levels (Savicki, 2008)

Characteristics to be Developed

Cross-cultural Trainers• Research shows that in order to maximize

impact, the teachers’ experiences need to be outside the home country (Cushner, 2009)

• Skills required of teachers working with cultures other than their own require significant, direct, personal interaction with people and contexts with which they are not familiar (Cushner, 2007; Cushner & Brislin, 1996; Dwyer, 2004; Landis, Bennett, & Bennett, 2004; Stephan & Vogt, 2004)

• A sense of cultural disorientation is important for teachers to understand the plight of their students

Characteristics to be Developed

Cultural Competence•This characteristic allows a teacher to interact effectively within cultural differences•Word of caution:•Completing a training module or a cultural event are not in themselves enough to deem a teacher as being fully developed in this area•Teachers must be humble enough to let go of the stereotyping which brings a false sense of security

Characteristics to be DevelopedGlobal Citizenship•Development of global interdependence with concern for cultures and peoples outside of one’s home country / comfort zone•Demand for an attitude that embraces life-long learning•Global citizenship awareness also results in teachers desiring to be agents of change on a local level

Presenters• Irene Trunick, Assistant Academic Director, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Cincinnati• trunicip@mail.uc.edu

• Rebecca Hale, ESL Instructor, University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati State Technical & Community College• rebecca.r.hale@gmail.com