Elements of Cultural Proficiency: Adopting a Critical Multicultural Instructional Approach
Dr. Franklin Thompson
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify instructional strategies and practices that help promote lifelong learning in the area of multicultural education. In addition to conducting a review of research aimed at uncovering those practices, this study also seeks to identify a few authentic instructional pieces that are not traditionally found in the literature. Utilizing a 9-point Likert Scale, education majors(N=1085) gave strong support for a multi-disciplinary brand of instruction called Critical Multicultural Instruction (CMI) that enhanced student overall personal diversity awareness and skill level (M=7.11, SD=1.58).A multiple regression analysis revealed that the variables important to predicting meaningful learning are instructional practices that[1] adopt a non-politically correct, critical pedagogy style of information delivery (t=2.878, p=.004), [2] simultaneously appeals to both the intellect (head) and the emotions (heart) of students (t=11.270, p=<.0005), [3] encourages dialogue and teaches students how to disagree without being disagreeable (t=6.342, p=<.0005), [4] utilizesa brand of videos that doesn’t sugarcoat the harshness of racism and bigotry (t=5.099, p=<.0005), and [5] includes guest speakers who have a compelling personal story to share (t=3.495, p=<.0005). The linear regression equation for the five predictor model is Personal Growth = .053 + .097 (newteach) + .397 (emoteach) + .197 (studentdialogue) + .162 (strongvideo) + .084 (guestspeaker), Adjusted R Square = .491, p=<.0005. Today’s students want multi-disciplinary, dynamic, and creative multicultural instruction that teaches all sides of a debate and pushes learners to think about how we think, while also giving them the final say of what to keep and what to throw away.