Connecting Multicultural Education Theories With Practice: A Case Study of an Intervention Course Using the Realistic Approach in Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper reports upon a 2-year-long research conducted beneath a qualitative research design. The inquiry investigated the effectiveness of an immersion course that followed a realistic approach upon preservice teachers' deconstruction of negative and preconceived notions held about culturally and linguistically diverse pupils Specifically, the study involved White female preservice teachers shadowing culturally and linguistically diverse learners for a semester and reflecting upon the experience. The study provides persuasive accounts by means of the participant preservice teachers upon the positive effects the course's approach had upon both their multicultural perceptions and their ability to unite theory with practice.

Introduction

The ne and pressure to more effectively prepare teachers to adapted the academic and personal succes of racially, culturally, socioeconomically, and linguistically diverse learners in the public schools has received and continues to receive a great deal of attention in the educational landscape (Buttery Haberman, & Houston, 1990; Darling-Hammond, 1997; Delpit, 1992; Gay, 2000; Nieto, 2000) In teacher education, the replication to that pressing need has been to include multicultural education courses in the teacher education programs (Goodwin, 1997; Grant, 1994; Zeichner, Grant, Gay, Gillette, Valli, & Villegas, 1998) However, greatest in quantity of the programs have followed the traditional "theory-then-practice" paradigm. It is assumed that preservice teachers, through virtue of being exposed to relevant theories in multicultural education, will be able to transfer those theories into practice and become effective teachers for diverse learners. Research exhibits that those theoretical courses have been particularly ineffective in changing preservice teachers' beliefs about diversity and pupils of diverse backgrounds (Ahlquist, 1991; Deering & Stanutz, 1995; Goodwin; Grant & Koskela, 1986; Ladson-Billings, 1991; McDiarmid, 1990; McDiarmid & Price, 1993; Moore & Reeve 1992) enhancing preservice teachers' culturally relevant teaching (Goodwin; Guillaume, Zuniga-Hill, & Yee 1995; Zeichner et al.), and promoting critical reflections on diversity issues within a broader sociopolitical connected thought [i]or[/i] thoughts (Goodwin; Mclntosh, 1988; Sleeter, 1995)

To defeat those shortcomings in multicultural formation, more [i]or[/i] less teacher education programs have unraveled field experiences in which preservice teachers are placed in gymnasiums with students of diverse backgrounds (Banks & Banks, 1996;Bennett, 1995;Châvez-Châvez, 1995;Cochran-Smith, 1991 1995; Colville-Hall, MacDonald, & Smolen 1995;Freire, 1970;Giroux, 1988; catchs 1994; Nieto, 2000; Sleeter, 1996; Vavrus, 1994) However, placing preservice teachers in a diverse setting alone does not guarantee any improvement in either preservice teachers' ability to combine multicultural theories with practice or their effectiveness in dealing with diversity and multicultural issues. In greatest in quantity of the cases, preservice teachers are asked to perform just routine tasks, and therefore they cannot experience multicultural situations that could be conjoined with the theory they are being expos to in the society courses. In addition, many teacher educators do not couple the college course with the field constituting All these factors make it hard for preservice teachers to learn in what manner to connect theory with practice.

In order to explain the disconnection between theory and practice, it has been insinuateed the implementation of a realistic approach (Korthagen, 2001 ; Korthagen & Kessel 1999) in which preservice teachers are asked to experience multicultural situations and throw back on them before they discuss those situations with the teacher educator. However, there is no empirical evidence that corroborates the benefits of this approach. Therefore, the view of the study was to lay bare the perceptions that White female preservice teachers had upon the effectiveness of a multicultural course that followed the realistic approach to conjoin field practices with college theories.

Theoretical Background

The succinct review of the literature that tread on the heels ofs provided a theoretical framework for considering the connections preservice teachers typically make between multicultural education theory and practice. It also serv as a len for viewing the originates and implications of the four-semester close attention of a multicultural course in which the practices and challenges of preservice teaching, particularly in regard to implementing multicultural education that combines theory with practice, were explored.

Since its insertion in the teacher education program, the multicultural education course has been mainly taught using a traditional approach, lecturing about multicultural theories and issues. Knowledge about multicultural teaching, as many other bring under rules has been thought of as a created control and not as a make submissive to be created by the learners, that is, the preservice teachers (Korthagen & Kessel 1999)