Kristi Viscardo
21 November 2013
Dr. Michael Sherry
TCSS – SWAP
Option 4: How can a teacher provide feedback that sensitively takes into account students’
cultural and linguistic backgrounds?
Recently, as a pre-service teacher, I put a great amount of thought into what type of
school setting I would like to teach in one day. Growing up in a suburban New Jersey town,
I had little exposure to diversity. The majority of my peers came from affluent, Caucasian
backgrounds with a great deal of educational resources at their disposal. After I completed
my practicum at Easton Middle School, I was exposed to the diversity I did not experience
growing up. I worked with many diverse students – but what specifically stuck out to me
were the English Language Learners. They struggled in their academics because of the
language differences between English and their own language. Reflecting on these
differences, I often wondered how would I give feedback to these students that is
encouraging, accepting, but at the same time critical? So, moving forward, one thing I need
to take into consideration is how do I approach providing feedback to my students that
takes into account their cultural and linguistic backgrounds?
As I looked through Ghanem’s students’ narratives from the online archive, I noticed
that the students understood the writing prompt that they were assigned. The students
wrote about what their brain power is. One pattern I noticed in the majority of the student
work is that the students’ conventions (grammar and spelling) are their weakest areas.
Many students seemed to struggle with grammar; however, I do not think it takes away
1
from their writing. From my understanding of the assignment, students needed to write a
narrative, which many successfully did. Although the students at my placement are not
English Language Learners and their first language is English, I noticed that their weakest
area is conventions as well. Students often spell words incorrectly, confuse grammatical
elements, and have trouble with sentence structure. I think it is important to be just as
sensitive attending to these students’ work because although I made the assumption that
my students are homogenous, students culturally all come from different backgrounds. One
thing I noticed in my placement is that the students’ families enjoy a more rural way of life.
They enjoy hunting and outdoors activities. Many of their parents hunt and the students
have a diet of venison. As a teacher, if a student wrote about hunting or eating something
that I would not consider eating, I would need to be sensitive to their cultural differences.
I read over Ghanem’s interview discussing her assignment for her students’ brain
power narrative. One thing in her interview that she noted was that she recently
andextensively covered six components of what makes “good writing.” The components
include: word choice, voice, organization, conventions, sentence fluency, and ideas. This
was interesting because my cooperating teacher also has similar components of what
makes “good writing.” Reading through Ghanem’s comments, I noticed that she does
address conventions. What I really admire about her feedback is that she does not just
circle a sentence or word with an issue; she lays out exactly why the students’ grammar is
an error. For instance, if a student uses “its” in possessive form instead of “it’s” she will
explain exactly why “it’s” is correct and not “its.”
Something else that I found interesting is that she stated her students often do not
use capital letters. In her interview, she said that in some students’ languages, Nepali for
2
instance, capital letters do not exist. This made me think how difficult it must be for
students to get used to writing and using capital letters. I put myself in those students’
shoes and thought about how I would feel if I were in another country, and they told me not
to use capital letters when writing. When attending to this issue, teachers need to be
sensitive because the students are not necessarily “wrong.” As a future teacher of English
Language Arts, I want to use a descriptive approach to language and grammar rather than a
prescriptive approach. There is no right or wrong answer – language is used based on
context. I would instill in these learners that their lack of capital letter usage is not
necessarily wrong, but for the context they are writing in, it’s not appropriate. In a case like
this, I believe teachers need to be sensitive when giving feedback. These students have
been taught in their country or specific culture that not using capital letters is right. These
students are most likely proud of their culture, so as a teacher, coming in and telling them it
is wrong may offend the student and their culture.
Ghanem does an exceptional job with incorporating my concerns into her feedback
for two specific students. For the first student, who wrote a narrative about how math is
his/her brain power because s/he is not good at English, Ghanem wrote positive feedback.
She told the student she was impressed and that s/he is improving everyday which can be
very motivational to the student. It shows that Ghanem cares about this students’ progress.
Ghanem continues on to write, “Learning English is like building a house: one row of
bamboo at a time.” This feedback was exceptionally thoughtful to me. This student is of
Thai ethnicity, and in their culture, many houses are built used bamboo. Ghanem not only
gave caring support, but reached into the students’ personal culture and wrote something
relatable to that specific student.
3
Another time Ghanem wrote feedback that was relevant to the student is when she
reminded a student to use capital letters. She wrote, “Remember to start all sentences with
capital letters. I know this can be hard because there are no capital letters in your
language… just like mine! We get better at this with practice.” I thought this feedback was
personal and encouraging. Ghanem’s approach to the conventions was descriptive: she did
not tell the student s/he was wrong. Additionally, she let the student know she
understands his/her language and made a personal connection by telling the student that
she does not have capital letters in her language either. This shows the student that s/he is
not alone and that his/her own teacher also experiences a difference between languages. I
also really liked how she said, “We get better at this with practice.” By saying “we,” it is very
encouraging to the student because it shows that Ghanem is on this students side and
understands what s/he is going through as Ghanem as is going through it as well.
As I returned to the student work from my field placement, I realized that although
the two samples of work come from fluent English speakers/writers from rural
Pennsylvania, I should have the same approach when attending to feedback for their
narratives. The students wrote narratives about something they did during the summer.
My cooperating teacher’s feedback was minimal. She circled and crossed out words
without explanation. Looking at the feedback from a students’ perspective, I would be
confused as to why a word was circled or a sentence was crossed out without an
explanation. Additionally, I noticed my cooperating teacher did not write much feedback. I
decided to include my own comments. I wrote little side comments responding to the
events the students were describing. For instance, one student wrote, “The three things I
did at the beach were golfing, fishing, and swimming in the ocean.” I responded by writing,
4
“Wow! Sounds like fun!” Writing little side comments shows students that I am engaged in
their writing and that I am actually reading it for the content and not just the conventions.
Additionally, at the end of the narrative, I wrote some comments discussing their overall
writing and included something I liked about their narratives.
To further find answers to my question about providing sensitive feedback, I
decided to look into some approaches to diverse learners. I found an excerpt from the book
Educating Everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching Strategies for Diverse Learners by
Marietta Saravia-Shore where she explores the needs of diverse learners and how teachers
should approach the needs of these learners. Saravia made several points that I think are
important for teachers to embrace. The first element for effective teaching for
ethnic/language-minority students is that, “Teachers have a clear sense of their own ethnic
and cultural identities.” It is important for teachers to understand their culture and
embrace their own culture. Teachers should be ready to share personal experiences
because it allows them to make a personal connection to students. Ghanem, for instance,
did this in her feedback to the student where she stated that she also does not have capital
letters in her language. If teachers have a clear sense of their own cultural identity, they
will be better prepared to provide feedback that is in return sensitive to their students’
cultural differences.
Another point that Saravia made that I found to be applicable to all teachers is,
“Teachers communicate high expectations for the success of all students and a belief that
all students can succeed.” First, teachers should instill this belief in their students. They
need to make sure their students understand that their teacher believes in them and
expects them to be held to a high expectation. By doing this, students will in return
5
understand that they have support to success. Many students may not have a strong, athome support system and their teacher may be their only fan. Teachers need to keep this
element in mind when attending to feedback. Teachers need to be encouraging in their
feedback – telling the students they believe they can succeed and showing positive
reinforcement for successful work. Ghanem often writes inspirational or motivational
comments praising her students on their work. This shows that Ghanem believes her
students can succeed. Additionally, she is communicating high expectations to them by
writing what they can do in the future to succeed.
Overall, I now have a clearer understanding of how to provide feedback that
sensitively takes into account students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds. First, as a
teacher, I am going to hold all my students to high standards and let them know that I
believe in them. I will make sure it is clear to them that they know I believe they can
succeed. In terms of attending to student work, I will need to be sure to understand
students’ individual cultures and languages. I can do this by talking to students, having
students write a paper or present on their culture, having a culture day, etc. When I provide
feedback to students, I need to personalize my feedback specific to that student.
Additionally, when marking papers, I need to be sure to explain why I am circling a
sentence or a word. As the year goes on, I believe I can shorten this feedback once students
understand why I am circling something. All in all, I need to provide a comfortable and safe
environment where students feel comfortable writing and approaching me with concerns
in their writing.
6
Resources
Saravia-Shore, Marietta. 2008. Educating Everybody's Children: Diverse Teaching Strategies
for Diverse Learners.
“SWAP.” Student Writing Archive Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
<http://23.21.225.52/:>
7