“We the Multicultural Learning Community”
Using the Power of Perspectives to
Build a Cross-Cultural Community
of Learners
Rebecca K. Fox, Ph.D.
Jorge P. Osterling, Ph.D.
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA
12th Annual International NAME Conference
October 31, 2002
Action Research Project
in a
Multicultural Teacher Education
Program
Report on Emergent Results & Lessons
Learned from a Qualitative Study
George Mason University
Session Objectives
 Report
on Ongoing Research Study
 Share information about strategies used
in retooled graduate course to help
teacher candidates develop cross-cultural
competence
 Promote a 21st Century philosophy that
teachers must become “cultural brokers”
 Promote collaboration, discussion among
attendees about best teacher education
practices that foster equity for all
learners
Today’s Agenda
 Background
of the Study
– Overview
– Research question
 Strategies
used to create a cross cultural
community of learners.
 Examples
 Results
 Dialogue: questions and discussion.
Background
 Impetus
for the study
– Co-teaching opportunity
– Major demographic changes:
 USA
& Greater Washington Metro Area
 Graduate
Student Population
– Challenge and opportunity to re-tool:
 Required
first-semester graduate course
– Opportunity for professional growth
Research Site

 Graduate
School of
Education
 George Mason
University
 Fairfax, VA
Longitudinal Project Stages
1.
2.
3.
Action research project conducted
during 2001 Fall Semester in EDCI 516
[Bilingualism and Language Acquisition
Research]
Follow-up research on study
participants & learners in their PK-12
classrooms.
Emergent and ongoing
recommendations for programmatic
growth and change.
EDCI 516
Bilingualism and Language Acquisition Research
 Course
Description
– Provides students with a knowledge of L1
& L2 acquisition, including the
interaction of a bilingual’s two languages
with implications for the classroom.
– Required course for Virginia State PK-12
ESL/FL licensure and for foreign
language immersion teachers.
Vygotsky’s Contribution
Zone of Proximal Development
Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
(1896 – 1934).
Social interaction plays a
fundamental role in the
development of cognition.
Freire’s Contribution
The Teacher as a Learner
Paulo Freire
(1921 – 1997



)
The importance of the
interaction of teaching with
learning on a dynamic and
ongoing dialogic process.
One does not happen without the
other.
Dialogue demands respect for
the learner and his/her reading
of the World.
Our Point of Departure - part 1
Our Point of Departure - part 2
Developing a New Lens
Becoming part of a larger
Community of Learners
EDUC 516: Learning
Community
 Building
and developing a dialogical
learning community composed of
graduate students and professors.
 Challenges
 Opportunities
The EDCI Learning
Community
CHARACTERISTICS
EDCI 516: Our point of
departure
Two professors of second language acquisition
and multi-cultural education;
 Teaching Bilingualism and language acquisition
research to polyglots –
 28 polyglot students: from romance to Asian

languages, from Arabic to Russian, including ASL
teachers working with students who come from
countries where English is not the native language

25 - 30% of the class composed of non-native
English speakers
Co-Teaching a Graduate
Course

Potential zone of
conflict?

An opportunity for
collaborative teaching?
Our Learning Community
Solo Teaching: Professor A
Osterling
Solo Teaching: Professor B
Fox
Covering Part of the Whole
Globe:
Professors’ Contributions
Fox
Osterling
Students become teachers
Teachers become learners
Fox
Osterling
Strategies Used





Instructors jointly planned and
presented.
Technology:

Funds of Knowledge theory

Group projects
– Blackboard-5 Instructional
Platform
– PowerPoint guides for major
topics
– E-Mail

Small group hands-on
Multiple intelligences/ learning
styles theory
Guest speakers
Literature and narratives
collaboration

Performance-based course
products [language analysis
project]

Written feedback/ evaluations

Student socialization [ e.g.,
snacks at break , potluck dinner].
Results of the Research:
1. A community where
everybody teaches and
everybody learns.
Results:
2. The power of modeling negotiation and
experiential learning in the preparation
of teachers for the 21st Century
Skill building through experiences
All participants have a voice
A respect is built out of and for all
Results
3. The importance of on-going formative
and summative assessment along the
continuum of the semester
– help to draw conclusions
– provide opportunities for synthesis
– essential for constructivist learning approach
and for scaffolding
Results
4. Technology supplied an essential
community building element
– discussion strands (Santiago and other topics
drawn from weekly readings)
– power point guides to course themes
– postings from Krashen, Unz, and NCBE
Newsletter provide current context
– emails and announcements facilitate course
work and communication
Results
Open atmosphere lowers affective filter
Time for formal and informal social
interaction support collegiality and the
philosophy of a learning community
We thank you for this rich opportunity to
explore another dimension in our
teaching and learning.
It has been MOST enlightening!
We look forward to hearing about your
teaching and continuing learning
pathways, so please stay in touch.