1. An Analysis of the Incorporation of Culture into Classroom Instruction Prof. Wang Lirong Changchun University of Science and Technology in China Prof.Cui Min Jilin University in China Prof.Duan Cuixia Changchun University of Science and Technology in China

2. Abstract: For years, many educators have arduously attempted to define the term “culture.” Definitions have viewed “culture” abstractly, which can be summed up as “an aggregation of beliefs, attitudes, habits, values, and practices that form a view of reality” (Shade & New, 1993, p. 317). Other definitions lean toward more concrete ideas which classify individuals as representative of culture such as race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender, home language, sexual orientation, social class, and disability. To form a comprehensive definition of culture, these researchers view culture in light of both of these perspectives. Culture involves the behaviors, attitudes and beliefs of these individual groups that inform a modal personality, govern rules and behaviors, and are experienced by individual groups as normal ways of acting, feeling and being.

3. The United States is comprised of a conglomerate of racial, ethnic, religious, and other cultural groups and the classroom, in many ways, represents this diversity. Each semester, students of various cultures sit in classes to receive daily instruction. In textbooks and curricula, students have the opportunity to see their own culture and other cultures represented so that they can participate and feel included in the classroom experience and, at the same time, learn about other cultures. This culturally responsive pedagogy and more is needed to educate the many “culturally different” students in society.

4. When schools produce a curriculum that represents cultural diversity, students become more motivated to learn and they can make better transitions between their home and school cultures. In other words, school no longer becomes an “alien” place where students’ home knowledge and behavior are not recognized or valued; rather, school can become a place where students can feel included and build upon the knowledge they have acquired at home to become more educated in schools. According to Greene (2000), the incorporation of culture in classroom activities and curriculum is a way to promote a type of freedom among diverse groups and individuals. Freedom involves human beings learning about other cultures. Freedom is obtained by providing authentic representation of culture in the social contexts with which individuals grapple in every day life. According to Yagelski (2000), cultural instruction and activities must engage and involve learners by reflecting the real world in which individuals live. In the classroom, this engagement involves a variety of subjects from reading, writing, and mathematics to study skills and other courses in which students are involved. For this paper, however, the focus is on reading and writing activities. Further studies could include other subjects.

5. Since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, educators have tried various methods to better integrate the school curriculum with diverse cultural content. These methods were based on various models. One such model is the Feminist Phase Theory (Tetreault, 1993) which defines women in the curriculum in terms of the following hierarchal structure: the Male-Defined Curriculum which rests on the assumption that the male experience is representative of humanity. In other words, in a curriculum, men represent both males and females with the idea of “mankind.” This idea, considered “inaccurate” among educators today, because it privileges a male-dominated society. The Contribution Curriculum acknowledges the contributions of a few outstanding women. However, when this approach is presented in the curriculum, women are represented in a token capacity. Students are left with the idea that many women have not made significant accomplishments. The Bifocal Curriculum views the accomplishments of women and men equally.

6. It acknowledges that women and men are significant but fails to point out the unique contributions of both. The Women’s Curriculum solely focuses on the significance of women. This approach, similar to the Male-Defined Curriculum, rests on the assumption that women are representative of humanity. The Gender-Balanced Curriculum views men and women as both unique individual groups and a part of an intertwined network called humanity. This approach is an ideal way to incorporate gender into the curriculum by viewing the similarities and differences and the accomplishments of men and women equally. The Feminist Phase Theory, although useful in determining the amount of incorporation of gender in the curriculum, is only based on gender and, thus, fails to include other cultural groups in order to gain a comprehensive approach to incorporation.

7. Another hierarchal model focuses on a broader concept of incorporating culture into the curriculum. This model is an attempt to view education, globally so it focuses on the approaches to a multicultural education, not just by defining gender but by defining the experiences of students in terms of race, social class, gender, and ability (Grant & Sleeter, 1993). This more comprehensive approach to incorporating multicultural content into the curriculum centers on the following components: Teaching the Exceptional and Culturally Different which highlights the traditional mainstream curriculum and views achievements of students based on their abilities compared to mainstream notions of education.

8. The Human Relations Approach which centers on similarities and differences in cultures to help students live harmoniously in the world; the Single Group Studies Approach that presents one cultural group in the curriculum at a time so that students can concentrate fully on the history and perspectives of that culture; the Multicultural Education Approach which extensively highlights various groups in an attempt to work toward social justice for all students; and Education that is Multicultural and Social Reconstructionist an extension of the Multicultural Education Approach but one that provides students with the opportunity to examine and analyze their own life circumstances in authentic ways.

9. Similar to the Feminist Phase Theory, each phase is an improvement over the previous phase mentioned; thus, the ideal way to incorporate culture into the curriculum is the final approach, Education that is Multicultural and Social Reconstructionist in which students are empowered to become active in their own learning by participating socially and evaluating their own cultures based on their own cultural standards and ways of viewing the world. Although this model explores culture more in depth than the feminist phase model, the approach appears to be more of an incorporation based on sociological representation rather than a reading/writing curriculum incorporation.

10. In order to more thoroughly analyze cultural content in the reading and writing curriculum, however, Banks (1993) devised a hierarchy of how incorporation is often accomplished into the curriculum. In his model, Banks classified lower-level attempts to higher-level attempts of utilizing culture. The most commonly used lower level of incorporation in a reading/writing curriculum, the Contributions Approach, provides a quick and easy way to insert culture into the curriculum but often creates a false view and a superficial understanding among students since it focuses on only viewing the heroes and heroines in the culture.

11. The Additive Approach consists of using thematic units to study culture but the problem is that this approach views various cultures, including individual American “subcultures,” as separate entities, apart from the American culture as a whole. The Transformation Approach allows students to view concepts, issues, problems and themes from various perspectives. This approach allows students to become more acquainted with culture since students are required to discuss real issues related to culture. This approach, however, fails to promote discussions and actions beyond the classroom so that students can participate in the culture. The final approach is the Social Action Approach in which students discuss and get involved with real issues within a culture and participate in authentic cultural activities outside the classroom in order to gain a true understanding of culture.

12. The first two levels of Banks’ model of incorporation are traditional methods of incorporation in which the curriculum is not altered. For example, the Contributions Approach may consist of instructors providing a lesson on famous Mexican Americans during Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) or instructors providing a lesson on famous authors with disabilities during National Disability Week. What happens after the cultural festivity? During the rest of the year are these cultural groups no longer worth celebrating or studying? A second concern of this approach occurs when a person is considered a hero among some within a cultural group but not among others in the same cultural group. One example is Malcolm X. Malcolm X is a noted hero to some African Americans but not to other African Americans; yet, his work is popularly represented on most reading booklists of famous African Americans.

13. Instructors use the Additive Approach when they add books onto the mainstream curriculum such as adding a novel by a Native American author onto a pre-selected booklist in order to fulfill the University’s requirements of providing diverse reading materials to students. Instructors also use this level when they provide units of study dealing with culture such as adding to the curriculum a unit on the Japanese American Internment or Desert Storm. The basic problem with this approach is that, when designing the curriculum, instructors are left to grapple with the question, “On what basis do I decide the cultures that are to be studied?” In other words, how can instructors justify some cultures chosen for study and not others? Since this approach focuses on representatives of culture and not the entire culture, itself, the Additive Approach, along with the Contributions approach, fails to explore culture in enough depth for students to gain a realistic sense of the culture studied.

14. The higher levels of incorporation of this model, however, actually alter the traditional curriculum to become more inclusive of culture. Instructors not only view culture by studying famous people and holidays and reading literature about various cultures, as with the traditional curriculum, but with the higher levels of incorporation, instructors are required to delve into issues, perspectives and social action relevant to the people studied. These in-depth attempts, provide students with a more authentic view of culture and more real world learning experiences ( Paulo Freire, 1994). For example, the Transformation Approach allows students to see various perspectives of relevant issues within cultures; thus, instructors can organize formal debates for students; have students to conduct interviews within various cultural communities; invite guest speakers to participate in class discussions; engage students in research projects that lead them to discover various cultural views and practices, or require students to write argumentative papers and engage in projects that will allow them to utilize their knowledge of opposing cultural views.

15. The Social Action Approach, an extension of the Transformation Approach, allows students to completely venture out of the classroom and into the community. Students become community advocates as they address social problems and present views to school officials and other people who can make a difference in the community. Community service is a requirement of this approach. For example, a group of students could assist residents in a battered women’s shelter with writing resumes and filling out job applications to help these women gain employment skills. Students can also become guest story book readers to young children in after-school programs; students could tutor students in literacy centers such as library extension programs and adult literacy programs such as Operation Read. Students could participate in panel discussions with local or national government officials and focus on community issues. Students can also participate in community outreach programs and celebrations to learn more about various cultures and to become an academic resource to the community.

16. Instructors must understand how to incorporate the higher levels of these approaches to avoid stereotyping cultures. Since students in the United States live in a multicultural society, it is important that instructors provide students with a realistic and accurate portrayal of the various distinct groups classified as “Americans.” Equally important are the non-American students studying or living among the many American cultures. Many of these students will interact with American students as they work together on the world scene; therefore, each culture must have an accurate understanding of other cultures.

17. Instructors may agree that the higher levels of Banks’ model produce a better understanding of culture but they may be uncertain regarding how to implement these levels since the lower levels are more commonly used and taught in many traditional teacher education programs. When instructors attempt to study culture even at the lower levels of Bank‘s hierarchy, it is better than no attempt to provide an understanding of diversity in the classroom. In spite of the disadvantages, the lower levels of incorporation, when used cautiously, often provide a starting point to the incorporation of higher levels. As instructors begin to evaluate their own ability to incorporate culture, they should ask themselves a few basic questions:

18. Which approach to multicultural education do I feel most comfortable using? Could my portrayal of culture, in any way, be interpreted as stereotypical or offensive to others? Am I comfortable with my current knowledge of diverse cultures? Do I use activities in the classroom that are representative of the higher levels of incorporation, the Transformation and Social Action Approaches? Do I understand fully how to incorporate the higher levels into my teaching and lesson preparation?

19. Conclusion: More diversity preparation among educators may be needed as educators continue to discover ways of redesigning the curriculum to incorporate diversity into the curriculum appropriately. Perhaps local, state and national professional development workshops can be the beginning to an exchange of ideas, strategies, activities, and other culturally responsive pedagogy needed to educate students, instructors, and the world.

20. References ： Banks, J. (1993). Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform. In J. Banks & C. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 2nd edition (pp. 195 - 214). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Freire, P. (1994). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Publishing Company. Greene, M. (2000). The ambiguities of freedom. English Education, 33 (1), pp. 9-14. Grant, C. & Sleeter, C. E. (1993). Race, class, gender, and disability in the classroom. In J. Banks & C. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 2nd edition (pp. 48-67). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

21. Shade, B. J. & New, C. A. (1993). Cultural influences on learning: Teaching implications. In J. Banks & C. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 2nd edition (pp. 317 - 331). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Tetreault, M.K. (1993). Classrooms for diversity: Rethinking curriculum and pedagogy. In J. Banks & C. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 2nd edition (pp. 129-148). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Yagelski, R. (2000). Literacy matters: Writing and reading the social self. Teacher’s College Press.