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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
The Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) in the Classroom
Haideline Escobar
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
Haideline Escobar
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Haideline Escobar. Email: hescobar@liberty.edu
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
Abstract
Diversity among the student population is increasing, and educators need to become aware of the
academic, social, and emotional gaps that this can cause among our students. Many students come into classrooms in the United States without any understanding of the customs or society-
based “cues” that are learned at home in the United States when they come from different homes with different languages and customs. These differences can make it difficult for students to connect with their teachers and peers. Culturally Responsive Teaching is a research-based approach that combines a student’s culture, language, and experience with classroom instruction (Ashbrook, 2021). This approach aims to make instruction relevant for students and help build connections with the content being presented in the classroom. Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is a method that was introduced in the early 2000s to help increase student engagement within diverse populations. Culturally Responsive Teaching is a tool that can be used to begin mending the academic, social, and emotional gaps among our student population.
Keywords: culturally responsive teaching, student engagement, diverse population, academic, social, and emotional gaps
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
Introduction
The continued increase of the diverse student population requires educators to use different methods to decrease students’ academic, social, and emotional gaps. Students from diverse backgrounds, such as immigrant and minority students, are more susceptible to isolation and environmental and emotional trauma in and outside of school (Green & Green, 2015; Lilly, 2022). Students from diverse backgrounds can be easily disengaged or unmotivated in the classroom due to feeling different or feeling anxious about being in the classroom. Therefore, students from diverse backgrounds have various needs that are not only solved with academic support. The increase in diverse populations requires that schools find different ways to approach
instruction for these students. Culturally responsive teaching is a methodology that can be used to increase engagement among diverse students and help them find connections with the content that is being taught. Culturally responsive teaching is a research-based methodology that incorporates diverse students' cultures, languages, customs, traditions, etc., into classroom instruction, which helps build a student’s cultural and academic identity (Ashbrook, 2021). One of the issues faced by diverse students is feeling as if they must let go of part of their diverse identity in order to fit in (Lilly, 2022). Therefore, culturally responsive teaching serves as a reminder of acceptance for those students. The purpose of culturally responsive teaching is to help students find meaning in what they’re learning and help increase understanding of the content (Mburu, 2022). Students are
able to see themselves reflected into the curriculum, which is essential to their motivation and engagement in the content. Harmon (2012) discusses that culturally responsive teaching helps teachers teach to their students' strengths by making the instruction geared to their cultural understanding, which makes
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
it more effective. Isolation from teachers and peers is one of the most significant issues among this population of students (Lilly, 2022). This is due to language barriers, struggling to fit in, and wanting to assimilate into mainstream culture, or feeling sad. Culturally responsive teaching also
helps students feel like they belong in the classroom, which is essential to building a positive classroom environment.
The increased academic gaps between diverse and non-White students demonstrate a need for a resolution to begin bridging these gaps between students. Therefore, culturally responsive teaching is a vital methodology to use in the classroom to increase student engagement and expectations and to decrease academic, social, and emotional gaps among students. Historical Description
Framework of Culturally Responsive Teaching
Walter (2017) explains that culturally responsive teaching was introduced as a methodology in the 21
st
century after discussing multiculturalism issues. With the influx of immigration in the '60s and '70s, multicultural education began making an appearance to build student engagement, with the idea that public schools needed to become more “inclusive” with their curriculum (Walter, 2017). With the increasing popularity of multicultural education and multiculturalism, there also came some critiques on how it was used in the classroom, such as being a “barrier to meaningful education” (Walter, 2017, p. 25). The author explains that teachers
didn’t fully understand what “culture” was to their students, which made it difficult for them to use multiculturalism in the classroom effectively. As teachers understood that culture incorporated beliefs, motivation, values, and norms, culturally responsive teaching began to
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
appear (Walter, 2017). Culturally responsive teaching was introduced to help learning become more student-centered instead of tied to a curriculum (Walter, 2017).
Harmon (2012) discusses that for culturally responsive teaching to be implemented effectively, teachers must learn to listen to their students and let them share stories about themselves and their culture. Teachers must also learn to focus on student-teacher and teacher-
family relationships to be wholly engaged in culturally responsive teaching (Harmon, 2012; Idrus & Sohid, 2023). When teachers focus on relationships with their students and families, they
are ensuring that families have a way to communicate effectively with the school system. Many diverse families feel isolated or intimidated by the school system due to the differences they see compared to their cultures. Families are essential to a student’s academic success and should also
be a priority for teachers of diverse students.
One of the strengths of culturally responsive teaching is that it helps diverse students feel empowered and engages them in meaningful learning. This foundation is necessary for students to feel like they belong in the classroom and improve their cultural identity (Lilly, 2022). Antunes (2021) explains that many students believe that unless they let go of their cultural identity, they will never belong to mainstream culture. This is an issue seen among diverse students, which is an aspect that can be resolved by using culturally responsive teaching, which is known to empower students (Muñiz, 2019). The empowerment of students stems from students seeing part of themselves in the classroom. In a world where diversity is still scarce in media, it is vital for educators to connect those gaps through instruction. Students begin understanding that they are part of the bigger picture instead of feeling like they’re the ones on the outside. Challenges of Culturally Responsive Teaching
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
One of the challenges of culturally responsive teaching is that this method is used as a surface resolution, meaning that it is not used effectively (Abacioglu et al., 2020). When culturally responsive teaching is used as it is intended, it can positively affect student engagement and achievement in the classroom. However, when it is used superficially or without
purpose, it can do more harm than good. Abacioglu et al. (2020) discuss the superficial implementation of culturally responsive teaching and how little that does for the effectiveness of instruction, connection between peers, and connection of seeing themselves within the classroom. Some examples of superficial implementation of culturally responsive teaching are celebrating holidays without learning their meaning or importance, making the students bring native foods, etc. (Abacioglu et al., 2020; Lomeli, 2021). Lomeli (2021) emphasizes the importance of teachers and administrators participating in professional development and training to effectively use culturally responsive teaching. The participation in trainings will allow teachers to build resources to learn how to effectively use culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. It can serve to introduce digital storytelling, student-independent research, etc. (Lomeli, 2021). Another challenge of culturally responsive teaching is pushing unprepared teachers into the classroom. Many preparation programs and school systems across the United States do little to prepare upcoming and veteran teachers to teach diverse students (Bonner et al., 2018; Lomeli, 2021; Mburu, 2022; Comstock et al., 2023). Since many teachers do not have experiences with diverse students, many do not resolve their negative preconceptions about diverse populations (Bonner et al., 2018). This, along with not having the background or training to teach diverse populations, can make the attempts at culturally responsive teaching ineffective. Comstock et al. (2023) emphasize that teachers must understand, value, and help students sustain their cultural
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
identities. One of the calculated decisions diverse students must make as they enter mainstream school is the decision between assimilating to gain more acceptance into mainstream culture or struggling to stay connected to their native cultural identity (Lilly, 2022). When teachers are unsure of how to approach these situations and build value and respect for the various cultural identities in the classroom, it can lead to the isolation of students from their peers (Lilly, 2022). Mburu (2021) discusses that this can also cause cultural conflict in the classroom, which further impacts teacher perspectives and student feelings. The purpose of teachers becoming culturally aware is to meet the needs of their students, which, if they do not have the proper preparations for these situations, can cause issues with the implementation of culturally responsive teaching and can decrease teacher empathy for these students (Bonner et al., 2018). For these ideals to change, teachers must begin seeing culturally responsive teaching as vital to academic success (Comstock et al., 2023).
An additional challenge of culturally responsive teaching is teachers having the appropriate resources to teach diverse students effectively. An emphasis among research is that culturally responsive teaching must be relevant and respectful toward a student’s culture and beliefs (Mburu, 2021; Comstock et al., 2023). A lack of resources comes from a language barrier between the student and teacher. This can cause miscommunication even with translation tools such as Google Translate. One of Antunes's students says, “The struggle with language made me frustrated and sad, especially when I wanted to respond and share information … but felt that I didn’t have all the words” (2021, p. 46). This is where specialized English instruction is necessary from ESL teachers or pull-out teachers. Some teachers also do not know whether the resources are accurate and beneficial to student needs. Situations such as not having the
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
appropriate resources and language barriers can deter teachers from using culturally responsive teaching or encourage them to use it at a surface level (Abacioglu et al., 2020).
Current Research and Strategies
Teacher Perspectives on Culturally Responsive Teaching
Positive teacher perspectives are essential to the effective implementation of culturally responsive teaching. Bonner et al. (2018) state, “New and veteran teachers admit that effectively educating non-White students is a key challenge in today’s schools” (p. 698). This can result from a lack of experience and training when teaching diverse students. In general, teachers realize that there is a need for teachers to become more culturally aware and respectful when it comes to their students (Bonner et al., 2018; Muñiz, 2019; Abacioglu et al., 2020; Comstock et al., 2023; Idrus & Sohid, 2023). Without cultural awareness, teachers can subject their students to negative preconceptions if they do not have previous experience with diverse students. Teachers' values, dispositions, and beliefs can significantly affect how teachers approach instruction (Bonner et al., 2018). Idrus and Sohid (2023) discuss that teachers of diverse students must be ready to demonstrate that they understand each student's cultural, language, and social characteristics and needs. The authors also emphasize that teachers must avoid making assumptions about students based on their culture since that can impact how educators accurately assess their students when setting expectations for them (Idrus & Sohid, 2023). One of the examples given in the study is that students who are given higher expectations may have more opportunities to be offered creative and critical tasks. In contrast, students who are not given those exact expectations may be resolved to do activities that are not engaging. This is seen frequently when students do not
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
know English, and they must do work that does little to improve their academic growth in the classroom (Lilly, 2022). Teacher perspectives in the classroom must shift from negative preconceptions to positive
and educated empathy. Teachers who do little to improve how they approach diverse students will result in their students not showing growth in their classroom (Idrus & Sohid, 2023). Teachers who take the initiative to get to know their students’ background, language, customs, family, etc., will ensure they have a safe space to learn and feel cared about (Bonner et al., 2018; Idrus & Sohid, 2023). Muñiz (2019) recognizes eight competencies for teachers to effectively start culturally responsive teaching in the classroom, which are reflecting on one’s cultural lens, communicating in linguistic and culturally responsive ways, collaborating with families and the community, promoting respect for student differences, modeling high expectations for all students, bringing real-world issues into the classroom, drawing on students’ culture to shape instruction, and recognizing and addressing bias in the system. These are resolutions to begin changing teacher perspectives on diverse students, laying the foundation for starting culturally responsive teaching. Isolation and Fear of Students
Isolation among diverse students is prevalent when they start school (Lilly, 2022; Idrus &
Sohid, 2023). Many students suffer from isolation due to differences in culture or customs, miscommunication with peers and teachers, preconceived negative attitudes about who they are, etc. Students who feel isolated or don’t belong do not see themselves reflected in their studies and do not find meaningful connections in their instruction. Idrus and Sohid (2023) emphasize that positive attitudes from teachers encourage student engagement and participation. Some teachers fail to realize that diverse students require that sense of belonging to become engaged in
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
the classroom. Teachers may attribute poor behavior and academics to the student not wanting to try, while they may just feel unmotivated due to feeling isolated or alone (Lilly, 2022). Leaning is a social process; therefore, when students begin to feel isolated from their teachers and peers, it creates a barrier that decreases their opportunities to learn and succeed in the classroom. One of Antunes's students, Helena, discusses feeling no warmth in the community
due to limited interactions with her peers (Antunes, 2021). When students miss social interactions with their peers, it can also create a sense of isolation. Teachers need to remember that students need these interactions to feel part of the community in the classroom. Many teachers may blame language barriers as part of this. While language barriers do little to improve
these situations, it is also important to remember that they do not equate to not knowing knowledge. It’s essential to find ways for students to express their ideas and knowledge even through a language barrier (Antunes, 2021). Muñiz (2019) emphasizes that all students benefit from “mirrors” and “windows” into their own cultures and the cultures of others (p.11). Muñiz (2019) explains that the mirrors in culturally responsive teaching help students see themselves, experiences, and communities within the lens of the classroom, which helps build a sense of belonging. Muñiz (2019) also explains that the windows in culturally responsive teaching allow classmates to see into the cultural experiences of their peers, which builds empathy, understanding, and respect for others. Diverse populations have so much rich culture that can be contributed positively in the classroom. Many students do not have the opportunity to learn about these differences and how to respect them. This is the purpose of culturally responsive teaching in the classroom, and this demonstrates how culturally responsive teaching helps build a community and empathy.
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
A positive classroom environment is another solution for feelings of isolation. A positive classroom environment starts with teacher-student relationships built on trust and communication. Teachers who take the time to get to know their students have the necessary tools to tailor and guide instruction (Abacioglu et al., 2020). Harmon (2012) discusses that teachers must first learn to care for the whole student to build a positive community. This serves as a guide to incorporating a classroom environment that fosters positivity and acceptance of all differences. This is an initiative teachers must take at the beginning of the year and continue doing so. Muñiz (2019) also explains that implementing culturally responsive teaching encourages motivation and student engagement, which increases confidence as a class. Culturally Responsive Teaching and Social-Emotional Learning
Diverse students in higher education settings also require additional support in the classroom. Yeh et al. (2022) discuss the growing population of international students in higher education and emphasize that professors have little training in addressing the needs of these students. Many international students struggle academically, socially, and emotionally due to the difference in language, leaving home, and differences in customs and norms (Yeh et al., 2022). Yeh et al. (2022) emphasize that culturally responsive teaching recognizes the importance
of social and emotional learning, which is necessary for students who come from different countries. They continue to emphasize that incorporating culturally responsive teaching in the classroom increases understanding of different societal issues and helps build empathy within the
classroom. This is essential in a higher education classroom since many students are required to work and collaborate with different people in the classroom. By introducing culturally responsive
teaching, helps students learn tolerance and patience for those around them who are different from them (Yeh et al., 2022).
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
Biblical Integration
One consistent theme throughout the bible is that of acceptance and love. God expects us,
even though we may be different, to help and love one another. This is seen consistently throughout the Bible, and it’s emphasized in the Book of Acts. “The islanders showed us unusual
kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold” (
New International Version, 1973/n.d., Acts 28:2). This demonstrates the kindness and acceptance we must give to others despite our differences. This is necessary in education, and it demonstrates the tolerance educators must show to help their students. This is again emphasized in the Book of
Romans. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (
New International Version, 1973/n.d., Romans 15:1-13). The Bible continuously encourages people to accept and love each other, and in education, teachers see that constantly in the classroom. Teachers are required to teach those who
come from different backgrounds, who celebrate different holidays, who believe different things,
and yet must learn how to meet all their needs. This starts by learning to accept the whole student, just as they are, and learn to respect who they are and where they come from. This is taught time and time again in the Bible, and it is necessary to teach students effectively. Another theme shown throughout the Bible is that of teaching with integrity and kindness. Educators are the people who have the power to acquire and share knowledge with their students. They are the frontline of change in education, and it is imperative to remember how that can affect the students in the classroom, their views on education, and their views on the world. In the Book of Titus, it says, “I
n everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
about us” (
New International Version, 1973/n.d., Titus 2: 7-8). This bible verse demonstrates that
teachers must be careful what they say in the classroom. Teachers must remember to teach using kindness and integrity and be careful not to push students into thinking one way or the other. This is seen by teaching students of all cultures and acceptance of all differences. This helps students build their own beliefs using the teachings of kindness and acceptance that teachers have instilled in them. Conclusion
Culturally responsive teaching is a research-based methodology that is an essential component of effectively teaching diverse students. Immigrant populations will only continue to increase diverse populations in the United States, which means that the education system must begin thinking of long-term solutions to meet the needs of these students. By incorporating culturally responsive teaching, can solve isolation among students, negative preconceptions of different cultures, etc. Before this can be addressed, teachers must be prepared to teach these students by attending training or professional development that addresses these needs. Culturally responsive teaching is a vital tool for instruction, and it can be an answer to several issues that require attention for our diverse student population.
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
References
Abacioglu, C. S., Volman, M., & Fischer, A. H. (2020). Teachers’ multicultural attitudes and perspective-taking abilities as factors in culturally responsive teaching. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90
(3), 736-752. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12328
Ashbrook, P. (2021). Culturally responsive teaching. Science and Children, 58
(4), 14-15. Antunes, M.A. (2021). The impact of loss and alienation in English Language Learners. Radical Teacher: Anti-Racist Journal on Theory and Practice of Teaching. 120,
42-49.
Biblica, INC. (n.d.). The Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV). https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/ (Original work published in 1973).
Bonner, P. J., Warren, S. R., & Jiang, Y. H. (2018). Voices from urban classrooms: Teachers’ perceptions instructing diverse students and using culturally responsive teaching. Education and Urban Society, 50
(8), 697-726. Comstock, M., Litke, E., Hill, K. L., & Desimone, L. M. (2023). A culturally responsive disposition: How professional learning and teachers’ beliefs about and self-efficacy for culturally responsive teaching relate to instruction. AERA Open, 9
, https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221140092
Green, S. L. & Green, B. (2015). If you want a revolution, the only solution, evolve: The use of culturally responsive teaching in today’s classroom. Black History Bulletin, 78
(1), 12-16. Harmon, D. A. (2012). Culturally responsive teaching through a historical lens: Will history repeat itself? Interdisciplinary Journal of Teaching and Learning, 2
(1), 12-22.
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Importance of Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Classroom
Idrus, F. & Sohid, M. (2023). Teachers’ expectations and challenges in using culturally responsive teaching (CRT) strategies in the esl classroom. Journal of Language Teaching and Researching, 14
(3), 629-635. Lilly, J. M. (2022). “It doesn’t matter how good the school is if you don’t learn to socialize”: Latinx immigrant students’ testimonios of coping with social isolation in high school. Children and Youth Services Review, 137
, 1-9.
Lomeli, R. S. (2021). Critical praxis círculos: The impact of culturally responsive teacher development. Scholarly Journal, 20
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Mburu, J. M. (2022). “All Children Matter”: A preservice teacher’s understanding and practice of
culturally responsive teaching in a third-grade classroom. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 24
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Muñiz, J. (2019). Culturally responsive teaching: A 50-state survey of teaching standards. New America. https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/reports/culturally-responsive-
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