What can we learn from other cultural contexts?

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We may want to go further to see how western countries deal with the language and culture issue for minority students. We can learn from some western countries which have forcefully advocated providing culturally and linguistically inclusive instruction and curriculum to minority students (Ladson-Billings, 1994).

 

Banks (2006) categorized the major research regarding the ways in which schools can be reformed to increase the academic achievement of students from diverse groups. He identified five dimensions of multicultural education, which include: 1) content integration, 2) the knowledge construction process, 3) an equity pedagogy, 4) prejudice reduction and 5) an empowering school culture and social structure (p.146). To be more specific, the five dimensions will be explained in Chinese context: content integration refers to the language and culture inclusion in school curricula; the knowledge construction process means that instructional material and curriculum knowledge should be constructed from the perspectives of minority ethnic groups; an equity pedagogy indicates that we need to take minority students’ needs into consideration and adjust teachers’ pedagogical practice accordingly; prejudice reduction will be achieved through the inclusion of minority culture and values; lastly, we need to make minority students feel empowered not only at the school level but also at the societal level. The five dimensions may provide some inspiration for Chinese government, school administrators and teachers.