Diversity Learning Styles & Culture
As teachers struggle to accommodate the increasingly diverse populations of today's schools, the typical American classroom fails to meet the needs of every learning style and culture represented in the country's classrooms. The contemporary teacher's job is to strike a balance between her teaching style and the various ways in which her students learn. While generalizations about cultural learning styles may help to inform your teaching, never assume such statements are true of every member of a particular racial, ethnic or religious group.
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Hispanic Students
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Hispanic students have been found to prefer a more formal learning environment, including a classic classroom design. Because Hispanic culture is social by nature, Hispanic students prefer to learn in groups. They also tend to form emotional attachments to teachers, which lead to more cooperative learning and less competition in the classroom.
Caucasian Students
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Caucasian students have been shown to learn best in formal classroom settings with traditional, direct instruction. This includes the ability to sit and listen for extended periods of time. Caucasian students tend to be more comfortable with individual work and enjoy more competition in the learning environment than students from other cultures. They also typically prefer more analytical information, and less personal or emotional.
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African American Students
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African American students are generally most successful in a less formal, experience-driven learning environment. They tend to prefer cooperative learning and a social atmosphere. The attention span for African American students has been shown to be shorter than other those from other cultures, so shorter, more concise lessons benefit them. It has been shown that African American students enjoy storytelling and learning through hands-on experience and creative methods.
Asian Students
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There are common misconceptions in the education field that Asian students are all the same type of learner. This is far from true, as there are many cultures encompassed by the term Asian. Students from East Asian cultures, like China and Korea, are likely to be successful in the classic American classroom, where independent learning is prominent, while students from Southeast Asia, Vietnam or Cambodia, typically prefer a group learning environment. One common issue with Asian students in general is their lack of willingness to communicate with teachers when they are unhappy with a learning experience. Teachers benefit by encouraging communication from Asian students about their learning preferences.
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- Photo Credit student image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com
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Great article! I'm using it for a presentation in my teaching class. I appreciate that when I copied a section of the article the information for the website also pasted with it. Ingenious!
