Parul Raval

Publication Date

2004

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Dorsch, Nina G.

Degree Name

Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Teaching and Learning

LCSH

Social sciences--Curricula--South Asia; Education; Bilingual--South Asia; Education--South Asia

Abstract

Scholarly literature has emerged from multicultural research that suggests that adopting a culturally relevant curriculum (CRC) and appropriately changing instructional strategies would enhance student motivation and achievement. This ethnographic case study investigated evidence pertaining to a culturally relevant social studies curriculum in an eighth-grade Gujarati-English transitional bilingual educational (TBE) program. Learning English while simultaneously mastering the grade-level content was a major undertaking for the eighth-grade South Asian students. The data gathered through classroom observations, interviews with the bilingual educational coordinator and the Gujarati-English bilingual teacher, focus group interview with the eighth-grade Gujarati-English bilingual students, and document analysis suggested effective teaching of social studies resulted from incorporating South Asian culture into the existing program. Multiple culturally relevant experiences and student-teacher, teacher-parent, and school-community relationships seem to promote a culturally relevant pedagogy. The overall efforts made by the city, the board of education, school, and classroom teachers involving the culture of these South Asian students cultivated a sense of pride and value in the Asian culture for all the students. Instructional teaching strategies connected to these students' background and academic knowledge concepts in American history enhanced these students' basic understanding of the content. The scarcity of Gujarati-English teaching materials seemed to be a barrier to delivering a more effective social studies instruction.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references (pages [128]-132).

Extent

x, 149 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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