English Online Volunteer's e-Handbook and Training Session on Responsiveness to the Newcomer Learners' Cultural Diversity
Connection to EO Context
What does this mean to you as an English Online e-Facilitator or Volunteer e-Tutor?
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To Develop Culturally Appropriate Pedagogies, You Need to:
Build trust with your learner
Become culturally literate
What does this mean to you as an English Online e-Facilitator or Volunteer e-Tutor?
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To Develop Culturally Appropriate Pedagogies, You Need to:
Creating positive rapport and empathizing with your learners are effective ways to strengthen the teacher-student relationship, which eventually leads to a safe learning environment that motivates learners to succeed ( Kristmanson, Lafargue & Whynot, 2017).
Build and vary your instructional strategies
In the online environment, it could be challenging to keep the learners engaged all the time, so it is of importance that the teachers ensure learners gain social presence which is related to the technological aspect and the social aspect. Different people handle these two aspects in the televised classroom in different ways depending on one’s personality and cultural background. Using slang expressions whether in speaking or writing, for example, could make some students from non-English speaking countries at a loss. Also, detachment could occur easily in an online setting, so creating student-centered activities that are relevant to the students’ interests that tackle cultural topics that are of interest to them whether in synchronous or asynchronous online classes could be one way for educators to consider (Chih-Hsiung, 2001).
Learning more about your learners’ cultural backgrounds, languages, interests based on their cultures and family traditions could decipher many puzzles that you may find difficult to solve without digging. Showing interest in learners means the creation of an inclusive learning environment that respects diversity. ( Kristmanson et al. 2017, Lafarge & Kristamnson, 2016, Nora & Echevarria, 2016)
Provide effective feedback
“Teacher immediacy” influences learner’s satisfaction especially for some cultural backgrounds who were born and raised in a setting where their culture dominates. They display obvious difficulty in responding to class interaction. Due to their reserved behavior, learners feel at a loss if they do not get immediate feedback from their teachers or feel shy to interact and voice their concerns comfortably with their teachers or peers. Thus, timely and clear feedback could assist learners to progress and feel satisfied with their learning experience ( Chih-Hsiung, 2001, p.46)
Raise the bar
Do not underestimate your English language learners' abilities especially for those students whose proficiency levels are quite low as relying on their L1 can help them make connections to the different new concepts they learn in the new target language. If structured language opportunities are offered to learners, their language skills will be enhanced. This will eventually result in stronger self-esteem that motivates the learner to persevere and achieve more positive results. Furthermore, identifying learners' social needs and aspirations which are at many times inseparable from their linguistic needs is one way to acknowledge learners' identities. ( Nora, & Echevarria, 2016, Norton, 2001)
( Phuong-Mai, Nguyen et al. 2006)