Intercultural Competence and Practice: The Contribution of Teachers' Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes to the Implementation of Culturally Responsive Practices and Mandated ELD Professional Development

Author

Deborah Ormsby, University of DenverFollow

Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation in Practice

Degree Name

Ed.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Ellen Miller-Brown

Second Advisor

Kristina Hesbol

Third Advisor

Jayson Richardson

Keywords

Intercultural competence, Culturally responsive practices, Culturally responsive pedagogy, English language development

Abstract

Public school teachers in the State of Colorado are required to complete 45 hours of English language development (ELD) training to ensure that they are properly supporting the English learners in their school. The literature suggests that teachers’ beliefs, values, and attitudes (intercultural competence) toward English learners matter in their receptiveness to the training and their ability to engage in and implement culturally responsive practices. In order to understand how the ELD training might actually impact a teacher’s ability to support English learners, a mixed methods design comprised of the administration of Ponterotto’s Teacher Multicultural Attitudes Survey followed up by teacher interviews regarding their practices was utilized to answer the question: How do culturally responsive teachers' beliefs, values, and attitudes contribute to their implementation of culturally responsive practices? This study was organized around Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and Geneva Gay’s Culturally Responsive Teaching model and used them to make sense of the collected data, analyze the findings, make recommendations to impact teachers’ levels of intercultural competence, and implement professional development in a manner which increases teachers’ use of culturally responsive practices. Additionally, recommendations are made to inform and support school and district leadership in their actions to develop and grow culturally responsive practices in their school and district to ensure this work impacts every student.

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Statement

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Recommended Citation

Ormsby, Deborah, "Intercultural Competence and Practice: The Contribution of Teachers' Beliefs, Values, and Attitudes to the Implementation of Culturally Responsive Practices and Mandated ELD Professional Development" (2021). Educational Leadership and Policy Studies: Doctoral Research Projects. 18.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/elps_doctoral/18