Fostering Critical Dialogue Across Cultural Differences: A Study of Immigrant Teachers' Interventions in Diverse Schools

Abstract

There is limited research in the field of social studies that documents how immigrant teachers are working to make social studies classrooms a space for critical dialogue, especially within settings where immigrant and nonimmigrant students interact. By using data from a yearlong qualitative study in which interviews and observations were conducted, the author examines the ways in which two immigrant teachers created a climate for critical dialogue to teach about cultural differences. The findings demonstrate how the teachers emphasized the need to critique stereotypes and discriminatory acts and valued the need to engage in cross-cultural interactions. The findings also illustrate the need to examine how teaching about differences is complex and messy. The author argues that social studies teachers need to be more accountable to how honest dialogue takes place in classrooms and how teachers need to recognize and validate the subject position of diverse learners.