2016 Annual Conference

Adult English language educators regularly incorporate learners’ cultures into their classrooms through an approach known as culturally responsive teaching. This poster session will present the findings of a nationwide study of these practices and implications for professional development in the fields of second language acquisition and adult literacy education.

This poster session is directed at adult education practitioners and researchers interested in culturally responsive teaching practices.

Adult English language classrooms are rich in ethnic and linguistic diversity. However, there is limited knowledge of the practices adult educators use to incorporate their learners’ diverse cultural identities into the curriculum. This poster session will present the findings of a nationwide study of the culturally responsive teaching practices of ESOL and EAP educators and implications for professional development in the fields of second language acquisition and adult education.
Using the four elements of Ginsberg and Wlodkowski’s Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching, the Culturally Responsive Teaching Survey (CRTS), an online survey of 17 teaching practices, was developed, piloted, validated, and administered to ESOL and EAP educators throughout the US. In the CRTS, participants are asked to report how frequently they use each practice and how important each practice is to their teaching on a five-point frequency scale. Findings yield overall patterns of use for each item. To date, most items have demonstrated moderate to high patterns of use with no significant differences among demographic groups. These findings add to the limited understanding of culturally responsive teaching in adult English language classrooms and present implications for future research and professional development.