Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in the English Language Arts Classroom
Abstract
Teachers of all subjects face one common problem: student engagement. Because students need to be engaged to effectively learn, teachers need to know the best way to engage students in learning. In the English Language Arts classroom, teachers are faced with the problem of engaging students in reading texts that are sometimes not interesting or relevant to their lives. These teachers are tasked with finding ways to make these texts more engaging, or deciding to use more culturally relevant texts. Research has found that culturally relevant texts and teaching methods engage and therefore more effectively teach students. How do teachers make canon texts more culturally relevant to students and how do teachers use culturally relevant texts to teach their students?
References
Borsheim-Black C., Macaluso, M., & Petrone, R. (2014). Critical literature
pedagogy: Teaching canonical literature for critical literacy. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 58(2), 123-133.
Bright, A. (2011). Writing Homer, reading Riordan: Intertextual study in
contemporary adolescent literature. Journal of Children's Literature,
(1), 38-47.
Christ, T. & Sharma, S. A. (2018). Searching for mirrors: Preservice
teachers’ journey toward more culturally relevant pedagogy. Reading
Horizons, 57(1), 55-73.
Clark, K. (2017). Investigating the effects of culturally relevant texts on
African American struggling readers’ progress. Teachers College Record,
(6).
Harbour, K., Evanovich, L., Sweigart C. & Hughes, L. (2015). A brief review
of effective teaching practices that maximize student engagement.
University of Louisville, 59(1), 5–13.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995a). Toward a theory of culturally relevant
pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.
Maher, S. C. (2013). Using "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a conduit for teaching
about the school-to-prison pipeline. English Journal, 102(4), 45-52.
