Culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy, which is rooted in critical race theory, is when teachers adapt teaching practices and curriculum around students’ interests and lives (Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995).
Based on multicultural education, social justice, and empowerment (Aronson & Laughter, 2016; Banks, 2016; Ford, 2013), Tintiangco-Cubales, et al. (2015) wrote that “culturally responsive pedagogy advocates for situating student culture and funds of knowledge at the center of the curriculum” (p.113).
Inclusive, culturally relevant, and sustaining pedagogies benefit multicultural student populations such as African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans (Parker, et al., 2016; Tucker-Raymond & Rosario, 2017), and Asian Americans (Chao, 2013) and increase “student outcomes across content areas” (Aronson & Laughter, 2016).
Culturally responsive teaching deals more with teaching practices, while culturally relevant pedagogy addresses “teacher posture and paradigm” (Aronson & Laughter, 2016).
For Ladson-Billings (1995) the three main components of culturally relevant pedagogy are academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness.
References:
Aronson, B., & Laughter, J. (2016). The theory and practice of culturally relevant education. Review of Educational Research, 86(1), 163. doi:10.3102/0034654315582066
Banks, J. A. (2016). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching. Routledge.
Chao, X. (2013). Class habitus: Middle-class Chinese immigrant parents’ investment in their newcomer adolescents’ L2 acquisition and social integration. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 44(1), 58. doi:10.1111/j.1548-1492.2012.01179.x
Ford, A. (2013). “Verbal ping pong” as culturally congruent communication: Maximizing African American students’ access and engagement as socially just teaching. Equity & Excellence in Education, 46(3), 371-386.
Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice. Teachers College Press.
Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.
Parker, M. A., Segovia, E., & Tap, B. (2016). Examining literature on Hispanic student achievement in the southeastern United States and North Carolina. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 15(1), 55. doi:10.1177/1538192715585996
Tintiangco-Cubales, A., Kohli, R., Sacramento, J., Henning, N., Agarwal-Rangnath, R., & Sleeter, C. (2015). Toward an ethnic studies pedagogy: Implications for K-12 schools from the research. Urban Review, 47(1), 104. doi:10.1007/s11256-014-0280-y
Tucker-Raymond, E., & Rosario, M. L. (2017). Imagining identities. Urban Education, 52(1), 32. doi:10.1177/0042085914550412