Overall Comments
Assisting Preservice Teachers Towards Becoming Culturally Responsive is a must-read article by Starker and Fitchett whose aim is to assist pre-service teachers towards becoming culturally responsive so that they can teach in societies that are diverse in terms of culture such as urban centers. The researchers chose the topic based on the challenges that teachers encounter when they are fresh from college. During this time, such teachers have no prior experience in the classroom. The authors have gone ahead to point out the difference between astute culturally responsive teachers and those that are not culturally receptive (Starker & Fitchett, 2013, p. 29).
The choice of the topic of the article can be described as reflective of the classroom situation in schools within the community. Such schools continuously strive to deliver knowledge to young people while at the same time trying to make knowledge relevant. The researchers have clearly brought out the points they wanted to base their study by setting out the standards that define the article’s arguments. The research paper has employed qualitative techniques as a way of analyzing the situation of teachers. The choice of a research technique comes in handy in terms of bringing out the right findings that can be used to provide answers to the research problem.
More so, the finding can be employed to point out where the problem lies. The research topic as stated by the researchers is based on cultural responsiveness. The researchers have gone further to define cultural responsiveness by showing how it is applicable in teaching. This strategy is a good way of approaching the dilemma because it goes to the bottom of the problem to bring it out and making it understandable in a simple way.
By comparing the various aspects of pre-service teaching about cultural responsiveness with one that is not culturally responsive, the researchers provide a baseline that will be used for proper evaluation (Starker & Fitchett, 2013, p. 30). Giving one side only does not make users of the research understand the research problem. The researchers have quoted heavily from previous researchers on the same topic together with other related topics.
From this information, the researchers have been able to reveal the challenges that are involved in the implementation of the program. Education has been standardized in society. It becomes complicated for a teacher who has a standard education to change his or her way of teaching to accommodate cultural diversity. Although cultural diversity is the main area that forms the researchers’ concerns, the authors fail to provide a connection point to education and/or how relevant culturally responsive teaching is to the process of imparting knowledge. When one talks about culture, it is good for him or her to have a bigger picture of the world’s diversity because it (the world) is now a cultural melting pot where technology has made it easy for cultures to meet and integrate.
Based on the findings of the writer based on how it takes time for a teacher to achieve cultural responsiveness, the researchers contradict the purpose of research because it aims at comparing teachers who have culturally responsive contents with their colleagues based on lesson plans. The researchers should have however followed the path of how heuristics work for the individual teachers by showing how they can work for all other teachers who lack cultural responsive teaching skills. The research however can be termed as exhaustive because the researchers have incorporated findings of other researchers who have written extensively on the field, thus giving the work a strong viewpoint. The research topic has been adequately framed in accordance with the issues raised in the article.
The paper points at areas where pre-service teachers need to enhance for them to be effective in delivering the content of their work (Starker & Fitchett, 2013, p. 31). The conclusion that can be drawn in this paper is that all teachers need to undergo social studies so that they can easily integrate their social study skills seamlessly with their teaching to achieve a culturally responsive teaching method.
Methodology
The participants used by the researcher achieve the minimum threshold that one requires to attain saturation in data collection. Saturation in research is achieved at a threshold of nine participants especially in a qualitative research. However, the collection of participants is not mixed enough to test the cultural responsive components that the researchers are testing. Out of the twenty participants, only two are black in a white group. This represents a mere 10% of the group. This case therefore does not give the best cultural mix that can reflect the situation of the problem because a very small number in such an instance tends to be assimilated rather than creating identity.
Data Analysis
The researcher used thematic analysis as a way of testing the responsiveness of the participants. Themes can be described as relative not only to a group but also to an individual. Therefore, the choice of themes as a mode of analysis can be viewed as narrow and restrictive in that such themes will end up representing an individual’s view instead of the whole problem.
The Findings
The findings of the researchers are not conclusive because they refer the question back to the research table because of the challenges posed by the dynamic nature of the research issue. The challenges encountered while implementing the culturally responsive components over the short and long term make the problem difficult to solve because it gives it a very dynamic approach.
Gauging the Research Paper
- Relevance of the paper: The paper achieves its relevance in the education sector because it finds the best ways that can be used to impart knowledge in community settings.
- The theoretical framework: The theoretical framework in this case is very clear since the researchers have laid it out in a very simple way that anyone going through the work can piece together the goal that the work is trying to achieve.
- Readability of the paper: The paper has been written in a very simple and direct language, which can be consumed by anyone reading it. The problem with many research reports is that they come with very many technical terms that make it difficult for nonprofessionals who are supposed to read and/or understand it.
- Originality: The paper has achieved a great length of originality. Where necessary, credit has been given to all references that have been quoted. However, it is not easy to ascertain a paper’s originality unless one has read extensively in the particular field. Therefore, the work of these researchers can be described as original from the way the thoughts and data results and analysis have been done.
- The length of the paper is satisfactory because it is not too long to dilute the point. The writer has consolidated the paper in such a way that all the main points of the research have been addressed. The paper has delivered in terms of substance.
Reference
Starker, T., & Fitchett, P. (2013). Assisting Preservice Teachers Towards Becoming Culturally Responsive. MLT, 8(1), 27-46.