The relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and their use of culturally responsive pedagogy

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2016-05

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Culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) has drawn persistent criticism due to the lack of empirical data to support its use. A recent review of the research literature found that some features of CRP positively impact the academic achievement of struggling learners. However, teachers’ practices were not well defined. This study utilized mixed methods to explore how 2nd grade teachers’ sense of self-efficacy for teaching diverse learners in dual language classrooms impacted their utilization of CRP. Teacher participants (n=4) completed the Culturally Responsive Teaching Self-Efficacy (CRTSE) survey (Siwatu, 2007) and based on their scores, were classified into one of three levels of self-efficacy: high, moderate, or low. Data from two classroom observations per teacher, and individual semi-structured interviews with each, were coded and analyzed. Two key findings were that: (a) the alignment among the CRTSE scores, observed practices and teacher reported beliefs about CRP were not consistently aligned and (b) teachers’ conceptualization of CRP primarily focused on students’ bilingual development. This study contributes to research literature on CR pedagogy by examining how bilingual education teachers’ self-efficacy influences their implementation of CR practices.

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