Text, Task, Talk Weaving into Curriculum: Learning to Meet the Needs of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

Dr. Stephen Athanases Dr. Stephen Athanases presented his study on the needs of culturally and linguistic diverse students and the role of addressing race and diversity in a multicultural classroom through literature studies. This was accomplished with the corporation of participating teachers and their commitment to diversifying texts, supporting reader-text transition, and structuring discussion for literary expression. The teachers placed value on reflection, inquiry, and engagement. The goal was to develop greater understanding of diverse cultural and linguistic groups through literary exploration. The process used to achieve this goal was Text, Task, Talk, which allowed the students the opportunity to express personal opinions and beliefs in a supportive, understanding environment that encouraged discussion and involvement. His study took place in three, 10th grade classrooms at a school in California at a diverse, lower-income urban public school with a high rate of poverty and soaring drop out rates. The student body was comprised of a multitude of ethnic, racial, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. He used an ethnographic approach observing three teachers. He took field notes, audio, videos, interviews, documenting nested contexts, and macro and micro analysis (patterns and anomalies) over the course of approximately 40 visits. He defined Text, as diversify texts that are representations of diverse cultural experiences, Tasks, as engaging students in activities that explore cultural and linguistic issues, and Talk is the process of recitation to discussion and was achieved with class and small group discussions. The Talk phase used a form of scaffolding discussion, in which students were involved in note-taking, small to large group transitions, transfer of control to the students,

questions in small groups, reflection on discussion and the teacher as an effective facilitator. The students were encouraged to question ideas and not people during the discussion phase. The students were also encouraged to become involved in multicultural events, such as community events, community in the classroom, engage students in community events and people from diverse backgrounds, and book clubs. The students participated in a multitude of cultural activities both in the classroom and out. The result of this literary exploration and discussion was to enable students to talk about race and diversity in an educated and informed manner. In my future classroom, I hope to have the opportunity to incorporate some of the methods and activities that these teachers used in their classroom. The students were given an open and understanding forum to express themselves. They were able to use literature as a means to better understand who they were, but also to understand other ethnic and cultural groups. The techniques can be used in an ESL classroom of mixed levels and ages. These activities not only facilitate learning, but also created a sense of comradery among students.