Multicultural Education and Communication: Key Readings

Athabaskan-English Interethnic Communication

In "Athabaskan-English Interethnic Communication," the author provides a comparative analysis of communication between and among Athabaskans and English people. The discussion centers on four areas of study: presentation of talk, distribution of talk, information structure, and content organization.

In the presentation of self during communication, it becomes evident that Athabaskans communicate more easily when interacting with people they already know rather than with strangers. English speakers, meanwhile, find it easier to communicate with all kinds of people, reasoning that conversation itself is how one gets to know someone better. In analyzing the distribution of talk, it was found that English communicators speak more often than Athabaskans and typically direct the flow of conversation between the two groups.

Information structure is also found to be more complex among Athabaskan communicators than among English speakers. This is owing to the fact that Athabaskans take more time to consider what they communicate and why, rather than simply accomplishing the act of communicating — a characteristic more typical of English speakers. Finally, differences in content organization reflect that Athabaskans communicate primarily through implicit meanings, a consequence of the complexity of their language and the deliberate thought given to its symbols.

From these descriptions of communicative patterns, it becomes evident that ethnic differences significantly influence the way these two groups communicate with each other and among members of their respective communities. The article provides a dynamic perspective on how language and communication are used to create impressions and identities about various ethnic communities.

Household Research and Cultural Learning

Luis Moll and Norma González's article "Learning About Culture from Household Research" examines the importance of qualitative research in identifying problems and formulating solutions to student-related challenges that teachers encounter in the formal school setting. These challenges are, in fact, opportunities — activities that, once identified, can enhance students' learning by providing knowledge relevant to their lived experiences, particularly those derived from their home environments.

The efficacy of this method is demonstrated through survey interviews in which teachers come to know their students' families along with the cultural environments in which those families live. Through these interviews, teachers are able to gather information about parents' views on their children's education, providing alternative avenues for motivating students. Communication between teachers and parents thus creates, in the authors' words, "knowledge and skills to deal with a changing reality."

The result is a deeper understanding of students' daily progress in learning, as knowledge of a student's family background helps teachers assess and respond to performance at school. The article clarifies how qualitative research allows teachers to act as both researchers and mediators between students' realities at home and at school. As the article recommends, this approach has the potential to create a community in which teachers and parents work together to reconcile the differences students may face across both settings — making learning continuous and complementary, continuing at home after school and in school after home.

Latino Representation in History Textbooks

In "Distorting Latino History: The California Textbook Controversy," Elizabeth Martinez offers a critique of history textbooks published by Houghton Mifflin, arguing that their attempt to present multiculturalism in American history had evidently failed. Despite claims of objectivity, the textbooks are riddled with errors and are, in practice, prejudiced against certain racial groups living in America.

Martinez identifies four specific flaws. One is the misrepresentation of Latinos in a fourth-grade textbook, which depicts them as members of the elite class and never as lower-class farmers — a depiction that contradicts the actual historical reality of Latino life in the early twentieth century. Another flaw is the lack of objective representation of the various races inhabiting America, apparent even in kindergarten-level history books. Martinez characterizes this as an illustration of the dominance of Eurocentric thinking, which undermines Houghton Mifflin's stated goal of providing a fair account of early American history and its development into a pluralistic society.

Martinez's critique opens a new avenue for uncovering the truth about various cultures' histories in America. It is a vital reminder for students that even seemingly rigorous and fair historical narratives can contain inaccuracies or unfair portrayals of underrepresented cultures, races, and communities — and that traditions of prejudice and discrimination can persist in contemporary educational materials.