Strategies for teaching students from the dominant culture
To provide an optimal learning environment for students from the
dominant culture, take into consideration the following:
- The dominant culture is embedded into everything that happens in the classroom, which may contradict the intentions of pedagogy or curriculum. For example, a teacher may integrate cooperative learning but the dominant culture's emphasis on individuality and competition may inadvertently undermine the teacher's intentions.
- The dominant culture uses lecture as the method of choice.
- Students from the dominant culture display assertiveness, independence and individualism daily in the classroom. They are encouraged to find one's own solutions through introspection. They view emotional expressiveness as a sign of maturity.
- Characteristics of the communication styles of the dominant culture include:
- use few gestures while communicating;
- follow a more rigid structure for turn taking during a conversation;
- speak in less audible tones; and
- speech is slower.
