Year

1998

Paper Type

Doctoral Dissertation

College

College of Education and Human Services

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Department

Education

NACO controlled Corporate Body

University of North Florida. Department of Leadership, School Counseling & Sports Management

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Abstract

This survey study examined a set of psychosocial and sociocultural variables to determine if there were any significant group differences in responses to an instrument that measured crosscultural adaptability among urban high school teachers. A goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of sociocultural experience and the perceived coping efficacy measures of cross-cultural adaptability. This study sought insight into the relationship between teachers' previous experiences and their perceived instructional and cross-cultural efficacy. Using a survey research design that included a Personal Data Questionnaire and an instrument developed by Kelley and Meyers ( 1992), the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), data were collected anonymously from 98 educators from high schools in Northeast Florida. The psychosocial factors included vocational identity associated with teaching responsibility, years of training, educational level, age, gender, and ethnicity. Sociocultural factors, which are learned through membership in a common culture, were also examined. These factors included perceptions of exposure and comfort with cultural diversity, experience teaching in a culturally diverse school, background experience residing outside of the U.S, or in a culturally diverse neighborhood, and number of hours completed in multicultural training. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOV A) was used to examine the effects of three of the independent variables: job responsibility, self-efficacy factors, and ethnicity. Pearson product-moment and Spearman rank correlations were run to describe the relationship of characteristics and experiences to the scores on the dimensions of the CCAI. MANOVA was used to examine differences in the scores on the dimensions of the CCAI. The results from all of the statistical analyses showed that at the .05 alpha levels, significant differences were found with the variables measuring self-appraisal of efficacy and differences related to experience in living outside of the U.S. Significant differences were also noted in scores of Perceptual Acuity based on the experience of living in a culturally diverse neighborhood. There was no significant relationship found between the scores on the dimensions of the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory for those teachers who reported completed hours of diversity training. There were no significant differences found in the scores on the dimensions of the CCAI between the factors of ethnicity, age, gender, level of education, vocational identity, years experience, or experience in culturally diverse schools. The results of the analyses support previous research in the areas of self-efficacy, responsive pedagogy, and exposure theory. Implications of this study illuminate the need to review current approaches for teacher training in the field of multicultural education. The results of this study also indicate that the psychosocial factors of self-efficacy warrant further consideration in the development of teacher training programs. Future study is recommended to examine the relationship of psychosocial influences and their influences on instructional efficacy and culturally responsive pedagogy. Teacher education programs and staff development initiatives must explore more creative approaches to exposing future and practicing teachers to diversity, and persist in providing opportunities for teachers to reflect and develop cultural understanding and instructional efficacy.

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