Options
Culturally relevant pedagogy: Exploring the use of culture in Singapore’s low progress classrooms
Citation
Lim, L., & Tan, M. (2024). Culturally relevant pedagogy: Exploring the use of culture in Singapore’s low progress classrooms (Report No. OER 16/15 LTW). National Institute of Education (Singapore), Office of Education Research. https://hdl.handle.net/10497/27421
Abstract
Over the past two decades, the notion of culturally relevant pedagogy has gained attention as a student-centered approach to helping low progress learners achieve academic success. First articulated in the US by Ladson-Billings (1994) in her study of the pedagogic practices of exceptional teachers of African American students, culturally relevant pedagogy identifies students’ unique cultural backgrounds as strengths and these are nurtured to promote academic achievement (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2011; Ladson-Billings, 1995a; Morrison, Robbins & Rose, 2008). This approach has since been adopted in countless schools and classrooms across North America under various names – culturally responsive teaching, culturally congruent teaching, culturally appropriate pedagogy, etc. (Ferger, 2006; Hastie, Martin, & Buchanan, 2006). As many of these studies have shown, by having teachers draw upon students’ “cultural reference points” (Ladson-Billings, 1994), schools can create bridges between students’ home and classroom experiences, while still maintaining the high expectations of state/national curricular mandates (Gay, 2000; Gutierrez, 2000; Lambeth, 2014; Paulk, Martinez). Indeed, as Gay (2000, p.29) explains, culturally relevant pedagogy is especially important in classrooms of low progress learners because it uses “the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning more relevant and effective… It teaches to and through the strengths of these students. It is culturally validating and affirming.”
Date Issued
2024
Publisher
Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Singapore
Series
OER Final Report
Description
Note: Restricted to NIE staff.
Project
OER 16/15 LTW
Grant ID
Education Research Funding Programme (ERFP)
Funding Agency
Ministry of Education, Singapore