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Teaching and Teacher Education 22 (2006) 998–1005 Cultural considerations in teachers’ perceptions of student classroom behavior and achievement Kenneth M. Tyler a, , A. Wade Boykin b , Tia R. Walton b a Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of Kentucky, USA b Department of Psychology, Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At-Risk (CRESPAR), Howard University, USA Abstract This study examines teachers’ perceptions of classroom motivation and achievement among students displaying culture- based classroom behaviors. Sixty-two elementary school teachers read scenarios of hypothetical students who behaviorally manifested themes purported to be consistent with a European/mainstream cultural ethos (competition, individualism) or Afrocultural ethos (communalism, verve). Teachers then rated students’ motivation and achievement as if they were in their classrooms. Motivation and achievement ratings were significantly higher for students displaying competitive and individualistic classroom behaviors than communal or vervistic behaviors. These findings suggest that the value teachers assign to academic success should not be understood in the absence of cultural considerations. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Culture; Teachers’ perceptions; Cultural orientation 1. Introduction For quite some time, the unacceptably low achievement levels of African American children have captured considerable attention (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001; Hale, 2001). Teacher perceptions and expectations figure prominently in the explana- tions of many who have addressed this American dilemma (Ferguson, 2003). Others have linked the academic performance levels of African American children to cultural considerations (Lee, 2001; Lee, Spencer, & Harpalani, 2003). However, few have examined directly teacher perceptions of culturally informed achievement behaviors of African Amer- ican children. It has been long argued that Amer- ican public school classrooms are not culturally neutral terrains (Gay, 2000; Hollins & Spencer, 1990; Johnson, 1982; Sampson, 1977). Yet, there is little in the way of research on whether teachers actually view their own classroom contexts in cultural terms. Therefore, the present investigation seeks to discern if teachers perceive that achieve- ment behaviors linked to certain cultural forms would be more advantageous in their classrooms in comparison to those linked to other cultural forms. School success, for many African American students, has been linked to culture (Boykin, 2001; Lee et al., 2003; Parsons, 2003). Given culture’s influence on cognitive development (Rogoff, 2003; Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995), some researchers con- tend that cultural themes and practices salient in many African Americans’ home experiences can be used to enhance academic performance in classroom ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/tate 0742-051X/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.017 Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (K.M. Tyler).

Cultural considerations in teachers’ perceptions of student classroom behavior and achievement

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Teaching and Teacher Education 22 (2006) 998–1005

Cultural considerations in teachers’ perceptions of studentclassroom behavior and achievement

Kenneth M. Tylera,�, A. Wade Boykinb, Tia R. Waltonb

aDepartment of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University of Kentucky, USAbDepartment of Psychology, Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At-Risk (CRESPAR), Howard University, USA

Abstract

This study examines teachers’ perceptions of classroom motivation and achievement among students displaying culture-

based classroom behaviors. Sixty-two elementary school teachers read scenarios of hypothetical students who behaviorally

manifested themes purported to be consistent with a European/mainstream cultural ethos (competition, individualism) or

Afrocultural ethos (communalism, verve). Teachers then rated students’ motivation and achievement as if they were in

their classrooms. Motivation and achievement ratings were significantly higher for students displaying competitive and

individualistic classroom behaviors than communal or vervistic behaviors. These findings suggest that the value teachers

assign to academic success should not be understood in the absence of cultural considerations.

r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Culture; Teachers’ perceptions; Cultural orientation

1. Introduction

For quite some time, the unacceptably lowachievement levels of African American childrenhave captured considerable attention (Gallimore &Goldenberg, 2001; Hale, 2001). Teacher perceptionsand expectations figure prominently in the explana-tions of many who have addressed this Americandilemma (Ferguson, 2003). Others have linked theacademic performance levels of African Americanchildren to cultural considerations (Lee, 2001; Lee,Spencer, & Harpalani, 2003). However, few haveexamined directly teacher perceptions of culturallyinformed achievement behaviors of African Amer-ican children. It has been long argued that Amer-

ican public school classrooms are not culturallyneutral terrains (Gay, 2000; Hollins & Spencer,1990; Johnson, 1982; Sampson, 1977). Yet, there islittle in the way of research on whether teachersactually view their own classroom contexts incultural terms. Therefore, the present investigationseeks to discern if teachers perceive that achieve-ment behaviors linked to certain cultural formswould be more advantageous in their classrooms incomparison to those linked to other cultural forms.

School success, for many African Americanstudents, has been linked to culture (Boykin, 2001;Lee et al., 2003; Parsons, 2003). Given culture’sinfluence on cognitive development (Rogoff, 2003;Rogoff & Chavajay, 1995), some researchers con-tend that cultural themes and practices salient inmany African Americans’ home experiences can beused to enhance academic performance in classroom

ARTICLE IN PRESS

www.elsevier.com/locate/tate

0742-051X/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.tate.2006.04.017

�Corresponding author.

E-mail address: [email protected] (K.M. Tyler).

settings (Gay, 2000; Hilliard, 2001; Hollins &Spencer, 1990). Some empirical support for theseclaims has been garnered (Boykin, Lilja, & Tyler,2004; Howard, 2001; Ladson-Billings, 2001; Lee,2001; Tharp & Gallimore, 1989).

A major presumption of this research is thatschooling experiences of many African Americanstudents are not culturally neutral (Foster, Lewis, &Onafowora, 2003; Hale, 2001). The systematicevidence supporting this claim, however, is sparse.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determinewhether elementary school teachers perceive theclassroom activities of students in cultural terms,namely communalism, verve, individualism andcompetition. We are also interested in whether theseperceptions influence teachers’ reports of students’classroom motivation and achievement. The litera-ture on public schooling and low-income AfricanAmerican children is discussed. What follows is anempirical investigation of classroom teachers’ per-ceptions of student achievement and motivation asthey relate to different forms of cultural expression.

1.1. Relevance of culture in pedagogy

The research on culturally relevant pedagogy andinstruction over the last 25 years has produced alarge body of literature suggesting that (a) studentsfrom minority populations do not fare well incurrent US public school classrooms and (b)academic success can be achieved when teachingpractices build upon the cultural values andbehaviors minority students bring to such learningenvironments. While the implication here is thatstudent academic outcomes are enhanced whenaspects of their cultural background are present inclassrooms (Boykin, 2001; Boykin, Albury, Tyler,Hurley, Bailey, & Miller, 2005), what can also begleaned is that such themes usually are not prevalentor prevalently linked to achievement behaviors intypical classrooms, or at least not in those class-rooms populated by African American childrenfrom low-income backgrounds.

This latter position has received considerablesupport. Gay (2000) asserts that a central feature ofschooling in the United States is the systematicalignment of student values and behaviors withmainstream standards. Hollins and Spencer (1996)agree that many minority students are evaluatedbased on how well their classroom and achievementrelated behaviors approximate White, middle classstandards of academic achievement and social

competency. Delpit (1995) has also articulatedhow the culture of power in today’s classrooms isa reflection of the cultural themes accepted in thelarger mainstream society. These and other authorsbelieve that success in American classrooms isdetermined so often not just by academic perfor-mance per se, but by the yoking of academicperformance to displays of mainstream culturalthemes. Moreover, if certain cultural themes aremore favored in a given classroom, then it iscertainly plausible that learning activities in thatclassroom prominently will be structured in accor-dance with such themes. Moreover, it stands toreason that classroom teachers might perceivestudents’ potential success as linked to their abilityto converge their achievement behaviors with dis-plays of the favored cultural themes. If Delpit andothers are correct, then those minority children whovalue cultural themes divergent from the main-stream may experience relatively greater challengeslinking their achievement strivings to mainstreamcultural displays. In turn, the typical teacher’sachievement expectations for these students maybe lessened.

The present study seeks to address these issues byexamining teachers’ perceptions of student achieve-ment and motivation and whether these aretempered by students’ possession of either main-stream cultural or Afrocultural learning orienta-tions. The two mainstream cultural themes includedin this investigation are competition and individu-alism. Individualism focuses on an orientationtowards working independently (Spence, 1985).Also part of the mainstream cultural themes wascompetition, where there is an orientation towardsworking competitively against others and being thebest at a given task. The two Afrocultural themesincluded in this investigation are communalism andverve. Under the communal Afrocultural theme,preferences for sharing ideas and materials alongwith helping others learn are maintained (Mbiti,1970; Moemeka, 1998) were held. Finally, for theverve Afrocultural theme, preferences for multipleclassroom activities taking place simultaneouslyalong with an ability to work on several differentprojects were held (Boykin, 1983).

In recent years, some research has uncovered thedifferential preferences for Afrocultural and Euro-cultural themes among elementary grade students inpublic school classrooms. In particular, the secondauthor has summarized several studies that showAfrican American elementary school children prefer

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communal and vervistic learning themes andsettings significantly more than competitive orindividual learning themes and settings (Boykin,2001). A more recent investigation of studentperceptions of culture found that European Amer-ican students were more socially accepting of peerswho achieved academic success in manners consis-tent with mainstream cultural themes of competi-tion and individualism (Boykin, Albury, Tyler,Bailey, & Miller, 2005). African American students,on the other hand, were more socially accepting ofpeers who demonstrated high academic achievementunder communal and vervistic cultural themes.These students, therefore, perceived academicachievement as linked to Afrocultural expressionsmore so than mainstream cultural forms. Bycontrast, a qualitative investigation examining 21classrooms in two predominantly African Americanelementary schools found that an overwhelmingmajority of teacher-based classroom practices andtheir students’ learning behaviors were situated inmainstream cultural terms, mainly competition andindividualism (Boykin, Miller, & Tyler, 2005).

In all, these studies suggest that many AfricanAmerican children hold strong preferences forlearning and achievement under Afroculturalthemes even though their actual classrooms aresituated in mainstream cultural terms. The presentstudy examines issues of culture from the vantagepoint of classroom teachers. Gathering teacherperceptions about these issues will further roundout an explanatory picture.

2. Methodology

2.1. Sample

The participants consisted of 62 female EuropeanAmerican teachers from two elementary schoolslocated in a school district in the northeasternregion of the country. The schools were very similardemographically. Ninety of the student populationat each school was African American. Eightypercent of the school teachers employed in thedistrict were European American. Years of teachingexperience ranged from 2 to 20 years. The gradesteachers instructed ranged from first to sixth.

2.2. Instruments

The learning orientation scenarios were devel-oped to assess teachers’ perceptions and attitudes

towards students who expressed specific culturalorientations in their classroom achievement beha-viors. The measure consisted of four writtenscenarios, each approximately 90 words in length.Each scenario depicted a hypothetical elementarylevel student who preferred to achieve under one offour distinct cultural learning orientations. Toconstruct the cultural orientation scenarios, theauthors carefully explored the literature for defini-tions and conceptualizations of the culture themesused in the current effort. Several characterizationsfrom the psychological and anthropological litera-ture were retrieved and used to operationalize thecultural orientation constructs (Akbar, 1979; Boy-kin, 1983; Boykin, Jagers, Ellison, & Albury, 1997;Hofstede, 1980; Howard & Scott, 1981; Mbiti, 1970;Sampson, 1977; Spence, 1985; Tuck & Boykin,1989). Once definitions were gathered, culturallearning orientations were built around the class-room-based academic behaviors and practices takenfrom the literature (Stipek & Byler, 1997). Forexample, working on class subjects was consideredan academically relevant student behavior. Genderneutral student names were used in the scenarios tominimize any student gender effects. Sample state-ments from each learning orientation scenario arepresented below.

Communalism—‘‘Pat gets very high grades’’.When school assignments are given, Pat tries toshare ideas and materials with other studentswhen it will help them.’’Verve—‘‘Marion gets very high grades. Marionprefers the teacher to use different ways to teach.Marion also likes when a lot of different activitiesare going on at the same time.’’Individualism—‘‘Kelly gets very high grades.Kelly can do better on school assignments whenworking alone and enjoys school work betterwhen doing it alone.Competition—‘‘Chris gets very high grades.When exams are given, Chris likes the challengeof seeing who is best and doesn’t like to have thesecond highest test score.’’

A series of meetings was held to construct thescenarios. During this time, the research team forthis investigation paired the definitions of thecultural themes with the classroom-related beha-viors found in the literature. Once scenarios weredeemed consistent with the cultural themes, theywere given to a panel of five judges with experienceand formal knowledge in the study of culture. The

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judges reached consensus (5 of 5) that the content ofthe scenarios represented the cultural themes inquestion and therefore, content validity was estab-lished. Flesch-Kincaid readability indices for thescenarios ranged from 3.4 to 4.2, indicating that thescale could be read and understood by persons witha third to fourth grade reading level. The scenarioswere presented individually so that each wascompleted by teachers before proceeding to thenext one. Scenario presentation was predeterminedby a counterbalancing sequence which controlledfor potential order effects.

The teacher rating of students’ classroom motiva-tion measure was used to rate the students in thescenarios. The measure consisted of five questionsdesigned to rate the participant’s classroom motiva-tion. Specifically, the measure assessed children’sinterest, task persistence, attention level, task engage-ment and effort. A four-point Likert type rating scalewas used to measure the degree to which teachers feltthe hypothetical students with specific cultural learn-ing orientations would endorse each classroommotivation index. Scores for each classroom motiva-tion index ranged from one (strongly disagree) to four(strongly agree). A classroom motivation index wasobtained for each depicted student by summing theratings across the five items and dividing the total byfive. Therefore, a teachers’ average score for eachhypothetical student could range from a low of one toa high of four. In previous work, this measure wasused to rate teachers’ perceptions of actual students’classroom motivation. A Cronbach alpha reliabilitycoefficient of .95 for this scale was obtained (Tuck &Boykin, 1989). In this study, we will determine howconsistently the measure assesses classroom motiva-tion for hypothetical students.

The teacher rating of students’ academic standingmeasure was designed for teachers to rate theperceived achievement of the student depicted in eachscenario. This measure consisted of one questionasking the teacher to rate the hypothetical student’sacademic standing in their class. The ratings from thismeasurement ranges from one to five, with onedenoting poor achievement and five denoting excellentachievement. In the same study by Tuck and Boykin(1989), this measure correlated significantly withteacher reported standardized achievement scores.

2.3. Procedure

The research team was granted permission toconduct research at the two elementary schools. An

African American female graduate research assis-tant administered surveys to participating teachersover the course of 1 week. Prior to administeringsurveys, the research assistant visited each teacherin his or her classroom and handed survey packetsto each. At this time, teachers were briefed oninstructional issues as well as those regardinganonymity and other procedural issues. Teacherswere told that they were participating in a study thatsought to evaluate the way teachers feel are the bestways for students to learn during class time.

Teachers were asked by to read the learningscenarios. Before reading the scenarios, the researchassistant asked teachers to assume that the studentsin the scenarios were their actual classroomstudents. Upon reading the scenarios, teachers wereasked to respond to the questions following thewritten scenario. The questions asked teachers torate their perceptions of the hypothetical student’sclassroom motivation and achievement. There wasone student in each scenario. Every classroomteacher at each school read the scenarios andcompleted corresponding motivation and achieve-ment measures for the hypothetical students in thescenarios. Average completion of the measures was20min. All completed instruments were sealed andreturned to personnel in the main office of eachschool, where they were then retrieved by theresearch assistant. Teachers were individuallythanked for their participation.

3. Results

3.1. Reliability of measure

The learning orientation scenarios were designedto elicit teachers’ perceptions of motivation andachievement toward hypothetical students display-ing one of four culturally informed learningorientations (individualistic, competitive, communaland vervistic). The internal reliability alpha coeffi-cients for the classroom motivation scales for thesample were: .81 for competition, .81 for individu-alism, .84 for communalism, & .75 for verve.

3.2. Analysis of differences

Preliminary multiple analysis of variance (MAN-OVA) was performed to determine differences inteachers’ perception of student motivation andachievement as a function of order of scenarios,school, grade taught (1–2, 3–4, and 5–6), and years

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of teaching experience (5 or less, 6 to 15, 16 ormore). No significant differences in student per-ceived motivation or achievement were found forthese variables or their interactions. The indepen-dent variable for the study was the repeated measurelearning orientation.

A repeated measure multiple analysis of variancewas conducted to determine the effects of thelearning context orientations on the teachers’perceptions of student motivation and achievement.This analysis revealed a significant main effectF ½ð3; 171Þ ¼ 43:91, po:001�. Overall, teachers’ per-ceptions of student motivation and achievementwere significantly higher for mainstream culturalthemes than for Afrocultural themes. Two follow-up univariate analyses showed significant differ-ences for both achievement F ½ð3; 174Þ ¼ 74:75,po:001� and motivation F ½ð3; 177Þ ¼ 60:36,po:001� as a function of cultural orientation. Posthoc tests confirmed the cultural orientation maineffect for achievement by revealing a significantdifference between teachers’ perception of achieve-ment for the vervistic student and the individualisticstudent. Specifically, teachers perceived a higherlevel of achievement for the individualistic studentthan for the vervistic student. Teachers alsoperceived a higher level of achievement for theindividualistic oriented student as compared to thecommunal oriented student. Further post hocanalyses revealed significant differences betweenteachers perception of achievement for competitiveand vervistic students. Specifically, competitivestudents were perceived as having higher achieve-ment than vervistic students. Significant differencesbetween the competitive and communal studentsshowed that teachers perceived a higher level ofachievement for the competitive student. Also,significant differences between the competitive andindividualistic students revealed that teachers per-ceived that competitive students would obtain ahigher level of achievement.

With regard to motivation, significant differenceswere found for teachers’ perception of the level ofmotivation between the vervistic and competitivestudents and also between the vervistic and indivi-dualistic students. Here, competitive and individua-listic students were perceived as being more highlymotivated than vervistic students. Further signifi-cant differences were found between the communaland competitive students and between communaland individualistic students. Here, competition wasviewed by teachers as a better pathway to strongacademic motivation than were communal orvervistic learning orientations. Table 1 presents themeans and standard deviations for the achievementand classroom motivation indices.

4. Discussion

The present study examined whether teachers’perceptions of classroom motivation and achieve-ment were mediated by aspects of culture. Percep-tion of specific cultural orientations was measuredthrough scenarios in which hypothetical studentsbehaved and achieved in ways consistent withparticular cultural themes. Teachers reported theirperceptions of whether students depicted in theculturally thematic scenarios would be have highlevels of classroom motivation and achievement intheir actual classrooms. Given that the distinguish-ing characteristics for each written scenario werecultural-themed behaviors, it could be inferred thatteachers were responding to the culture-basedthemes students preferred to employ in order toachieve. Such responses round out the explanatorypicture of culture in schooling processes for AfricanAmerican students.

Multiple analysis of variance procedures revealedsignificant differences in teachers’ perceptions ofboth student achievement and motivation. Thoughreports of achievement and motivation fall above themidpoint for each cultural orientation, univariate

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Table 1

Means and standard deviations for teachers’ perceptions of motivation and achievement

Teachers’ perception Mean comp. Standard dev. Mean ind. Standard dev. Mean comm. Standard dev. Mean verve Std dev.

Achievement 4.32abcd .60 3.95bde .43 3.14ce .54 3.22ad .65

Motivation 3.67fg .50 3.67hi .45 2.94gi .58 2.83fh .61

Two values sharing the same subscript are significantly different from each other in post hoc analysis.

Midpoint for achievement scale ¼ 3:0.Midpoint for classroom motivation ¼ 2:5.

K.M. Tyler et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 22 (2006) 998–10051002

analytic procedures found that competitive andindividualistic students were viewed as significantlymore motivated and achievement-oriented thanstudents who displayed communal and vervisticbehaviors. Inspection of the means for teacher-reported achievement and classroom motivationindicate that perceptions of optimal classroommotivation and achievement are linked to thosestudent behaviors consistent with a mainstreamcultural ethos.

These findings speak to the research on teacherexpectation and academic achievement. In particu-lar, some have found that teachers’ academicexpectations of students are lowered when factorssuch as race, gender and socioeconomic backgroundare considered (Ferguson, 2003; Warren, 2002). Inour study, it was shown that teachers’ perceptions ofstudent achievement and classroom motivation aremediated by culture as well. The present findings arealso consistent with other research on teacherpreference (Boykin, 2001; Boykin et al., 2005; Tyler,1999). In a study by Miller (1997), it was found thatAfrican American elementary students perceivedteachers as having preferences for classroom beha-viors that are consistent with competitive andindividualistic mainstream cultural themes. A studyby [58]Tyler (1999) also revealed that AfricanAmerican parents of elementary school studentsperceived their children’s classroom teachers aspreferring classroom behaviors consistent withmainstream cultural themes. What is more, a recentqualitative study by Boykin, Miller et al. (in press),observed 21 elementary school classrooms anduncovered that teachers’ instructional practices wereoverwhelmingly in favor of mainstream culturalthemes such as competition and individualism. Inthe present study, teachers themselves reported apreference for classroom behaviors yoked to main-stream cultural orientations. That teachers responddifferently to culturally thematic behaviors suggeststhat classrooms are not culturally neutral terrains.This, in turn, may foster different expectations andopportunities for success, particularly for studentswhose achievement and classroom motivationalbehaviors are linked to a cultural orientation otherthan those highly endorsed by the classroom teacher.

5. Limitations and future directions

While findings from this study are limited bysampling issues (i.e., small sample size and teacherrace-homogeneity), they, nonetheless, hold important

implications for future research on teacher educationprograms, instructional practice and strategies de-signed to close the achievement gap between affluentand disadvantaged students. However, before recom-mendations can be made to teacher-educationprograms and schools interested in closing theachievement gap, several steps must first be taken toensure that potential advisements are accurate andnecessary. For instance, it would be critical todetermine whether discrepancies exist between tea-chers’ own perceptions and expectations for studentclassroom learning and that of teacher-education/training programs and/or their actual schools. Amajor research question driving this research iswhether teachers’ own endorsement of specific learn-ing behaviors are shared by their school’s leadership.Given the No Child Left Behind act and its mandates,it is possible that teachers may endorse academiclearning that is consistent with their students’indigenous learning activities, yet may be limited inthe actualization of such learning as a result of newlyimposed standards for instructional practice andachievement goals. Equally important is determiningwhether teachers’ perceptions regarding appropriateand effective classroom learning are shared by collegeof education and university faculty responsible forpre-service teacher training. Findings from thisresearch would help determine the sites where reformefforts to improve teaching and close gaps inachievement should actually occur.

Future research should also look to examinewhether such perceptions are linked to teachers’actual instructional practices and also, whether thesepractices are linked to student achievement-relatedoutcomes. Then too, future investigations wouldbenefit from examining additional teacher and studentdemographic and academically relevant variables. Animportant question to be considered is whetherAfrican American teachers would report similarperceptions regarding student classroom motivationand achievement. Additional variables for studyinclude teacher gender, grade level taught, degreeobtained, regional location, academic domain andacademic self-efficacy. Taken together, further insightinto the factors that mediate the relationship betweenculture and achievement would be furnished.

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Instituteof Education Sciences (IES) US Department ofEducation (R-117-D40005). The opinions expressed

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in this publication do not necessarily reflect theposition or policy of IES, and no official endorse-ment should be inferred. This study was part of thethird author’s master thesis project while a graduatestudent at Howard University.

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