Learning from Student Perceptions: A Dialogical Approach to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Abstract

As the culture gap between public school students and teachers has continued to grow in the past decade, culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) emerged as a theoretical guide to support classroom practices. Despite support for CRP in schools and teacher education programs, many teachers still struggle to actualize the concept. This case study explored teacher experiences with a modified version of CRP with the addition of student voice. Through a social constructivist approach, students shared perceptions of CRP and collaborated in the development of the Student Perception Survey (SPS). Students considered CRP through observable, concrete actions, and these concrete actions were communicated to teachers through the SPS. Teacher participant data was focused on teacher attitudes and responses to student perceptions of CRP. Data was gathered from four urban teachers through semi-structured interviews, written reflections, and classroom observations. Due to the nature of particularistic case study, data collection took place over time: before the SPS, immediately following the SPS, and two months after the SPS. An analysis of teacher data revealed that teachers valued student perceptions, grew from student affirmations, gained new understanding, and adjusted their teaching practices. This study contributes to the research on CRP by including the voices of students, which are often neglected in educational research and reforms. Keywords: culturally relevant pedagogy, dialogical relationships, student perceptions, teacher learning