We identify salient cultural differences between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Within this context, we examine the priorities of North American mainstream educators and those of ELLs with limited or interrupted schooling and consider how educators can establish pathways to culturally new ways of learning for this subpopulation of ELLs.

1. Addressing the Cultural
Dissonance of ELLs with
Limited Formal Education
TESOL Convention
BOSTON 2010
Andrea DeCapua
The College of New Rochelle
Helaine W. Marshall
Long Island University

2. Students with
Limited/Interrupted Formal
Education
• How do we refer to them?
• LFS (Freeman & Freeman, 2002)
• SIFE (NY State Department of Education)
• SLIFE (DeCapua, Smathers, & Tang, 2008)

3. Needs of SLIFE
• Learn basic and grade-level subject
area concepts
• Develop basic literacy skills
• Develop academic ways of thinking
• Adapt to cultural differences in
learning and teaching

4. The Role of Culture in
Learning, Teaching, and
Understanding
Culture acts as a filter or set of lenses
through which we view and interpret the
world around us.
(DeCapua & Wintergerst, 2004)

5. Culturally-Based
Assumptions of Teaching and
Learning
Literacy
The learner comes to school with
age- appropriate preparation for
literacy development

7. Literacy Issues
• Little print material in home and/or
community
• Family members have low or no
literacy
• Language not codified or only
recently
• Lack of print material available in the
native language

9. Two Important Dimensions
of Culture
Individualism
and
Collectivism

10. Individualism
• Personal efforts praised, rewarded
• Personal interests, desires, wants
primary
• Personal judgments
• Personal responsibility
• “self-actualization”
(Hofstede, 2001; Oyserman & Lee, 2008; Triandis, 2000)

11. Culturally - Based
Assumptions of Teaching and
Learning
Individualism
• One goal of K-12 instruction is to
produce an independent learner
• Students come to school with an
urge to compete and excel as an
individual
(DeCapua & Marshall, 2009; Marshall 1998)

12. Collectivism
• People see themselves as part of an
interconnected whole
• “Web” of relationships
• Group is more important than any
single individual
• “We” rather than “I.”
(Hofstede, 2001; Oyserman & Lee, 2008; Triandis, 2000)

13. Collectivistic Individualistic
Cultures

14. A Continuum –
not a dichotomy
Individualistic collectivistic

15. Culturally-Based
Assumptions of Teaching
and Learning
Academic Ways of Thinking
Students come to school ready for
age-appropriate classroom
learning activities

17. Academic Ways of Thinking
• Classification
• Sorting
• Sequencing / historical time
• Compare/contrast
• Defining

18. Pragmatic Ways of Thinking
Daily Life
• Cooking
• Childcare
• Farming
• Crafts
• Religious practices

19. (Ibarra, 2001)

20. Mutually Adaptive Learning
Paradigm - MALP
• Instructional Model
• Elements from students’ learning paradigm
• Elements from U.S. learning paradigm
• Transitional approach to close achievement
gap
(Marshall, 1998; DeCapua & Marshall, 2010)

21. Mutually Adaptive Learning
Paradigm- MALP
A. Accept Learning Conditions from
SLIFE
B. Combine Learning Processes from
Both Perspectives
C. Focus on Learning Activities of US
Schooling

22. Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm - MALP
Instructional Model
SLIFE U.S. Classrooms
ACCEPT SLIFE Immediate Future
CONDITIONS Relevance Relevance
Interconnectedness Independence
COMBINE Individual
SLIFE & U.S. Shared
Accountability
PROCESSES Responsibility
with
Oral
Transmission Written Word
FOCUS on U.S.
ACTIVITIES with
familiar Pragmatic Academic
language Tasks Tasks
& content
(DeCapua & Marshall, 2009 in press; Marshall 1994, 1998)

23. Bringing the two worlds
together
MALP &
Project-Based Learning

24. Project-Based Learning
• Allows for differentiation
• Promotes integration of literacy and
content knowledge
• Improves student engagement
student-centered rather than teacher-centered

25. …and from a MALP perspective
• Fosters community
• Provides immediate relevance
• Allows for shared responsibility &
individual accountability
• Accommodates oral transmission &
print
• Encourages academic ways of
thinking

28. Examples of MALP Projects
• Surveys and Polls
• Collections
• Newcomer Booklets
• Timelines
• Shared Events
• Concept Posters
• Class Newsletters

29. More about MALP?
Our website: http://malp.pbworks.com
Andrea DeCapua adecapua@cnr.edu
Helaine W Marshall helaine.marshall@liu.edu