A Multicultural Learning Environment

A multicultural learning situation brings with it a number of challenges that need to be overcome to create an effective learning environment for every student. These include aspects such as communication: it is important that language is not a barrier to learning; learning preferences: the manner in which learners understand and retain information differs and their perspective also differs depending on background experience; social values: values differ from culture to culture and it is important that no one person's values are disregarded. One way to overcome these challenges is to implement cooperative learning and peer tutoring into the classroom situation.

Cooperative learning has undergone many research trials in order to ascertain its effectiveness. In the vast majority of studies it is evident that cooperative learning has a positive impact on many aspects of the learning experience.

Cooperative learning is optimal when the class is divided into groups of between three and five learners of varying ability, temperament, culture and gender to enable learners to interact with different people. A specific goal is set out for the group to achieve and they are told that each person's contribution is considered in the achievement of the goal. This is to ensure that no individual is carried by the others in the group.

Positive interdependence is encouraged which means that each person in the group must help the others to overcome problems and complete tasks. This must not, however, detract from individual accountability. Each person in the group is assigned a specific task to complete in order to attain the goal, thus if any one person in the group does not contribute, the assignment cannot be completed. From this perspective it is important to teach learners the skills of decision making, leadership, good communication and conflict management. Conflict can be constructive if it encourages the learners to regroup and find more definitive information; it can be destructive if learners are unwilling to change their opinion on a matter.

It is the teacher's job to guide and facilitate the learning process. This infers that the teacher is required to provide the necessary resources, or access to them, a brief for the task to be completed and the assessment requirements. The teacher then needs to step back and adopt an observer's position, to encourage the learners, where possible, to sor out any challenges between themselves. The teacher must ask open ended questions to stimulate the cognitive activity of the learners and encourage them to seek out answers. The teacher must also offer praise and encouragement during in-class group work to help maintain motivation within the groups. Teachers must also aim to extend participation within the groups and ensure that all group members are involved, without directly interfering in the group dynamic. The teacher must be able to guide the learners through self evaluation and shouldering of responsibility and they must facilitate student learning of cognitive and social skills.

Peer tutoring involves structured sessions in which peers are able to teach and learn from each other. This is a good teaching method for a multicultural class as it encourages learners to interact on a one to one basis and get to know and understand one another. It is often the case that in suitable circumstances peers can be more effective mediators than the teacher since, once furnished with the information, they will have very recently been involved in a learning experience, they can acknowledge from personal experience, the areas that need more discussion or definition to become clear and they are often more outspoken and forthright with each other thus limiting misunderstanding. Peer tutoring is usually carried out one on one although it can still be effective in small groups. Peer tutoring is beneficial to the tutor as well as the learner because in order to teach something one has to know about it. It also develops self esteem and motivation to learn as the tutors feel a certain amount of self importance with the responsibility given to them. 

It is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that peer tutors have a thorough understanding of the subject matter so that they do not pass on incorrect information. The teacher must also ensure that there is a structure to the process of tutoring in order for it to be effective. This means that the tutors must understand the manner in which to pass on information as well as to ensure that the learner understands and grasps what is being taught.

In order for a teacher to offer effective education in a multicultural environment they need to develop certain skills to overcome the challenges posed. Importantly a teacher must be able to impart knowledge and information to culturally diverse learners. This infers that effective communication can take place where cultural significance is shared and explained so that different view points and perspectives are recognised and understood.

Teachers must be able to make adjustments to their layout and lesson plan and to use teaching aids to help overcome language and other communication barriers. In addition to this it is important to the teacher to have in-depth knowledge of the subject matter to enable discussion using different view points and cultural references, i.e. when teaching about land ownership in Africa a teacher should be able to guide the learners authoritatively through the Western and African beliefs and ideals pertaining to the subject to ensure complete understanding and rounded knowledge.

A teacher must take into account the different learning styles and abilities of the learners and understand the cultural values that are behind the learning styles. All learners have an individual style of learning and this is dependent on many intrinsic and external factors by which they are influenced. Culture plays a large role in determining these factors. It is the responsibility of the teacher, therefore, to understand the cultural diversity on the learners and to implement certain teaching methods to overcome the challenges they pose.

The teacher must also have the ability and knowledge to identify suitable sources and resources that are culturally acceptable within each learning environment. Teachers should be able to apply knowledge of important aspects of the learner's local community and culture to the lesson, as students learn best through application of prior knowledge.

Teachers must also have the ability to create a comfortable social context in the classroom in which the learners of all backgrounds feel confident, capable and able to learn. In this aspect cooperative learning is an invaluable tool to use as learners of all types of backgrounds and ability can be grouped together. This means that the teacher must have the ability to guide culturally, economically and socially diverse learners through cooperative interaction, to combine their diverse skills and background knowledge to gain the most rounded education possible.

In order to successfully implement cooperative learning and peer tutoring in a multicultural situation, it is important to choose topics that support a diverse learner population. This means that all the topics must be applicable to or understandable by learners from different cultural, economic or social backgrounds. The learners must be divided into small groups that span gender, ability, culture and temperament with each learner being given equal responsibility for the overall task. It is then necessary to oversee the distribution of tasks to ensure that all the learners will benefit from their contribution. It is important for the groups to understand that they will all be held accountable for the final result or outcome of the task and in order for this to remain in focus it would be beneficial to set an overall assessment at the completion of the task. This will ensure that while each learner tackles their specific responsibility, they will work together to ensure they all understand every aspect of each other's role. In this vein it is necessary to encourage the learners to seek help, constructive criticism and advice from their peers rather than from the teacher. This will teach them social interaction, understanding, conflict, and leadership and decision making skills. The facilitator should be available to guide the students through these challenges without too much influence over the groups so that the learners benefit from overcoming the problems themselves.

Once the initial task has been completed, and prior to assessment, it would be beneficial to implement peer tutoring sessions. This would involve each learner in the group tutoring fellow group members in the knowledge they have gained through their research on their specific task within the assignment. This would be a valuable exercise as it would help to motivate the learners to fully understand what they are learning in order to gain the self importance, and thus self-esteem, in successfully tutoring their peers with their newfound expertise. It would also encourage and facilitate knowledge and understanding of different perspectives of each of the topics, based on the background experience of the expert', while they teach what they have learned. A reward for the group with the most knowledge of the subject would add motivation to the willingness to learn the subject matter from their peers in order to excel in their final assessment which would be individually taken.

Cooperative learning and peer tutoring are valuable methods to implement within a multicultural teaching situation. They offer the learners a more diverse view on the subject matter as well as a greater motivation to learn it. In certain situations it enables few resources to be used efficiently so that the learners do not suffer from the lack thereof. These methods teach cooperation, understanding and teamwork, and enable the learners to develop self esteem within their peer group. Cognitive learning is encouraged by the fact that the teacher is there to guide and facilitate rather than to lead and control the learning process. It would be beneficial to implement cooperative learning and peer tutoring into the educational experience of all learners in all our multicultural schools.