Enhancing indigenous Taiwanese children’s cultural attitudes and cultural knowledge in English by Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Abstract

This paper features a pilot study of the impact of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) on 24 mixed-aged primary school students of the Bunyan indigenous community in Taiwan during a non-school setting of a five-day English camp. The curriculum included four themes of English festivals and Spanish culture as Multicultural Education (ME) instructional interventions. The study used quantitative methodology with Pre-test and Post-test surveys with open-ended feedback on cultural attitudes and cultural learning. The results showed significantly increased self-confidence and cultural knowledge after initial difficulties. Open-ended feedback indicated highly positive perceptions of festivals and attitudes to CRP in ME language learning. CRP implementation, however, required transitional adjustments in a guided approach of Chinese-English comprehension assistance prior to English activities. Future research is thus recommended into integrating culturally relevant tribal culture, to help indigenous children acquire optimal English learning attitudes and cultural learning effectiveness.