Unit 2.

Globalization and
Multicultural
Literacy
1. Define multicultural literacy and global literacy.
2. Discuss multicultural education.
3. Explain why multicultural education is
important in the classroom.
4. Analyze the principle of multicultural education.
5. develop teaching strategies for teaching
multicultural education.
1. Globalization is the process of interaction and integration between people, business
entities, governments, and cultures from other nations, driven by international trade
and investment and supported by information technology.
2. Cultural Literacy is the knowledge and understanding of the life of a culture to the
point where one can fluently participate in the activities of the said culture. This
includes, but is not limited to, its languages traditions, values, beliefs, forms of
entertainment, and worldviews.
3. Multicultural Literacy is the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure that any
communication with a culture different from our own is clear, productive, and
respectful such that their differences are celebrated and neither culture is demeaned or
treated as inferior.
4. Global literacy aims to address issues of globalization, racism, diversity and social
justice (Guo, 2014). It requires awareness and action, consistent with a broad
understanding of humanity, the planet and the impact of a human decision on both.
5. Global competence refers to skills, values and behaviors that prepare young people
to thrive a diverse, interconnected and rapidly changing world.
Context of Multicultural and
Global Literacy
Why is there a need for us to study multicultural and global
literacy?
According to Banks(1996), Multicultural Literacy consists of
the skills and ability to identify the creators of knowledge
and their interests , to uncover the assumptions of
knowledge, to view knowledge from diverse ethnic and
cultural perspective, and to use knowledge to guided action
that will create a humane and just world (Boutte, 2008).
-With this, Multicultural Literacy then,
brings attention to diversity, equity and
social justice to foster cultural awareness by
addressing difficult issues like
discrimination and oppression towards
other ethnicities (Boutte, 2008)
-According to Boutte (2008) education for
multicultural literacy should help students
to develop the 21st century skills and
attitudes that are needed to become active
citizens who will work towards achieving
social justice within our communities.
-Because of the growing racial, language and ethnic diversity
in our country, Multicultural Literacy needs to be
transformed in substantial ways to prepare students to
function effectively in the 21 st Century (Boutte, 2008). - It is
believe that by making small changes within the classrooms,
it can create big changes globally (Boutte, 2008). As diversity
grows, there is a need for the emergence of multicultural
education that is more representative of the students in
today’s classrooms.
It is then necessary that we need to teach students to be advocates
for multiculturalism, we are also sending a message of empathy and
tolerance in schools as a need to develop deeper understanding of
others and appreciation of different cultures (Banks, 2003). - With
this, in order for students to develop these attitudes and skills, it
requires basic knowledge prior to teaching students how to
question assumptions about cultural knowledge and how to
critique and critically think about these important cultural issues,
which is what essentially makes Multicultural Literacy a 21 st
Century Literacy (Banks, 2003).
Education for multicultural literacy should help
students to develop the 21st Century skills and
attitudes that are needed to become active
citizens who will work toward achieving social
justice within the communities.
What is Global Literacy?
Global Literacy aims to address issues of globalization,
racism, diversity and social justice (Guo, 2014). It
requires awareness and action, consistent with a
broad understanding of humanity, the planet, and the
impact of human decision on both. Global Literacy
also aims to empower students with knowledge and
take action to make a positive impact in the world and
their local community.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Education (2015) A
global citizen should display most or all of the following
characteristics:
1. Respect for humans no matter their race, gender, religion
or political perspectives.
2. Respect for diversity and various perspectives.
3. Promoting sustainable patterns of living, consumption, and
production.
4. Appreciate the natural world and demonstrate respectful
towards the rights
Globalization is the process of interaction
and integration between people,
business entities, governments, and
cultures from other nations, driven by
international trade and investment and
supported by information technology.
How are Multicultural and Global
Literacy Interconnected?
Every classroom contains students of different
race, religion, and cultural groups. Students
embrace diverse behaviors, cultural values,
patterns of practice, and communication. Yet
they all share one commonality: their
educational opportunity.
Integrating a variety of cultural context into lessons
and activities, teaches students to view the world
from many angles, creates a respect for diversity and
enables students to learn exciting information. As
classrooms become increasingly more diverse, it is
important for educators to acknowledge and address
diversity issues and to integrate multiculturalism
information.
MULTICULTURAL LITERACY
Multicultural literacy - refers to the skills involved when
uncovering bias regarding culture, as well as the ability to
take different perspectives to gain a more humane
perspective. Multicultural literacy consists of the skills and
ability to identify the creators. of knowledge and their
interests (Banks, 1996), to uncover the assumptions of
knowledge, to view knowledge from diverse ethnic and
cultural perspectives, and to use knowledge to guide action
that will create a humane and just society.
Why is multicultural literacy important?
1. This will serve as a powerful tool in enabling students to
gain a better understanding of both their own culture and
the cultures of others.
2. Students may develop greater cognitive skills as they
learn to engage with and critically evaluate the texts that
they read.
3. It promotes cultural sensitivity
Why is multicultural literacy important?
4. It promotes empathy and unity - being multicultural literate,
it fosters positive self-esteem and prevents students from feeling
isolated. It has the ability to nurture respect, empathy and
acceptance among all students.
6. It Promotes cross-cultural friendship - According to Steiner et
al., 2008). Sharing stories portraying cultural diversity can foster
the belief that race is not a barrier, but rather a contribution to
the beauty of our multicultural world. It surely help promotes
the interaction of children across differing ethnic backgrounds.
Why is multicultural literacy important?
7. Helps students look critically at the world - Exposing students to
Multicultural literature can help students develop global awareness by
introducing them to current cultural issues. When students vicariously
experience the feelings and emotions of others through literature, they are
encouraged to look critically at the world and gain a greater understanding of
the global community (Monobe & Son, 2014).
8. Encourages identity formation Multicultural literature can also assist
students with their identity formation (Hseu & Hetzel, 2000). Identity
formation is important in the social development of all children, as it gives
them a sense of belonging and acceptance in society
 Skills and Knowledge of a Multi-
culturally Literate Individual
a. selflessness;
b. knowledge that good and useful things can (and do) come from
those different from us;
c. willingness to compromise;
d. acceptance that there are limits; and
e. idea that we cannot be friends with everyone.
Cultural Literacy
Culture is not “one size fits all”. As the cultural environment
changes, we must adapt to the given standards. Our
behavioural patterns change dramatically from one cultural
context to another. We are expected to behave according to
the standards of the group. We may choose not to behave
in accordance with our cultures or else endure a never-
ending struggle.
Cultural literacy is not knowledge alone- it is immersion. One
needs to understand the signs and symbols of a given culture
and being able to participate in its activities and customs as
opposed to simply being a passive observer. The signs and
symbols of a culture include both formal and informal
languages, its idioms and forms of expression, entertainment,
values, customs, roles, traditions and the like – most of which
are assumed and unwritten. Thus, they are learned by being
participative of the culture.
This is to say that to be culturally literate with the Ifugaos,
one has to eat the pinikpikan, drink the tapoy, dance the
gong music, wear the g-string, chew the itso, speak their
dialect, etc. By this, it is then said that cultural literacy is
culture-specific but it is not limited to national cultures. The
culture of one workplace can be different from another, as
people in an institution may come from various places locally
or abroad just as the culture of one campus of a university
can differ widely from another campus or school.
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
1. Inquiry, reasoning and problem solving -One of
the goals of being a globally literate individual is to be
fully aware of the diversity of cultures that exist in
the whole world, for them to become rational
thinkers and be of help lessen or eradicate prejudices
and racial and discrimination among different races.
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
2. Collaboration - Everyone is
interconnected now because of the idea of
globalization, hence it is expected that we
work hand in hand with other
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
3. Communication and an understanding of
world languages and cultures - somehow our
respective language and dialects lessen our
collaboration and cooperation with other races,
hence, preparing our learners to be globally
literate will surely lessen the barriers and
problems
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
4. An understanding of globalized systems
and political realities -Giving due respect
to one’s laws, customs, traditions and
political cultures will surely help us attain
peace.
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
5. Responsible global citizenship - being
globally literate will surely help us become
respectful and sensitive to one’s
government and laws. It controls our
behavior and help us become good citizens
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
6. Respect for diversity - it is expected that
we wish for a non-violence and non-
discriminating society, hence, being globally
literate will surely help us become
respectful on one’s race, ethnic background
and cultures.
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
7. An understanding of the skills and
technologies that are necessary for life in the
21st century - it is a must now to be a globally
literate, to cope with the everchanging
technological world we live in. We need to be
globally competitive, therefore, we must
prepare every learner to be globally literate.
Global literacy promotes and encourages
everyone to possess the following:
8. The ability for students to become advocates for
themselves and their city/state/country. - this is the
age of millennials, thus, this brings awareness of the
possibilities and constraints facing the world's people.
-Students who are globally literate are able to think
critically about the world and the role that they play
in it. Globally literate students are empowered to
affect positive change in the world.
According to the Asia Society based in New York City, to work,
produce, and participate in a global society, young people need
the following:
1. Knowledge of other world regions, cultures, and
global/international issues
2. Skills in communicating and collaborating in cross-
cultural environments and in languages other than English,
and in using information from different sources around the
world, and
3. Values of respect and concern for other cultures,
peoples, and places.
Competencies of Globally Literate
Young People
1. Acquire essential global knowledge and
understanding. - Young people become aware
and examine and sincerely understand world
regions, current events, and global issues,
hence, recognizing how international systems
are interconnected and interdependent.
Competencies of Globally Literate
Young People
2. Students may view the world from multiple
perspectives. - Students may have now the
ability to analyze, evaluate and participate
about global and local issues from different
points of view. They may now thinking
creatively and critically about the complex
interconnections between global issues
Competencies of Globally Literate
Young People
3. Students may communicate across cultures
and boundaries. - being globally literate, they
can participate effectively in diverse cultural
situations, and use language, technology, and
collaboration skills to access information about
and from the world and communicate
effectively.
Competencies of Globally Literate
Young People
4. Learners may take responsibility for their own
learning and for the planet.-if students are
globally literate, they may learn about and
engage with critical global issues, making ethical
decisions and responsible choices that
contribute to the development of a more just,
peaceful, and sustainable world
GOALS OF MULTICULTURAL
EDUCATION
1. According to James banks(2001) the primary goal of
Multicultural education is to transform the school so that
students either male or female, exceptional students, and
students from diverse cultural, social class, racial, and ethnic
groups experience an equal opportunity to learn.
2. One major goal of multicultural education is to restructure
schools so that all students acquire the knowledge, attitudes,
and skills needed to function effectively in an ethnically and
racially diverse nation and world.
3. Multicultural education seeks to ensure educational equity for
members of diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic
groups, and to facilitate their participation as critical and reflective
citizens in an inclusive national civic culture.
4. One of its important goal of ME is to help students acquire
knowledge, attitudes, and skills needed to function effectively in this
pluralistic democratic society and to be able to negotiate, interact
and communicate with all other people regardless of their race to
create a civic and moral community that works for the common good.
5. Another important goal of ME is to help the learners
acquire the knowledge and commitment they needed to
make a reflective decisions, and to be able t perform
personal, social, and civic actions that promotes democratic
living. 6. ME provides opportunities for students to develop
their sense of personal and civic efficacy, and faith in their
ability to make great changes in their respective institutions
or place in which they live.
James Banks gives this related goal of ME, for him, to
help all students develop more positive attitudes
toward different racial, ethnic, cultural , and religious
groups, there must be a transformation in the
curriculum, hence, he gave these four approaches
 FOUR APPROACHES TO
MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION
1. Contributions approach -It is been a practice in our curriculum that we celebrate special
holidays and day for our national heroes, hence, this is one way to develop our ethnicity and
culture.
2. Additive Approach - In our curriculum we include special topics, unit or course of which
we incorporate diversity of cultures, though no substantial change is made to the curriculum
as a whole.
3. Transformation Approach - Students are taught to view events and issues from diverse
ethnic and cultural perspective.
4. Social Action Approach - it goes beyond the transformation approach. Students become
directly involved in solving related problems, this approach promotes decision making and
social action in order for the students to achieve multicultural goals and vibrant democracy.
(Sadker and Sadker,2003)
PRINCIPLE OF MULTICULTURAL
EDUCATION
Cultural pluralism is a term used when smaller groups within a larger society
maintain their unique cultural identities, whereby their values and practices
are accepted by the dominant culture, provided such are consistent with the
laws and values of the wider society. - a condition in which minority groups
participate fully in the dominant society, yet maintain their cultural
differences. a doctrine that a society benefits from such a condition.
HETEROGENEITY - The process of adoption of elements of global culture to
local cultures is known as glocalization or cultural heterogenization. Some
scholars like Arjun Appadurai note that "the central problem of today's global
interaction is the tension between cultural homogenization and cultural
heterogenization"
Parekh (1986) sets the over all tone of multicultural education in his
judgement. For him, ME is “good education for all children” -
According to him, to endorse ME is not to imply that the entire
education system should be destroyed or that Anglocentric cultural
dominance existing in schooling should merely be replaced with the
dominance of ethnic cultures, neither is to deny the need for
common national culture. - It simply says that education system
needs to be improved by becoming less culturally monolithic, rigid,
biased, hegemonic, and ethnocentric
MULTICULTURAL AND GLOBAL
LITERACY ACROSS THE
CURRICULUM
With globalization and modernization it is inevitable for everyone to
learn and accept intercultural learning.
First, bridging cultural gaps would allow one to understand the
reason behind the different practices of people from all over the
world
Second, intercultural learning helps inculcate values such as
empathy, open mindedness, respect, and inclusivity
5 DIMENSIONS OF
MULTICULTURAL TEACHING
1. Content integration
It deals with the extent to which teachers use
examples and content from a variety of cultures
and groups to illustrate key concepts,
generalizations, and issues within their subject
areas or disciplines. (Banks, 1995)
5 DIMENSIONS OF
MULTICULTURAL TEACHING
2.The knowledge construction process
-It describes how teachers help students to
understand, investigate, and determine how the
biases, frames of reference, and perspectives within a
discipline influence the ways in which knowledge is
constructed within it (Banks, 1996). Students also learn
how to build knowledge themselves in this dimension.
 5 DIMENSIONS OF
MULTICULTURAL TEACHING
3. Prejudice reduction
-It describes lessons and activities used by teachers to help students to
develop positive attitudes toward different racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.
Research indicates that children come to school with many negative attitudes
toward and misconceptions about different racial and ethnic groups (Phinney
& Rotheram, 1987). Research also indicates that lessons, units, and teaching
materials that include content about different racial and ethnic groups can
help students to develop more positive intergroup attitudes if certain
conditions exist in the teaching situation (Banks, 1995b). These conditions
include positive images of the ethnic groups in the materials and the use of
multiethnic materials in a consistent and sequential way.
5 DIMENSIONS OF
MULTICULTURAL TEACHING
4. An equity pedagogy
-It exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that
will facilitate the academic achievement of students from
diverse racial, cultural, and social-class groups (Banks &
Banks, 1995). Research indicates that the academic
achievement of students is increased when cooperative
teaching activities and strategies, rather than competitive
ones, are used in instruction (Aronson & Gonzalez, 1988).
 5 DIMENSIONS OF
MULTICULTURAL TEACHING
5. Empowering school culture and social structure
-This is created when the culture and organization of the school
are transformed in ways that enable students from diverse
racial, ethnic, and gender groups to experience equality and
equal status. The implementation of this dimension requires
that the total environment of the school be reformed, including
the attitudes, beliefs, and action of teachers and administrators,
the curriculum and course of study, assessment and testing
procedures, and the styles and strategies.
To implement multicultural education effectively, teachers and administrators must
attend to each of the five dimensions of multicultural education described above.
1. They should use content from diverse groups when teaching concepts and skills,
help students to understand how knowledge in the various disciplines is constructed,
2.They should help students develop positive intergroup attitudes and behaviors,
3. They should modify their teaching strategies so that students from different racial,
cultural, and social-class groups will experience equal educational opportunities.
4. The total environment and culture of the school must also be transformed so that
students from diverse ethnic and cultural groups will experience equal status in the
culture and life of the school
Relating ME to the Curriculum
1. Reality/Representation
A persistent concern of curriculum development in all subjects is
helping students understand the realities of the social condition and
how they came to be as well as adequately representing those
realities. Historically, curriculum designers have been more exclusive
than inclusive of the wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity that
exists within society. In the haste to promote harmony and avoid
controversy and conflict, they gloss over social problems and the
realities of ethnic and racial identities, romanticize racial relations,
and ignore the challenges of poverty and urban living in favor of
middle-class and suburban
 Relating ME to the Curriculum
2.Relevance
Many ethnically diverse students do not find schooling exciting or
inviting; they often feel unwelcome, insignificant, and alienated. Too
much of what is taught has no immediate value to these students. It
does not reflect who they are. Yet most educators will agree that
learning is more interesting and easier to accomplish when it has
personal meaning for students. Students from different ethnic groups
are more likely to be interested and engaged in learning situations
that occur in familiar and friendly frameworks than in those occurring
in strange and hostile ones.
How to create a Multicultural Classroom?
CREATE A CULTURALLY -RESPONSIVE TEACH
1. Recognizing and accepting student diversity - Teachers must welcome
and value their students as human being regardless of their ethnicity,
cultural backgrounds and genders.
2. Building on students’ cultural backgrounds - Teachers must
communicate and establish positive images about students’ origin and
home cultures and not to discriminate or isolate them from other students.
3. Being Responsive to different learning styles -Teachers are expected to
build, enhance and empower her/his students’ strengths and uses these to
help her/his learners enjoy learning in a positive culturally- responsive
teaching-learning process.