The role of teachers’ funds of knowledge and identity in the linguistically and culturally diverse classroom

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to explore how teachers’ funds of knowledge and identity shape their beliefs and knowledge about linguistically and culturally diverse students and mediate the respective practices in the classroom. The study was conducted in a state religious secondary school in southern Israel, where approximately half of the students and teachers were immigrants. It adopted two qualitative research methods: case study and educational ethnography. The purposeful sampling was applied by zooming in on two secondary school teachers. Teachers’ evidence obtained from semi-structured interviews was triangulated with field-notes, classroom video-recorded observations, and collected documents. It was found that the teachers became role models who empowered the students and engaged them in the learning process in their highly diverse classrooms. To conclude, the teachers’ family histories, immigration experiences, languages, and cultures can be seen as meaningful tools for learning other languages and cultures and teaching students.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Oranim Academic College of Education Research Fund, Israel.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In Israel, homeroom teachers are responsible for a group of students who study in the same class. Unlike subject teachers, the homeroom teacher’s relationship with the students is not limited to a specific subject and content knowledge. Still, it includes emotional support, administrative issues management, and a context with the student’s parents.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mila Schwartz

Mila Schwartz is a Professor in Language and Education and a Vice-Rector for Research at Oranim College of Education (Israel). Her research interests include studying language education policy and models of early language education, family language policy, language teachers’ language-conducive strategies and pedagogical development, and linguistic, cognitive, and socio-cultural development of early sequential bilinguals/multilinguals.

Avital Konchiki

Avital Konchiki received her M.A. in Linguistics and Literature from Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and her M.Ed. in Teaching Foreign Languages with a thesis from Oranom Academic College of Education. She has 24 years of professional experience as a junior/high school English teacher.