Ways to Maintain ELLs’ Cultural Diversity in Education - Taking Three New York Elementary Schools as Examples

English as a second language (ESL) education refers to teaching non-native English speakers English as a second language. The number of English language learners (ELLs) is increasing in the United States in recent decades because of globalization, including immigrants, international students, merchants, refugees, etc. One of ELLs’ main characters is their various cultural backgrounds. Teaching and maintaining a diverse class within a safe learning environment can benefit students both now and in the future. In this case, understanding ELLs’ diverse cultures and knowing how to maintain ELLs’ cultural diversity is a significant consideration in American ESL education nowadays. This study reviews the cultural diversity in American ESL education by analyzing three New York elementary schools. The author summarizes some critical ways to maintain ELLs’ cultural diversity from four aspects: (1) the background of American ESL education and cultural diversity; (2) cultural diversity in school; (3) cultural diversity in family; (4) cultural diversity in communities. Finally, the study indicates the significance of connections among schools, families, and communities and identifies some difficulties when maintaining cultural diversity in education.

Comparing cultural diversity perspectives among public service employees in the Netherlands in 2008 and 2018

PurposeThe Netherlands' national government (Rijksoverheid) is an example of a large public organization that strives to recruit and retain employees from different cultural groups, and aims to reap the benefits of workplace diversity. Research has shown that a major predictor of the effectiveness of diversity policy and interventions is the diversity perspective of employees, i.e. which outcomes they associate with cultural diversity in their work environment.Design/methodology/approachThe present study compares public servants' diversity perspectives in two similar independent samples, from 2008 (n = 1,617) and 2018 (n = 2,024), using the Benefits and Threats of Diversity Scale (BTDS; Hofhuis et al., 2015).FindingsResults show that in 2018, employees of the Netherlands' national government perceived more benefits of diversity for gaining insight about and access to different groups within society. Additionally, contributions of cultural diversity to creativity and innovation within teams are reported significantly more often in 2018 than in 2008.Originality/valueThe findings may be of interest to diversity scholars, since data on changes in cultural diversity perspectives across time are rare, and the paper provides a unique comparison of measurements at two time points, one decade apart, within the same organization.

Significance of Loanwords

The existence of loanwords, whose emergence has a profound connection with cultural globalization, is undoubtedly obliged to be valued. This phenomenon of linguistic integration can be appreciated everywhere in all major languages which are still widely spoken. However, this has led to the resistance of some nationalist linguists, who advocate the purity of their respective languages. Nevertheless, the purported “linguistic purity” is a false concept unquestionably. The lexical interflow is undoubtedly of irreplaceable significance, which can never be denied. Cultural diversity is absolutely the unchangeable mainstream. With this mindset, the world will be harmonious with a sense of freedom to bathe in light of tolerance and empathy.

Construction and Validation of the Perception of Attention to Diversity Scale (PADS)

The main objective of this study was to develop and validate a reliable and valid scale that allows the measurement of the perception that teachers have of attention to diversity in the classroom: the Perception of Attention to Diversity Scale (PADS). To this end, 456 teachers answered a survey. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed a robust adjustment of the expected bifactorial structure. The two factors identified were the perception of attention (a) related to the Specific Educational Needs, with five items, and (b) related to cultural diversity, with four items. The patterns of relationship between the scale and its factors with other psychological variables supported the construct validity. The study provides a useful tool both to measure the perception that teachers have of the levels of attention to diversity they offer in the classroom, and to analyze the relationship that such perception can have with different study variables.

A cultural diversity management framework for enhancing the performance of architectural design firms in Egypt

PurposeThis paper aims to develop a cultural diversity management (CDM) framework to enhance the performance of architecture design firms (ADFs) in Egypt.Design/methodology/approachA research methodology consisting of literature review, case studies and survey questionnaire was designed to achieve the abovementioned aim. First, literature review was used to investigate the concepts of globalization, international construction, diversity, diversity management (DM) and organizational performance. Second, four case studies were presented and analyzed. The first two cases explored the role of CDM towards enhancing the performance of ADFs, while the last two cases showed initiatives carried out by NGOs to integrate architects of color into their communities through training programs that enhanced their skills and uplifted their societies. Third, a survey questionnaire was carried out with a representative sample of ADFs in Egypt to investigate their perception and application of DM towards enhancing organizational performance. Based on the results of the above, the research developed a framework to enhance the performance of ADFs through managing culturally diverse workforces.FindingsLiterature review showed that diversity is not limited to race and gender; however, it includes other types such as disability, socioeconomic status, thinking style, culture, personality, life experience, religious and spiritual beliefs. Despite the benefits that diversity brings to ADFs such as stimulating creativity and increasing productivity, poor management of diverse workforce leads to dysfunctional conflicts, frustration and confusion. Results of case studies showed that ADFs that adopt a CDM approach succeeded in enhancing their performance. In addition, training initiatives carried out by NGOs succeeded to integrate architects of color into their communities and uplifting their societies. Results of data analysis identified the barriers to integrating diverse workforce in ADFs. These barriers include “Poor communication and spirit of collaboration between diverse workforce”, “Resistance to change”, “Lack of maintaining wage equity and promotion between different workforces based on gender”, “Poor organization culture” and “Lack of Senior Management involvement”. This necessitated taking action towards developing a framework to overcome these barriers to manage diverse workforces towards enhancing the performance of ADFs in Egypt.Research limitations/implicationsBecause of the conceptual nature of the proposed framework, it has to be tested and validated to ensure its capability to overcome the barriers of managing culturally diverse workforces as an approach for enhancing the performance of ADFs in Egypt.Practical implicationsThis research presents a practical solution to enhance the performance of ADFs in Egypt through managing cultural workforce diversity.Originality/valueThe research identified and analyzed the barriers that obstruct the integration of diverse workforces in ADFs. The research tackled a topic that received scant attention in construction literature with particular emphasis on Egypt. In addition, this paper proposed a CDM framework to enhance the performance of ADFs in Egypt, which represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the body of knowledge.

An Approach to Diversity and Cultural Competence Curriculum in Public Administration

There are a variety of approaches that can be utilized to facilitate public administration students and practitioners using culturally responsive approaches in their professional lives. The importance of understanding cultural diversity extends not only to individual interactions but also the structure of organizations and organizational decision making. The chapter presents one approach to providing students with a diversity-focused curriculum in a graduate-level public administration program. This approach includes an overview of the historical legacy of diversity in public administration, legally required and voluntary approaches to organizational diversity, models that can be used to assess the diverse cultural experiences of individuals for more personalized practice, and activities that can be utilized and adapted to educate public administration students and practitioners on issues of diversity and cultural competency.

Cultural Diversity, Negotiation, and Organizational Leadership

In globalization, the business world is becoming increasingly complex and challenging for small and medium companies in Latin American countries. There are variables that determine the success of a national and international business. In the latter case, one must have a good knowledge of the country's environment with which a commercial operation is carried out (competitors, political, economic, socio-cultural, legal, technological, etc). All these factors are undoubtedly important in the field of international treaties or agreements, as well as the precise information of the negotiating company. However, variables such as leadership and organizational culture and, in particular, cultural diversity are to a small extent considered as decisive factors of business competitiveness. The chapter describes the importance of the three variables as tools for the performance of Colombian companies in an international context and shows the results of the CW Model of the Culture Assistant, where seven key elements of cultural diversity are evaluated in organizations.

International Schools as Models for Educators to Dismantle Oppression and Promote Social Justice

International-mindedness is a strategy employed by international schools (IS) to create environments successfully promoting social justice, cultural diversity, and tolerance. The composition of the student body forces accommodation and assimilation of multiple cultures, backgrounds, and languages into one location or contact zone. The purpose of the study is to understand how IS navigate, manage, and lead educators and students from different races, genders, religions, and socioeconomic statuses by promoting equity and creating an environment with zero tolerance for discrimination. However, social justice gaps in education in general still exist, and practical applications and strategies to embrace diversity and equalize the marginalized are lacking. This chapter provides strategies as to how educators worldwide can benefit from approaches used by IS for social justice and tangible strategies used by IS to promote ethical-international-mindedness and decrease discrimination.

Management of Intercultural Relations in an Intercultural Organization

The chapter aims to reflect on the management of intercultural organizational relations. It explains the transition of homogenous organizations into the culturally heterogeneous organization and compares multiculturalism with cross-culturalism in its ability to harmonize the principles of cultural diversity with universal ethical principles. It explores the process of creation of a third culture to foster understanding and acceptance among diverse teams. It attempts to establish the impact of intercultural interactions/relations on the effectiveness of a diverse team of individuals interacting in concert to achieve common goals. The work also underpins some analysis of the creation, development, and management of organizational intercultural capital. Finally, the emergence of the model of strategic management of an intercultural organization focused on learning and training for proper operationalization and implementation is proposed, and some challenges that could antagonize the teams are looked into and proposals are formulated.