Intercultural Education

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Social dynamics of the multicultural classroom

Johann Le Roux

To cite this article: Johann Le Roux (2001) Social dynamics of the multicultural classroom,
Intercultural Education, 12:3, 273-288, DOI: 10.1080/14675980120087480

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Intercultural Education, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2001

Social dynamics of the multicultural

classroom
JOHANN LE ROUX

ABSTRACT Instruction and learning are socially determined activities, where social forces
such as classroom atmosphere, social feelings, cultural sentiments, prejudice and stereotyp-
ing, interpersonal relations and expectations, as well as the re ection of social reality in
subject matter all have a signiŽ cant in uence on the effectiveness of teaching and learning.
The effective “multicultural” teacher has to be concerned about each individual student,
and also be sensitive to the group and cultural afŽ liations of each of his or her students.
Intercultural relations in the classroom may be a source of knowledge and mutual
enrichment between culturally diverse learners if managed proactively by teachers. Frus-
tration, misapprehensions and intercultural con ict are a more likely outcome if teachers do
not deal with diversity in a sensitive manner.

Introduction
Classrooms are social contexts where participants are in continual interaction.
They are dynamic meeting spaces for teachers and learners alike. Not only
these actors but also cultural and/or ethnic diversity and the curriculum interact
here. Instruction and learning are socially embedded activities, where social
forces such as classroom atmosphere, social feelings, cultural sentiments, prejudice
and stereotyping, interpersonal relations and expectations, as well as the re ection
of social reality in the curriculum all have a signiŽ cant in uence on the effectiveness
of teaching and learning. A student’s image of his or her self-worth is formed
through interaction and feedback received from others. This, in turn, has a direct
in uence on relations, achievement and social behaviour in multicultural class-
rooms. James (1890) Ž rst recognised the impact of others on the appraisal of
the self:

A man’s social self … is the recognition which he gets from his mates … a
man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognise him
and carry an image of him in their minds. To wound any of these images
is to wound him.

ISSN 1467-5986 print; ISSN 1469-8489 online/01/030273-16 Ó 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/14675980120087480
274 J. le Roux

Language Issues in Multicultural Classrooms

In numerous schools the non-standard language of marginalised ethnic and culture
group students is used almost exclusively as a guide to their potential for academic
achievement and to their worth as human beings. This is a reality in any diversiŽ ed
and stratiŽ ed society where variations in vocabulary, syntax, accent and discourse
style are socially or culturally determined. In all multicultural societies around the
world close-knit social or ethnic groups use a range of language varieties. Often
many children arrive at school with little or no prior contact with the language
medium of formal education. The result is that these children are penalised for not
knowing the language variety that is accorded high status in the school. Discrimi-
nation against non-standard language is quite common in various policies and
school practices, even among those that call for linguistic tolerance. The evidence
that language differences can serve to promote stereotypes and thus activate preju-
dices in multicultural classrooms is well documented in the scientiŽ c literature
(Corson, 1998). The dangerous reality is that teacher perceptions of student ability
are often in uenced by the student’s proŽ ciency, or lack thereof, in terms of the
standard language varieties that are prevalent in school and in society.
Educational success depends to a great extent on students’ ability to “display”
knowledge, usually through the spoken or written use of words in school. Young
students’ display of a language is often the Ž rst contact that classroom teachers have
with them. Assessment of academic ability is based on verbal and written use of
language on which the teacher (as the assessor) determines a student’s academic
fate. Formal education is to a large extent a process of teaching the rules of using
words and other signs used in academic discourse. Assessment then becomes a
formalised set of procedures used to judge how well those rules have been mastered.
Language touches on every aspect of education. It is the medium of instruction, the
content of instruction and it provides the pedagogical means by which instruction is
realised. Every outcome that schools attempt to achieve depends on the language
ability of students. After one’s school period students’ life chances will be deter-
mined by their ability to interact through language usage with different discourses
around them. This means that language development is empowering for students,
because the brain does not create language: language creates and actualises the
brain’s potential (Corson, 1998).
Educational success at school is affected by factors such as race, culture, gender,
environmental in uence, socio-economic class and genetic ability as well. Theoreti-
cally, if these variables could be taken out of the equation, the most important factor
in academic success or failure would be a student’s ability to have acquired and use
written or spoken language in a functional manner.
In schools the culture-bound use of language, which is often unevenly distributed
among different ethnic or cultural groups represented in class, is frequently applied
as the sole determinant when assessing the quality of student thought and perform-
ance. A lack of an adequate English vocabulary severely affects the academic
progress of many students from cultural and language groups other than the
mainstream one. The danger is that language proŽ ciency and not academic ability
 Social Dynamics 275

is being assessed in multicultural classrooms. Although the importance of language

ability for academic success cannot be denied, it needs to be acknowledged by the
multicultural teacher as one of a number of factors operating in the educational
process. Lately, a good deal of concern has been expressed about the overemphasis
on vocabulary skills in education (Garcia, 1991). Effective assessment of a diverse
student population therefore has to make use of various assessment techniques and
procedures to be applied on a continuous basis throughout the school year.
The relationship between language and socio-cultural background needs to be
emphasised: often people who are sociologically similar are linguistically similar as
well. A school’s academic culture is more linguistically similar to the dominant social
groups in society than it is to ethnic or cultural minority groups present in a
culturally diverse society. Differences in student vocabulary correlate directly with
parental levels of education and with quality of life levels in general. Early achieve-
ment disparities tend to increase with age. It is an alarming reality that schools today
do little to narrow these differential gaps in language ability and correlated academic
achievement. Language enrichment sources and courses have to be made accessible
to minority culture students, in order to be integrated into their own cultural
meaning systems. Schools often tend to under-value the richness of the cultural
capital that students from diverse backgrounds bring to school. By reconstructing
the school in a more student-accommodative way, student literacy needs would be
accommodated more effectively as well.
Schools also need to support and encourage the value of minority cultures’ native
languages. It is understandable that no school can totally accommodate the often
wide diversity of languages represented in multicultural schools. To expect minority
languages to suddenly appear on every school’s curriculum would be an idealistic
and unrealistic expectation. However, schools can and should explicitly demonstrate
appreciation and value for languages other than the mainstream languages in use.
This is important, even in schools where English is the sole medium of instruction.
To value a culture’s language as an integral part of its cultural heritage is to
demonstrate positive regard for that particular cultural group. This will positively
affect the self-images of students from that particular culture and may enhance
intercultural exchange and positive intercultural regard and appreciation in multi-
cultural schools. When the school ofŽ cially acknowledges students’ native languages,
it will impact in a positive way on social processes in the classroom (Corson, 1998;
Auerbach, 1997).

Social Judgement and Stereotyping in the Multicultural Classroom

Social judgement and stereotyping is part of, and present in, all social encounters.
Research has indicated, for instance, that teachers tend to award higher marks for
the same assignment when submitted by a student with a particular name. Such
research also shows that physically attractive persons are believed to have more
desirable personalities, higher (work and social) status, enjoy more fulŽ lling lives and
are better parents and students. Negative teacher attitudes towards the speech of
culturally and socially different students in multicultural classrooms affect teacher
276 J. le Roux

expectations, which subsequently affect student academic performance. A long-

standing Ž nding of research (Corson, 1998) is that teachers’ perceptions of students’
speech leads to negative expectations about their personalities, social and cultural
backgrounds, as well as academic abilities. Although teacher awareness of this key
injustice stretches back over more than a generation, in practice it has not lessened
the negative impact of such stereotyping in culturally diverse settings. The reality
and severity of stereotyping become even more of a problem when the teacher is
confronted by a classroom consisting of different ethnic or cultural groups.
According to Miller (in Foster, 1990), stereotyping as a concept refers to any
generalisation about a particular social group, thus re ecting an inaccurate descrip-
tion of that group. More often, however, stereotyping refers to grossly inaccurate
and exaggerated generalisations. Hewstone and Giles (1986) list the following
descriptive aspects of stereotyping as they pertain to multicultural classrooms:
· Stereotyping stems from illusory correlation between students’ group afŽ liations
and their psychological attributes and traits.
· Stereotypes in uence the way information is processed about members of groups.
More favourable information is remembered about in-groups, while more un-
favourable information is remembered about out-groups.
· Stereotypes create expectations about other people. The holders of stereotypes
often search for information and behavioural patterns in others to conŽ rm those
expectations.
· Stereotypes restrict their holders’ patterns of communication and promote com-
munication that conŽ rms the stereotypes held (and thus create self-fulŽ lling
prophecies, described later in this section).
Evidence suggests that teachers’ expectations can be in uenced by the stereotypes
they have of students in their classroom. Physical differences are often associated
with particular ethnic or racial groups. In the USA research on prejudice shows that
skin colour is the most salient characteristic that in uences people’s perception and
judgement of each other. Students with a lighter skin tend to be more acceptable to
teachers in multicultural classroom settings. Studies of classroom interaction in the
USA (Bennett, 1990) have also demonstrated that teachers have higher expectations
and communicate more frequently with white students or those with a lighter
complexion (than with a black, Hispanic or other darker-skinned one). Although
these teachers might be unaware of their unequal and dualistic treatment of
students, they have accepted the racist view that a student’s physical traits determine
his or her social behaviour, intellectual abilities and personality traits. This rigid
form of prejudiced social judgement affects the formation of social relations in the
classroom and impacts negatively on minority culture children’s self-concepts and
school achievement.
Clifford and Walster (1973) examined the effect of physical attractiveness on
teacher expectations. It was found that a student’s physical appearance is
signiŽ cantly related to the teacher’s expectations of a student’s intelligence, to
predictions regarding academic success, as well as to predictions regarding the
student’s popularity and social attractiveness amongst the peer group. Communi-
 Social Dynamics 277

cation skills and accents were also found to relate positively to particular negative
teacher expectations and stereotypes. This has speciŽ c implications in the multicul-
tural classroom where students often have to communicate in a language other than
their mother tongue. Once students recognise that differences between people exist
a gradual belief can develop that these differences are important. Whereas one’s
in-group will tend to be viewed as “normal”, others are viewed as “abnormal”.
Others are judged from the own unique cultural context of the child, who uncriti-
cally adopts the in-group’s values as objective reality and uses this as the context in
order to judge other people and events. Prejudice literally means judging in advance.
Negative attitudes towards other groups develop, in the face of, or in the absence of,
evidence to the contrary. Ethnocentrism, as a generalised attitude of preference for
one’s own group, develops and often leads to the stereotyping of others as being
inferior or objects of contempt or hatred (Thomas, 1984).
Stereotyping involves grouping people, objects and events around us into classes
and responding to them in terms of their class membership rather than their
uniqueness (Bruner et al., 1956). People’s evaluations of others different from
themselves are in uenced by their particular frames of reference that are usually
culturally determined. These often-inaccurate assumptions are usually viewed as
Ž xed or absolute and in uence communications towards and expectations of others.
Often teachers fall into the pitfall of making unsubstantial generalisations about
students and tend to categorise them and treat them accordingly. The labelling of
students as “stupid”, “difŽ cult”, “lazy”, etc. usually results in images and behaviour
from students to Ž t and “live” these (often ungrounded) images. Stereotyping or
labelling is often situation or event speciŽ c with regard to the own ethnic group and
can be changed from one situation to the next. However, stereotypes with respect to
race and ethnicity have proven especially difŽ cult to change.
Numerous researchers have emphasised the reality of ethnic categorisation and
stereotyping in multicultural school settings. Several arguments against the process
of stereotyping have been developed in literature (Saunders, 1982):
· It is unacceptable from a humanistic view to categorise people.
· Often categorisation negates individualisation and differentiation.
· Stereotyping usually implies negative images based on inaccurate data.
· Stereotyping implies the categorisation of people based on inborn unchangeable
characteristics.
· The assumption is that the own group represents the norm from which others are
judged.
· Categorisation leads to self-fulŽ lling prophecies.
· Stereotyping is objectionable to individuals who are stereotyped.
· Stereotyping is acquired through learning and can be unlearned.
· Stereotyping is not reconcilable with the principles of democracy, equality and
pluralism, especially in the multicultural class or societal contexts.
Although people cannot be regarded purely as individuals (thus detached from their
group afŽ liated contexts) categorisation and the identiŽ cation of similarities amongst
students need to be managed with great care by teachers in multicultural classrooms.
278 J. le Roux

Categorisation is a necessary tool that allows teachers to deal with the complex
world of education. Preparations and the implementation of strategies and teaching
approaches take place on the basis of these categories. The effective classroom
teacher demonstrates  exibility and makes continual adjustments, based on new
insights and information gathered from external sources, but also from the students
as well. Although grouping students with particular educational needs provides a
forum for professional assistance and systematic classroom planning, individual
differences must be respected and accommodated sufŽ ciently. Stereotyping is not
unacceptable merely because it implies generalisation and classiŽ cation, but because
of its hidden assumptions of superiority versus inferiority, its rigid structures and its
evaluative nature where the own becomes the culturally relevant judgmental norm
and any deviation is viewed as improper. A negative result of this process is that
many students come to see themselves in the same negative way that they are
portrayed by others and therefore act accordingly.
Effective teaching means that the teacher has to manage the social images and
stereotyping that are prevalent in the multicultural class with great care and empa-
thy. But a sensitivity to, and awareness of, one’s own stereotypes and particular
preconceptions needs to be developed as well. Because stereotypes form an integral
part of our daily lives, it is the negative labelling of others that has to be avoided.
Stereotypes determine how one views reality. It directly in uences the teacher’s
interactions with his or her students, as well as expectations concerning academic
success, ability and social acceptability communicated on a continuous basis to all
students. Stereotypes cannot be separated from expectations. Although negative
stereotyping is usually based on inaccurate information and unsubstantiated general-
isations the stereotypes are perceived to be true.
Communicated expectations in uence the self-expectations of student. Positive
stereotyping can lead to positive (self-fulŽ lling) expectations, while negative labelling
can lead to unsuccessful academic and socially unacceptable behaviour of students.
Often when teaching “race” or “ethnicity” issues, teachers usually adopt one of
two teaching styles (Appiah, 1999). They either present the material as yet another
set of facts, theory or discourse to be mastered or understood without any critical
engagement. This occurs as a result of fear for con ict in the classroom. Other
teachers merely create a “right on” politically correct culture where students are
afraid to speak for fear of being labelled racist and/or ignorant. Gaine (1995)
emphasises that teaching about race speciŽ cally lends itself to a teaching style that
is both interactive and democratic, because race is a lived reality for both black and
white students. Students must be allowed to converse at length in an atmosphere
where they will feel free to speak, think aloud and not feel put down. It is important
that when teaching from multicultural standpoints, ground rules should be Ž rmly
established from the onset: everyone needs to feel safe, conŽ dent and valued. Often
teachers shy away from this because they may “… fear that classrooms will be
uncontrollable, that emotions and passions will not be contained … there is always
a possibility of confrontation, forceful expression of ideas, or even con ict” (hooks,
1994).
Effective education ought to be a strong counter-force to the development of
 Social Dynamics 279

negative stereotypes and racial prejudice. Prejudice involves an irrational system of

beliefs and an emotional resistance to changing such beliefs. Through education
student commitment to reason and evidence needs to be developed. Students need
to be taught to modify their beliefs in the light of new evidence. It is the teacher’s
task to get students to think for themselves, to be critical but fair, to be committed
to reason and to question without accepting everything merely on face value. In this
process student prejudices will be countered. In attaining this, teachers have to be
open about discrimination and disadvantages by eliminating biases and negative
stereotyping from their own teaching. This is an all-inclusive process of counteract-
ing existing biases, both subtle and overt, in school textbooks, the curriculum, the
school organisation, the whole school ethos and in wider society (A Handbook for
Teachers in the Multicultural Society AFFOR, 1983).

Social Attraction, Repulsion and Expectations in the Multicultural Class-

room
Researchers (e.g. Bennett, 1990) have discovered a positive relationship between a
student’s social acceptability (or popularity) and his/her social abilities, as well as a
direct link between academic achievement and feelings of being acceptable amongst
classroom peers. School and classroom climates of acceptance show a signiŽ cant
impact on the academic performance of especially minority culture students in a
multicultural classroom setting. Students whose cultural or ethnic group represents
a numerical minority in a culturally diverse class have been shown to achieve better
in classroom climates of acceptance. Such a positive self-esteem-building atmos-
phere is furthermore conducive to the development of cross-cultural friendship
patterns. On the other hand, in classrooms where low interracial acceptance is the
norm, racial differences are very prominent and groups tend to socialise almost
exclusively within their own particular cultural or ethnic group. The pivotal role of
the teacher as initiator, manager and demonstrator of inter-group acceptance and
positive regard of others different from oneself cannot be overemphasised.
A growing body of evidence indicates that many white school teachers often have
lower expectations of non-white students than of students from their own ethnic or
cultural group. Teacher interaction with low-expectation students is often intellectu-
ally limited, non-supportive and less stimulating when compared to the expectations
communicated to majority culture students. Lower teacher expectations for a
particular racial or ethnic group are usually based on erroneous judgement or ethnic
prejudice. Often teachers are not aware of their prejudices and thus need guidelines
in order to observe and interpret culturally different behaviour in an objective way.
This is one of the fundamental premises and imperatives of a multicultural approach
to education (Bennett, 1990). Unintentional racism is often the result of perceptions
teachers have of particular groups in the classroom. These racially biased percep-
tions tend to develop into expectations that are implicitly or worse, often explicitly
and directly, communicated to students. The danger is that communicated expecta-
tions from teachers to students (realistic or not) tend to be realised. This is the
so-called “self-fulŽ lling prophecy” effect where students tend to see themselves and
280 J. le Roux

their abilities in accordance with the way that the teacher conveys it to them. It
simply means that students will behave and achieve in the manner that the teacher
believes they will. When teachers demonstrate and communicate equal achievement
expectations for all students in class, interracial friendship patterns among students
tend to be in uenced positively by the teacher. A classroom atmosphere of accept-
ance is related to increased student achievement, especially among minority culture
students.
The idea of a self-fulŽ lling prophecy was Ž rst systematically expounded by the
sociologist Thomas Merton in 1949 and has subsequently been developed in
interactionist approaches to educational research. This theory (compare the work by
Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968; Brophy & Good, 1974) has been predominantly
developed in the USA. Another theory has been developed primarily in Britain,
which has focused on the link between differentiation and polarisation (compare
Hargreaves, 1986; Lacey, 1970; Ball, 1981). Differentiation refers to ways in which
teachers tend to evaluate students in terms of dominant school value systems of
ability grouping, while polarisation describes student adaptation and sub-culture
grouping as a reaction to differentiation. Such differentiation is usually based on
academic achievement and behavioural conformity. Successful students are given
high status and allocated to top school streams, while unsuccessful ones are socially
neglected and academically marginalised. Those who are not successful tend to
reject the school and its values. This ampliŽ es the effect of existing class inequalities
and the allocation of educational resources in ways similar to those outlined in the
theory of the self-fulŽ lling prophecy. Once differentiated, students are categorised,
and either labelled as successes or failures. Ethnic minority students are predomi-
nantly allocated to low status groups. Categories become the basis for the allocation
of educational resources, for teacher expectations and subsequent treatment. Usu-
ally low status students receive the least experienced teachers, they are given less
demanding work and lower standards are accepted from these students (Foster,
1990).
Once categorised, these minority culture students integrate into their self-image
the lower expectations and negative attitudes held by their teachers. Teacher
expectations therefore in uence student self-expectations. Students labelled “poor”
or “slow” tend to see themselves as failures and their academic motivation and
output suffer accordingly. This furthers educational inequalities and racially based
self-fulŽ lling prophecies at school. There has been a great deal of concern recently
about the educational underachievement of students from certain ethnic minorities
and lower socio-economic groups. It is therefore no coincidence that marginalised
students from ethnic minority groups or those who are marginalised from main-
stream culture due to limited Ž nancial and material means tend to fail academically
at school. A variation of this theory is the notion that curriculum content and school
ethos is essentially mono-cultural in nature. This implicitly (and sometimes even
explicitly) denigrates or systematically ignores ethnic and cultural minorities’
achievements and thus conveys a subtle message of cultural inferiority to students.
As a result of this, such students become alienated from and negative towards their
school and their teachers. This leads to poor school commitment, academic failure
 Social Dynamics 281

and poor student–teacher relations (Foster, 1990). Other views are that a lack of
cultural competence by the classroom teacher and the non-representation of min-
ority cultures in school curricula may enhance underachievement by minority
culture students at school and thus contribute to the low social status and negative
stereotyping and consequent treatment of such students. Teacher cultural incom-
petence thus results in limited “cultural capital” needed by students to excel in
cognitive and the social domains of the multicultural classroom.
Within every multicultural classroom we can Ž nd the dynamic interaction of
attraction and repulsion at work. Some students are rated more highly and are more
readily accepted by their classmates than others. Some are socially attractive and
others are socially rejected by most. It is signiŽ cant that the academic achievement
and social conduct of a student are closely associated with his or her experience of
being socially acceptable or not. In the multicultural classroom older learners tend
to communicate acceptance intra-culturally, while most cases of social rejection are
transmitted inter-culturally. There is evidence to show that children’s preferences for
their own gender were much stronger than for their own racial group in the early
years of schooling. However, once preference for one’s own racial group starts
appearing during the third or fourth school year, it tends to increase during the latter
part of the student’s school years. Neglected and rejected students are a source of
concern for the classroom teacher. Research Ž ndings (e.g. Epstein, 1983) indicate
that open classrooms that are characterised by cooperation among students and
between students and teachers are more conducive to friendship formation and that
fewer students are rejected or neglected by peers.
In terms of the social context of the culturally diverse classroom, and in particular
regarding social acceptance, the following statement by Johnson and Johnson (1987)
is noteworthy:
Experiences with peers are not superŽ cial luxuries to be enjoyed by some
students and not by others. Student–student relationships are an absolute
necessity for healthy cognitive and social development and socialisation.
Research re ects a culturally or ethnically determined preference for friendship.
Numerous studies have used unknown children to generate ethnic attitudes. Chil-
dren were merely asked to indicate their preference for photos of various children
from different ethnic groups. Preferences related almost exclusively to in-group
peers. This is particularly the case in secondary school and indicates the existence of
prejudice regarding other groups and a clear preference for one’s own group. The
same tendency was found for preferential seating arrangements in class, socialisation
on the school playground, as well as for classroom interaction. In racially mixed
classrooms the tendency was still to choose friends from one’s own ethnic group, but
signiŽ cantly more cross-cultural friendship choices were made. This appears to hold
true for both ethnic minorities as well as ethnic majority groups in a classroom. An
important point needs to be made here: children’s racial attitudes are a critical issue
in schools. Some researchers even claim that school related experiences may
in uence the extent to which students exhibit an own-race preference. A failure to
make deliberate and systematic attempts to promote cross-ethnic friendships may
282 J. le Roux

work to consolidate existing own-race preference friendships. Relationships between

students of different ethnic backgrounds continue to pose challenges to school
systems that aim for understanding and cooperation between students from different
backgrounds (Cowie et al., 1994). The teacher’s role in fostering a spirit of
acceptance, respect and cooperation among different groups cannot be overempha-
sised. This is underscored by Finkelstein and Haskins (1983):

… when teachers do in uence the context of peer relations by assigning

children to seats or work groups in the classroom, children exhibit a
somewhat increased frequency of cross-colour interactions.

Teachers’ attitudes towards students from cultural or ethnic groups other than their
own tend to have a strong in uence on peer relationships in the classroom. Students
often echo perceived personal deŽ ciencies such as teachers who do not involve some
students in group discussions, ignoring their attempts to contribute, losing patience
with them or treating them in a degrading manner. Schools can and should
counteract the effect of racism through active commitment to policies that endorse
all staff members. Pursuing a “colour-blind” approach and avoiding the reality that
students are treated differently as a result of incipient racist attitudes is not the best
way forward. Victimisation and racial harassment are daily realities that have to be
actively addressed (Wright, 1992; Gillborn, 1990). Besag (1989) advocates the
important role of the school in combating racism and thus creating a spirit of
cross-cultural acceptance and friendship:

Schools alone cannot combat racism … schools can, however, escalate or

de-escalate the situation by the attitudes and practices at work within the
school … it is the quality of all daily interactions … which will be in uential
in bringing about a more positive situation. Social attitudes are man-made,
they are the result of schooling in prejudice; therefore if a positive attitude
is presented throughout all aspects of the school day, some inroads can be
made to counteract the current situation …

The reality of social attraction and repulsion determine whether expectations

that are communicated will be positive or negative. Teachers tend to be more
positively inclined towards socially attractive learners, communicate more sponta-
neously with them and have higher expectations of them. Inevitably, negative
expectations are communicated more readily to social outcasts in class. The teacher
has to promote acceptance of the culturally different students by demonstrating
empathy and understanding. Often students tend to behave towards other cultural
groups by following the teacher’s example. Therefore the teacher has to encourage
intercultural acceptance of those students that are socially marginalised, enhance
feelings of self-worth by emphasising each student’s positive qualities and deliber-
ately create opportunities for positive socialisation in the multicultural classroom.
Social attraction or repulsion directly in uences the communication of expectations
in the multicultural classroom. This has the following important implications for
teachers:
 Social Dynamics 283

· Teacher expectations of a particular student in uences communications with that

student, as well as the self-concept and the achievements of that student.
· Teacher expectations give rise to self-expectations of learners, as perceived ability
and anticipated success or failure.
· Teacher expectations of each student are based on particular information (school
record, cultural perceptions, discussion amongst school staff members), stereo-
types, cultural views and previous intercultural experiences.
· Expectations of the teacher tend to be realised. This is the so-called self-fulŽ lling
prophecy. This means that the set expectations of the teacher elicit conduct and
performance from students which actualise the initial (true or false) expectations.

Self-concept Formation in Multicultural Classrooms

Effective teaching in multicultural classes is directed at positively in uencing stu-
dents’ self-concepts. Self-enhancement theorists claim that students’ self-concepts
in uence their level of achievement. Therefore, in order to improve their academic
achievement, their concepts of their ability must be made more favourable through
various ways of reinforcement and positive feedback. Other theorists support the
skills development model that claims that the self-concept of ability is the direct
consequence of academic success. This could be attained, it is maintained, through
individualise d instruction that recognises students’ strengths and weaknesses. Re-
cent follow-up research has in fact indicated a reciprocal interrelated relationship
between self-images and scholastic success at school. No matter which theoretical
approach is accepted, an important imperative for the teacher in a multicultural
context is that their self-concepts guide and sustain their learning success. Therefore
teachers have to take special care to enhance all students’ self-concepts. In order to
enhance the self-concepts of students, teachers in the multicultural classroom, the
teacher has to:
· create success patterns in the student’s mind and purposefully create opportuni-
ties for success experiences;
· initiate and manage positive self-fulŽ lling predictions concerning all students in
the classroom;
· create a favourable classroom atmosphere that is conducive to successful achieve-
ment and social relations;
· promote a climate of cooperation across ethnic and cultural boundaries in the
classroom;
· create feelings and attitudes of mutual respect, understanding, unbiased outlooks
and human dignity;
· demonstrate sincere interest in the well-being of every student despite ethnic
origin; and
· be fair, consistent, open and genuine in his/her approach towards and treatment
of all students.
Often self-images of students from minority cultures are directly affected by the
whole structure and functioning of schools as well as curriculum content to which
284 J. le Roux

they are exposed. Often these aspects of the school are arranged and implemented
in such a way as to sustain and re ect the majority culture (as superior in relation
to minority groups). Various forms of behaviour are directly linked to or dependent
on students’ self-concepts (Wylie, 1961; Saunders, 1982):

· performance in school learning tasks;

· self-regard and social adjustment in and out of the school;
· self-acceptance and acceptance of others of own and other groups;
· self-regard and ethnocentrism; and
· self-regard and the level of aspiration and personal motivation.

Since self-attitudes are learned they are also modiŽ able in a particular direction. The
teacher always represents a particular model of the norms and values prevalent in
society. This could be problematic if the teacher presents an image perceived as
foreign to some minority students in class. As it is believed that multicultural
education should permeate all aspects of school in a non-discriminatory fashion,
teachers should deliberately attempt to be positive role models for all students,
despite their cultural or ethnic afŽ liations. The teacher with positive self-esteem
usually communicates positive expectations to students and induces them to form
positive self-concepts. The use of (alternative or additional) modelling as a teaching
technique can enhance the self-concepts of minority children, particularly if the
classroom teacher as a role model is not from the same ethnic or cultural group as
the minority students present in the multicultural classroom (Saunders, 1982).
Values associated with a particular ethnic group, as well as acceptable lifestyles
prevalent in that particular group, can be in uenced. If a teaching role model from
the same ethnic or cultural group is not available, students with high prestige can
fulŽ l a similar function. Such a role model should possess a high degree of
competence and status, encourage warm relations amongst students and must be
someone with whom students aspire to associate.

Dealing with Con ict in Multicultural Classrooms

Dealing with con ict situations is an essential life skill that is critical in any social
context, especially in a culturally diverse setting such as a multicultural classroom.
Con ict is an inescapable part of all interpersonal relationships in all classrooms.
Everywhere people encounter potential differences of opinion, opposing views,
miscommunication and con ict. This is even more likely to occur in a class situation
where pupils are characterised by different cultural backgrounds, family back-
grounds, values in upbringing and in world view. Cultural pluralism among the
individuals in a classroom creates many opportunities for mutual enrichment. But
like all opportunities, there is the potential for either positive or negative outcomes.
Diversity among students in a multicultural classroom can potentially lead to (when
con ict is addressed):
· increased achievement and productivity;
· creative problem-solving skills development;
 Social Dynamics 285

· marked growth in cognitive and moral reasoning ability;

· increased perspective-taking ability;
· improved cross-cultural socialisation skills; and
· a general sophistication in interacting and working with peers from a variety of
cultural and ethnic backgrounds (Johnson & Johnson, 1998).

Thus, from a positive point of view, if managed properly, con ict can serve as a
purifying agent for strained relationships and is essential for a healthy climate in the
classroom. Should the teacher ignore con ict in the classroom, or manage it in a
negative way, students would indeed be deprived of these opportunities to learn
about the cause, nature, dealing with and peaceful resolution of con ict. Being able
to deal with con ict in a mutually beneŽ cial and constructive way should be a
critical part of the student’s total socialisation process towards being a responsible
citizen in a future culturally diverse society.
Unfortunately, (potential) con ict is not usually addressed in a positive way.
Ethnocentrism, ethnic and racial prejudices, as well as stereotyping, serve to inten-
sify intercultural con ict. This cultural alienation is overtly evident in interracial
con ict. Multicultural classrooms place excessive demands on the teacher. Teachers
need to be sensitised to the fact that diversity among students more often leads to
negative outcomes relating to lower achievement, closed-minded rejection of new
information about others different from oneself, and increased ethnocentrism. Such
negative cross-cultural classroom interactions are detrimental to effective teaching
and learning in class, and are usually characterised by hostility, rejection, divisive-
ness, “scapegoating”, bullying, stereotyping, prejudice and racism. Whether diver-
sity among students will result in positive or negative outcomes will largely depend
on the way that the teacher deŽ nes and manages the diverse classroom.
It needs to be emphasised that the existence of con ict is not the problem in
culturally diverse classrooms. Con icts can be part of the solution. Schools should
therefore not be institutions where con icts are suppressed, avoided, condemned
and discouraged. Rather schools should be “con ict-positive” organisations in
which constructive con ict management is encouraged and promoted and where
procedures are purposefully taught to manage con ict in a constructive, mutually
beneŽ cial way. It could therefore be asked: is the class atmosphere one of cooper-
ation, or is individual achievement and competitiveness overemphasised? Does the
classroom teacher handle the existing con ict potential in a positive and constructive
way, or is it denied or managed destructively (Johnson & Johnson, 1995, 1998)?
The effective teacher in a multicultural class is capable of dealing with potentially
destructive con icts in a successful way. Constructive con ict offers ample oppor-
tunity for intercultural involvement, creativity, cooperative learning and communi-
cation across cultural or ethnic boundaries. Heterogeneous groups promote
constructive con ict. In such contexts, differences are regarded as solvable problems
instead of barriers. Con icting viewpoints are integrated into the problem-solving
process, in which the student learns to appreciate the emotional and cognitive
perspective of others. The positive value of con ict at school and in the classroom
can be summarised as follows (Van Heerden, 1988):
286 J. le Roux

· con ict affords opportunity to alleviate stress;

· con ict stimulates a quest for the actual facts;
· con ict may promote change and progress;
· con ict may enhance feelings of solidarity;
· con ict may improve intercultural relationships;
· the proper management of con ict may improve academic achievement; and
· con ict serves as a functional basis for creativity, cooperation, as well as mutual
understanding, acceptance and respect among different groups present.

Schools need to be institutions where the positive outcomes of con ict can be
instrumental in realising high-quality teaching and learning. In order to ensure this,
students need to be taught procedures necessary for managing con ict in a construc-
tive way. This is especially true and of value in the multicultural classroom where the
real value of diversity needs to be discovered and optimised.

Conclusion
For the classroom teacher a relationship or social imperative exists regarding the
multicultural classroom situation: the teacher needs to create positive and favourable
relationships with all students. This is beneŽ cial for their personality development
and potential self-actualisation. The teacher should create a positive social climate
for adequate communication (free, open, supporting) in order to promote students’
optimal mental health, personality development and academic achievement. Respect
for individual needs and interests should be demonstrated in a  exible way. Often
students are labelled negatively as a result of inaccessible and negative attitudes of
teachers who fail to guide students to experience success, acceptance and human
dignity.
The effective “multicultural” teacher has to be concerned about each individual
student, and must also be sensitive to the group and cultural afŽ liations of each of
his or her students. Intercultural relations in the classroom may be a source of
knowledge and mutual enrichment between culturally diverse learners if managed
proactively by teachers, or a source of frustration, misapprehensions and intercul-
tural con ict if not dealt with appropriately. Teachers need to become aware of how
racial awareness develops from the child’s early years and often leads to prejudice
and stereotyping of others who are different from oneself. This includes sensitivity
to one’s own prejudice regarding other ethnic groups. Attitudes are not innate, but
are learned. Knowledge and feelings about others affect one’s behaviour towards
them. During the process of socialisation, inter-group attitudes form as the child
gradually acquires the beliefs about different groups, together with feelings and
behaviour patterns towards them usually adopted from the examples set by other
members of one’s in-group. The classroom situation should thus be deŽ ned in such
a way that identiŽ able social dynamics (described above) are managed effectively
and that a social climate conducive to effective learning will be ensured.
 Social Dynamics 287

Address for correspondence: Johann le Roux, P.O. Box 35410, Menlo Park 0102, South
Africa.

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