Many cultural aspects should be considered when exploring options for whole-group response strategies. School culture differs greatly from one district to the next, as well as in school systems outside of Canada. Cultural considerations include teaching style, learner and teacher autonomy, language barriers and social etiquette.
“Children’s International Languages collection” by Canton Public Library (MI) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Some cultural considerations will influence the approach you take with using whole-group response strategies, especially for learners that experienced a “teacher centered” approach, predominantly influenced by the teacher’s authority and expedient approach to imparting knowledge. This means that learners may not have opportunities to engage in questioning or whole class discussions.
As a result, these learners may be hesitant to participate in whole-group participation for fear of being incorrect or not being able to clearly articulate their ideas due to language barriers. In addition, the notion of posing a question may be viewed as inadvertently questioning the teacher’s knowledge or disrespecting the teacher’s authority (Ho, 1976).
Here are some additional resources to support English language learners or those who require additional cultural considerations.
Extending English Language Learners’ Classroom Interactions Using the Response Protocol, by Kathleen A.J. Mohr & Eric, S. Mohr
6 Essential Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners (Edutopia)
References
Ho, D. Y. F. (1976). On the concept of face. American Journal of Sociology, 81(4), 867-884.