Cross-Cultural Cognitive Categorization of Students by Guatemalan Teachers

Since the 1996 Peace Accords, bilingual education in Guatemala has become a major concern among educators, but little is known about how teachers of different ethnicity view and interact with Mayan and ladino children. Using terminology employed by teachers as a basis for cognitive categorization of ethnicity, cultural domain analysis examined teachers' perceptions of student characteristics. The categorizations were then related to observed teacher-student interaction in rural primary school classrooms. The results suggest ethnic and cultural differences in teacher cognition, as ladino teachers categorized Mayans more positively and were highly homogeneous in their classification of indigenous students and Mayan teachers viewed ladino students more positively and were more homogeneous in their classification of students like themselves. Both teachers and students initiated more interactions with those of their own ethnicity. The findings support the greater use of Mayan teachers, but in multiethnic settings there may not be equal learning opportunities for students who do not share their teachers' ethnicity

Categorization · Cognition · Cultural diversity · Ethnic group · Homogeneous · Indigenous · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Perception · Sociology · Terminology · Anthropology · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Global Education and Multiculturalism · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology

• Directions in cognitive anthropology

  Janet W Dougherty•Directions in cognitive…•1985

  Añadir item

• Multidimensional Scaling

  Joseph B Kruskal, Joseph Kruskal et al.•Multidimensional Scaling•1978

  Añadir item

• Systematic Data Collection

  C Weller, Susan Weller et al.•Systematic Data Collection•1988

  Añadir item

• Gender, Cognitive Categorization, and Classroom Interaction Patterns of Guatemalan Teachers

  Ray Chesterfield, Kjell Enge et al.•Human Organization•1998

  Añadir item

• Bilingual education and student performance in Guatemala

  Open Access•Kjell I Enge, Ray Chesterfield•International Journal of…•1996

  Añadir item

• Personal preferences and ethnic variations among anglo and hispanic breast and bottle feeders

  Open Access•C Weller, Claibourne I Dungy•Social Science & Medicine•1986

  Añadir item

• Guatemalan and U.S. Concepts of Success and Failure

  Howard Freeman, Howard E Freeman et al.•Human Organization•1981

  Añadir item

• Cross'Cultural Concepts of Illness

  Open Access•C Weller, Susan C Weller•American Anthropologist•1984

  Añadir item

• Mayan language planning for bilingual education in Guatemala

  Julia Becker Richards•International Journal of the…•1989

  Añadir item

• Columbus's Legacy, Conquest or Invasion? An Analysis of Counterhegemonic Potential in Guatemalan Teacher Practice and Curriculum

  Open Access•Ronald W Wilhelm•Anthropology & Education Quarterly•1994

  Añadir item