Teachers’ Dispositions and Beliefs about Cultural and Linguistic Diversity

Teachers’ beliefs towards their students’ cultural backgrounds and languages affect all aspects of learning. Critical consciousness of attitudes and beliefs about the increasing culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student population is necessary for aligning individual beliefs with effective teaching practices. Rethinking how to work with diverse students is central to how future teachers will impact academic outcomes of the increasing CLD student presence in schools. There is paucity in current literature that informs us about the dispositions that may have a positive correlation with affirming attitudes toward working in a more diverse schools system. Additionally, it appears to be a lack of a systematic analysis of the various factors and characteristics of teachers and their attitudinal beliefs about language and cultural diversity in the schools. Consequently, there is a need to identify the efficacy of the integrated and infused ideas related to diversity especially in the attitudes toward CLD students. This study attempted to find factors that may influence beliefs, dispositions, and teaching practices when encountering CLD students among teachers from school districts in a tri-county area in southwest Florida. The information is based on responses provided by 425 participants to the “Beliefs and Attitudes” survey section.