Replacing the “Melting Pot” With a “Colorful Mixed Salad” in the Language Classroom

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Author(s): Carmela B. Scala (Rutgers University, USA)
Copyright: 2022
Pages: 13
Source title: Global and Transformative Approaches Toward Linguistic Diversity
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Sarah E. DeCapua (University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA)and Eda Başak Hancı-Azizoglu (Mediterranean (Akdeniz) University, Turkey)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8985-4.ch013

Keywords: Curriculum Development and Instructional Design / Information Science Reference / Literacy and Language Studies / Media & Communications

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Abstract

In a world where the progress in technology, the affirmation of social media platforms, and gaming have made the universe a much smaller place, it should be natural to recreate this boundless space in our classroom and more so in our language classroom. Nevertheless, this is not always the case as the idea of a multicultural, diverse, and multilingual class is still opposed by many educators. Some fear that focusing on multiculturality could endanger any sense of shared tradition, values, and beliefs in 'one particular' society (i.e., American society). In addition to that, language teachers might fear that embracing multiculturality would take attention away from the culture they are there to teach. The debate becomes even more interesting when we move to multilingualism, especially in the language classroom. The author proposes that we start seeing the language classroom as a 'mixed salad bowl' where all the students mix but get to keep their own identity and culture.

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Replacing the “Melting Pot” With a “Colorful Mixed Salad” in the Language Classroom

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