Sample Reviewed

Worell, J. L. (2010). Five Strategies to Address Cultural and

Linguistic Diversity in the Inclusive Classroom. VDiversity in
the Inclusion Classroom, 1-19.

Every child is unique and different in their own way. There are many
factors that leads to these differences, but what matters most is that
every child deserve to be treated equally and they deserve to get what it
the best for their progress. In a class, we can find a group of children who
are from different attitude, styles, family backgrounds and standards.
However, all these children might be sitting together in the same
classroom and equally eager waiting for the attention given by the
teacher. The question is, will all the child get what she/he wants? Will the
children deserve what is the best for them? Will the teacher be able to
provide the needs of all the children? In order to answer these questions,
an

article

entitled

Five

Strategies

to

Address

Cultural

and

Linguistic Diversity in the Inclusive Classroom written by Jamie L.

Worrell (2010) taken from the journal article entitled Diversity In The
Inclusion Classroom, will be reviewed. This article gives a general
introduction on how there are different types of students from diverse
cultural and linguistic backgrounds (page 2). The research done on this
article was taken based on an American school context. There are five
strategies that are being discussed in this article that is proven can be
used to help both the teacher and the students in resolving this important
issues. Each strategy will be discussed clearly in the article with some
explanation and examples given by the author to make it easier to be
understood.
In general, this article discusses on the five main strategies that
when implemented, positively affect students with disabilities as well as
students who are culturally and linguistically diverse (page 3). The first
strategy is to acknowledge that each child in his/her classroom is
different and unique (page 4). This is because, each child has different

social background, linguistic background and even different personalities.

Thus, it is important to ensure that the teachers understands that each
child has different needs to be attended. In addition to that, the teacher
must remember that by providing the need of the each child it does not
mean that there will not be fairness because there is a fundamental
difference between a need and a want (page 4). Added with a cultural
differences for each child, it is a must for each teacher to provide a safe
environment and nurture the child with care. Second is to have a strong
correlation (page 6) among the families and the school. By having the
help from the family and a relation between the school and the parents,
the students will be more manageable. In addition, the teacher will also
get to learn about the family background and their social background. The
author mentioned that it teachers also must bear in their mind that they
should be willing to connect with families outside of the typical school
day (page 7). Thus, there is a need of scarification from the teachers in
order to make this a success. Third, is to establish cultural
collaboration (page 8-9). It is important for the child to feel appreciated
and as part of the team so that each child will play a role in helping the
growth of a school. Here, the teachers job is to effectively communicate
their needs and be willing to use a team problem solving approach to
establish solutions to their unmet needs (page 9). Fourth, is to
implement

culturally

responsive

teaching

(page

11).

It

is

important for each teacher to bear in their mind that each child is
different. Thus, not all children can be taught the same thing at the same
time. Instead, the teacher can implement a culturally responsive teaching
based on the needs of the children. The author used the culturally
responsive, standards-based instruction (CRSBI) as an option to help in
resolving this matter. The five components are: caring, communication,
curriculum, instruction, and standards-based instruction. (Page 11). Last
not least, the final strategy is to ensure each student can identify a
role model (page 14). By providing a role model and allowing the
children to have someone to talk, the author believes that it can be an
important factor in reducing student drop-out rates (page 14). Thus, it

is important for one to shower care and provide motivation so that the
children will feel safer and warmer in the school environment.
From this article, I learnt to look at my students from a new
perspective. I learn that even though many of us knowing the fact that
each children comes from different linguistic and social background, many
of us tend to neglect the fact that we should attend to their needs and
necessary. However, after reading this article, I realise that sometimes I
fail in recognising the needs of some of my students. Thus, having this
article to be very significant to me due to being a teacher myself, I am
sure that all the information read will be very beneficial for me.

Even

though, the article stands in an American classroom context, I still feel

that it is applicable to Malaysian scenario.

This is because no matter

where we go, we will always found a class full with children from different
attitudes, personalities, social and linguistic backgrounds.

Thus, by

applying and implementing these five strategies mentioned, we can

actually make a change in the entire teaching and learning process.
Therefore, I would suggest all teachers no matter what subjects they are
teaching to read and understand this article entitled Five Strategies to
Address

Cultural

and

Linguistic

Diversity

Classroom written by Jamie L. Worrell (2010)

in

the

Inclusive

taken from the journal

article entitled Diversity In The Inclusion Classroom, for us together

to make a change in our classroom.

Reference
Worell, J. L. (2010). Five Strategies to Address Cultural and
Linguistic Diversity in the Inclusive Classroom. VDiversity in
the Inclusion Classroom, 1-19.