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Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of culturally relevant pedagogy, such as Hip Hop,
on AfricanAmerican student engagement and retention. The overarching question guiding this investigation centered on
whether elements of Hip Hop can be used as tools to educate and engage AfricanAmerican students. Analyzed through
the lens of Critical Race Theory were the data sets. The ndings highlighted the importance of climate, faculty, and Hip
Hop culturally relevant pedagogy to AfricanAmerican student engagement. The implications of this inquiry for practice
in education could impact higher education institutions as they address the issue of engaging AfricanAmerican students,
creating inclusive climates, and using culturally relevant pedagogy.
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www.hiphoparchives.edu
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Document analysis
The faculty member provided course documents
such as class assignments and course syllabi for
review and analysis. In addition, other documents
were analyzed as suggested by the faculty member
and the students.
Data analysis
The concurrent nested model allowed the researcher
to examine multiple levels (Creswell, 2003, p. 221)
so that the questionnaire data, interview data,
observation data, and document analysis were collected separately but the analysis and interpretation were combined to seek convergence among
the results (p. 222). In order to maintain consistency of direction, one the researcher was the only
interviewer in this study (Wiersma, 2000), while
the other assisted in the analysis of documents and
observations. Analyses of the faculty member interviews were conducted in order to nd a deeper contextual meaning for the construct of Hip Hop as a
teaching pedagogy. Data from the interviews from
the faculty member and the students were also used
to triangulate and enrich the data obtained from the
observations and documents to answer the research
questions. Interviews were transcribed in order to
assist in the process of making sense of the data and
the transcripts were read in their entirety to obtain
an overview of the participants perceptions and
were coded for statements related to the tenets of
CRT, Hip Hop and student engagement.
The data gradually evolved into patterns, which
allowed the researchers to analyze the resulting information in each resultant theme (Creswell & Clark,
2006). Tape-recorded, transcribed, and provided
to interviewees, for member checking to determine accuracy, were the interviews. Triangulation
occurred through interviews, eld observations,
and examination of documents such as course syllabi and assignments and new course development
forms. Using this triangulation method allowed
for elaboration, produced more in-depth data, and
gave voice to the participants (Creswell, 2003).
FINDINGS
Using the data set and the predetermined codes,
the following themes emerged: (1) Role of culturally relevant pedagogy; and (2) Role of the faculty
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The use of essays assisted the Professor in showing students how the history of Hip Hop reached
further than the boroughs of New York City,
which further enhanced the cultural relevance of
the pedagogy. Professor also infused elements of
the African tradition of call and response into his
class lectures. Like a black preacher on Sunday
morning, Professor used statements such as talk
to me, and cmon now to encourage students to
respond and voice their opinions in class. In fact,
during portions of the
classes, the student
teacher spirited interactions
resembled
Role of the Faculty demonstrating
church services in
the interaction between race and
racism; challenging the world view;
AfricanAmerican
committed to social justice: using
observed knowledge; and 5) the
communities across
utilization of interdisciplinary
teaching approaches (Solrzano,
America. According
1997, 1998)
to Frank, Hip Hop
is just a reection of
America. He stated:
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Whether it be through
dance [rap], through
Social relevancy
In addition to making his classes culturally relevant, the Professor infused issues of social relevance into his classes through class discussions and
assignments that focused on the various Hip Hop
themes such as social justice and empowerment,
racism, stereotypes, the media, and misogyny.
During a discussion of the recent Jena 6 protest
in Jena, LA, the Professor remarked that participating in the march may not change a system
of oppression, but it would reveal that African
Americans understand the law and the power of
mobilization against injustices. He discussed his
experiences at previous empowerment rallies such
as the 1995 Million Man March and the 2005
Million More March to which he took a group of
students. The Professor also compared the Jena 6
rally to marches in the Civil Rights movement.
He discussed how modern day marches differed
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Interdisciplinary
Both Frank and Pearl agreed that the Professors
classes felt like more of a Hip Hop class with
English infused in it as opposed to an English
class with Hip Hop. They also agreed that the
Professor incorporated a wide range of disciplines
that can be benecial. According to Pearl:
I see it more as a Hip Hop class with an emphasis on
English. I [also] see it almost as a history class honestly.
More of a recent history class because its not focused
a lot on music and its not a music appreciation type
class. Its not like that at all. We havent listened to anything this semester. So I think of it almost as like a
history class.
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Academic rigor
The Professor acknowledged that the use of
black vernacular, along with the infusion of Hip
Hop themes, was counter to traditional academic
instruction. In fact, that was his main obstacle as he
attempted to create his Hip Hop English courses.
Thus, in order to Hip Hop pedagogy to be valued
by others in the academy the Professor created his
courses to be challenging, and he constantly mentioned the phrase academic rigor. He stated:
Yeah, they wanted to make sure that we wouldnt be in
the classroom engaging in debates about who the greatest
emcee of all time was every week. Its one of the reasons
that I gave [the English 209 class] the three-pronged
title of The History, Literary Connections, and Social
Relevance of Hip Hop. And I was able to demonstrate to
them [administrators] that were going to touch on these
three ideas. And so I think that once that happened they
had a better sense of the academic rigor that was going to
be infused in there and why students would maintain an
interest through the course of a semester.
While academic rigor is not an identied element of CRT, one could argue that emphasizing
rigor in a course that highlights CRT elements can
only strengthen the acceptance in mainline academy. To increase the academic rigor, the Professor
incorporated works by AfricanAmerican scholars
and assigned additional scholarly and contemporary readings. In addition, he made sure his classes
had strong writing components. For example,
English 209 has regulated writing where students
create their own rubric to create Hip Hop lyrics.
During a class observation, the students enthusiastically determined the criteria that would be included
on the rubric (lyrical content, production, creativity, word play, originality, ow, purpose, and clarity)
and assigned each criterion a point value ranging
from 5 to 20 points on a 100-point scale. There was
vigorous discussion and debate among the students
about the rubric criteria, with extensive disagreement about the denition of clarity, originality,
and purpose. One AfricanAmerican male student
discussed his struggle outside of class to dene the
criteria and how his views would compare to those
of his classmates. Professor Hart reminded him and
the other students that they had to be as objective as
possible when critiquing the lyrics.
THEME TWO: ROLE OF FACULTY CLASSROOM
CLIMATE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUBJECT
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CONCLUSIONS
Whether politically conscious or materialistic,
feminists or misogynists, Hip Hop impacts the way
students view the world. Thereby, the aim of this
inquiry was to examine whether the use of culturally
relevant pedagogy, such as Hip Hop, increased
AfricanAmerican college student engagement,
with the following conclusions drawn.
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N O W AVA I L A B L E
MIXED METHODS RESEARCH: PHILOSOPHY, POLICY AND PRACTICE IN EDUCATION
A special issue of International Journal of Multiple Research Approaches Volume 7 Issue 1
ISBN 978-1-921980-19-0 April 2013
Editors: Anthony J Onwuegbuzie (Sam Houston State University, USA) and
Rebecca K Frels (Sam Houston State University, USA)
FOREWORD: Using Bronfenbrenners ecological systems theory to frame
quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research Anthony J Onwuegbuzie,
Kathleen M T Collins and Rebecca K Frels
INTRODUCTION: Towards a new research philosophy for addressing social
justice issues: Critical dialectical pluralism 1.0 Anthony J Onwuegbuzie
and Rebecca K Frels
Exploring the value of integrated ndings in a multiphase mixed
methods evaluation of the continuous assessment programme in the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago Jerome De Lisle
Beyond multiple methods: Critical multiplism on all levels Jean-Luc Patry
To what extent do postgraduate students understand the principles of
mixed methods in educational research? David Plowright
http://mra.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/7/issue/1/marketing/
www.e-contentmanagement.com
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