Turning good intentions into good teaching: Five common principles for culturally responsive pedagogy

Higher education classrooms are increasingly diverse in regards to student culture,including race, gender, nationality, and intersecting identities. Yet faculty membersoftentimes do not have adequate training in teaching, cultural competence, or interculturalcommunication. Building upon the principles of Intercultural CommunicationCompetence (ICC), the authors in this chapter explore different bodies of literaturein order to pull together common principles for promoting culturally responsivepedagogy in U.S. higher education. The purpose of this chapter is to focus on teachingpractices that go beyond inclusive intentions, and instead focus on pedagogythat is truly responsive to diverse groups of students, especially in terms of themost prominent cultural aspects, such as race, gender, and nationality. Specifically,five principles are described and detailed: 1) Instructor awareness of epistemology,2) Recognition of diverse knowledge systems, 3) Inquiry based instruction, 4)Incorporation of student choice, and 5) Expanded use of formative feedback.