Page 332 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

310 Albert Scherr

Comparative international studies (e.g., Schiffauer et al. 2002; Hormel and
Scherr 2004) have shown factors in all of these areas to have important conse-
quences.
Thus, teachers in Canadian schools are required to be sensitive to the ethnic
and religious orientations of their pupils and to take these into account when
choosing instructional materials and methods. In German schools, on the other
hand, the dominant attitude requires teachers to give special attention to deficits in
language and family background among immigrant children. French teachers, on
the other hand, are deliberately not informed about the nationality and religion of
their pupils, to promote equal treatment of all, unbiased by such factors. Further
comparison of Canadian with German and French schools makes clear that as-
sumptions about cultural ‘stamps’ are by no means independent of the social posi-
tions of immigrants and minorities, where the social and economic factors are fre-
quently misunderstood as expressions of cultural difference – for example, when
factors like social class and parents’ formal education and occupation are ignored,
and success or failure in school is attributed to cultural influences.
Studies of multicultural education have shown that in the interaction be-
tween teachers and pupils, popular ethnic, religious and cultural stereotypes
shape teachers’ expectations about the abilities of pupils who appear to come
from corresponding backgrounds. In language education, for example, a recent
German study shows that teachers tend to attribute linguistic deficits to children
with immigrant backgrounds (Weber 2003). This phenomenon contributes to
the judgment that immigrant children have low linguistic competence. Hugh
Mehan et al. (2001) cite various studies demonstrating that in US schools, as
well, deficiencies among minority pupils are attributed to cultural factors. With
the introduction of multicultural approaches, with new forms of communication
and new content, the effects of presumed cultural determinants disappeared,
making evident the causal role of a particular combination of teaching approach
with social and cultural backgrounds of the pupils.
Whether schools treat racism, xenophobia, and discrimination as challenges
deserving a proactive effort, or as problems that can be neglected, is still a
matter of great importance. Even where a commitment to facing the problems of
multicultural education has been made, the various national approaches, which
often derive from a nation-state’s fundamental values and historical experience
and support its claim to democratic legitimacy, lead to considerable differences
in educational practice. Some of these will be sketched in the next section.

3.1. Education for citizenship or multicultural education
In educational policy-making, cultural differences are seldom treated in the ab-
stract but rather in reference to the situations of immigrants or in the framework
of conflicts about adequate recognition of national, religious or ethnic minor-