Literacy competences in cultural diverse classrooms

Experiences of teachers

Abstract

This contribution takes a closer look at literacy competence-related problems in socially and culturally diverse classrooms. Diversity in language and reading socialization both contribute significantly to differences in literacy competences, which is something that surfaces in daily teaching practice. A survey among 169 primary and secondary school teachers in the Netherlands focused on the perspective of the teachers, since they are the ones who have to deal with the diversity in literacy. The extent of the problems the teachers indicated as being caused by their students' lack of literacy competences is considerable in all classes. During their day-to-day teaching, teachers of multicultural classes experience more problems related to literacy competences than do teachers of monocultural classes. The results indicate that it is desirable if not vital to pay attention to the acquisition of literacy competences in diverse, multicultural classrooms in teacher training and refresher courses.