The study aims to look into the process of secondary teachers' multicultural efficacy formation. In order for multicultural education to obtain the desired results, multicultural efficacy that centers on teachers' understanding and perception, and esp...
The study aims to look into the process of secondary teachers' multicultural efficacy formation. In order for multicultural education to obtain the desired results, multicultural efficacy that centers on teachers' understanding and perception, and especially confidence of teaching effectively in the multicultural environment is needed. If what factors and process form multicultural efficacy is found, it is expected to find methods to raise multicultural efficacy, which is the starting point of this study.
Therefore, this study focused on the formation of multicultural efficacy and used a grounded theory to examine the practical process that teachers teaching the students of multicultural families experience and feel. In this study, the grounded theory was used unlike other qualitative studies because the theory was not comprehensive findings of existing studies but it focused on finding out main process existing in social phenomena on the basis of practical data.
The participants of the study were selected by using a 4-point Likert scale with 20 questions to measure efficacy among multicultural efficacy scales developed by Guyton & Wesche. The questionnaires were distributed to seven middle and high schools in Ansan, Gunpo, and Suwon that the students of multicultural families comparatively live a lot in the metropolitan area, and 80 questionnaires were used to select the subjects except uncollected 11 and 49 copies without teaching experience of the students of multicultural families. Finally, the study selected the total 10 subjects of respective five teachers with high and low multicultural efficacy, and collected the data through the subjects' depth interview.
The collected data were analyzed based on a grounded theory according to open coding, axis coding, and selective coding which are Strauss & Corbin's analysis step. The final 51 concepts were drawn by categorizing source data collected through open coding, these concepts were again integrated to draw 27 sub-areas, and 11 sub-areas were drawn by abstracting such sub-areas.
As to axis coding, the category was analyzed by paradigm analyzing the structure of categories and the flow of time. As the result of category analysis by paradigm, the action/interaction strategy such as 'adherence to existing methods', 'constant efforts', and consideration' was shown to cope with the phenomenon of having difficulties affected by a casual condition perception and preparation for multicultural education' and a contextual condition 'the use of support system'. During the process, behavioral changes were revealed according to action/interaction through the step of 'perception formation of multicultural education' → 'running against a stump' → adaption' → 'Increase in multicultural efficacy'.
In the selective coding, it analyzed the aim of the study, the development of descriptively expressed story outline, and the formation and connection of pre-and post relations between categories, and standardized the repeated relations between categories to conduct a type analysis.
Regarding the development of story outline, consideration was found out to be important opportunity for students of multicultural families to trust teachers, and the experiences of success was a certain method to increase efficacy.
As the result of analysis on relations, 'the use of support system' played a decisive role to form high multicultural efficacy by making teachers overcome difficulties in multicultural education and feel worthy and glad. In addition, to form high multicultural efficacy, it was also important consider students of multicultural families from the perspective of multiculturalism, instead of sticking to existing education methods.
In the type analysis, two types of ‘upward type’ and 'staying·downward type' existed regarding multicultural efficacy.
The study found out that teachers' consideration served as an opportunity to make students of multicultural families trust teachers, and the use of training and other teachers' support played a decisive role to form multicultural efficacy. Based on the finding, it proposed the development of training programs for teachers' cultural sensibility and education for values as well as the need of network between teachers, learning materials for multicultural education, and development and supply of instruction methods for overcoming difficulties in multicultural education.