Chapter 11: Exploring The Significance of Linguistic and Culturally Diversity: Ethnomethodology and the Use of PhotoVoice

Initial education in U.S. schools has been culturally Western European and teachers were from these same cultures along with the languages used in the classroom. Today students’ cultures and languages are more diverse representing recent arrivals from Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, South and Central America, along with from our neighboring North American countries such as Mexico and Canada. This diversity is a challenge to all facets of life in the United States and more so to education and those involved it the educational process. Consequently understanding and becoming more responsive both the challenges and resources of these linguistically and culturally diverse children’s educational becomes extremely important and essential for the educational success of these children (Portes, 2007).