Problem
Teachers and students often come from different cultural backgrounds, so classrooms are increasingly becoming the venue where interactions, if not appropriately managed, will produce a social climate not conducive to learning. The present study seeks to determine to what extent teacher cultural competence impacts student perception of the classroom social environment.
Method
The Teacher Multicultural Attitudes Survey was used to quantify teachers’ cultural competence and a Social Classroom Climate Measure was used to gather scores on the four key factors of the social climate. Hierarchical Linear Modelling was used to assess the influence of teacher cultural competence and several demographic variables on student perception of the classroom social environment.
Results
Several demographic variables were shown to impact students’ perception of the classroom social climate. The teacher’s reported level of cultural competence, however, was not shown to be a predictor of students’ perception of classroom social climate.
Conclusions
The results of this study highlight the possibility of two major issues. First, students’ perceptions of the classroom social climate are affected by particular student characteristics, in this case, grade-level and ethnicity. This outcome lends support to the push to place students at the center of learning and pedagogical decisions. Second, it is difficult to differentiate between the effects of cultural competence and good teaching. Hence, it is important for teachers to rigorously engage in high-quality pedagogical strategies in an effort to produce instruction that addresses the ways in which all students learn best. This concept is at the heart of cultural competency, which requires teachers to have the knowledge and skills to successfully teach all students.
","abstract_html":"<p>Problem</p> <p>Teachers and students often come from different cultural backgrounds, so classrooms are increasingly becoming the venue where interactions, if not appropriately managed, will produce a social climate not conducive to learning. The present study seeks to determine to what extent teacher cultural competence impacts student perception of the classroom social environment.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The Teacher Multicultural Attitudes Survey was used to quantify teachers’ cultural competence and a Social Classroom Climate Measure was used to gather scores on the four key factors of the social climate. Hierarchical Linear Modelling was used to assess the influence of teacher cultural competence and several demographic variables on student perception of the classroom social environment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Several demographic variables were shown to impact students’ perception of the classroom social climate. The teacher’s reported level of cultural competence, however, was not shown to be a predictor of students’ perception of classroom social climate.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study highlight the possibility of two major issues. First, students’ perceptions of the classroom social climate are affected by particular student characteristics, in this case, grade-level and ethnicity. This outcome lends support to the push to place students at the center of learning and pedagogical decisions. Second, it is difficult to differentiate between the effects of cultural competence and good teaching. Hence, it is important for teachers to rigorously engage in high-quality pedagogical strategies in an effort to produce instruction that addresses the ways in which all students learn best. This concept is at the heart of cultural competency, which requires teachers to have the knowledge and skills to successfully teach all students.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Spence, Olivia L. R."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Curriculum and Instruction PhD","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Elvin Gabriel","Tevni Grajales","Larry Burton"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:53:14Z","subjects":["Cultural Competence","Multicultural","Effective Teachers","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/1604","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Elvin Gabriel","Tevni Grajales","Larry Burton"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Spence, Olivia L. R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-08-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Curriculum and Instruction PhD"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Cultural Competence","Multicultural","Effective Teachers","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/1604"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Problem
Teachers and students often come from different cultural backgrounds, so classrooms are increasingly becoming the venue where interactions, if not appropriately managed, will produce a social climate not conducive to learning. The present study seeks to determine to what extent teacher cultural competence impacts student perception of the classroom social environment.
Method
The Teacher Multicultural Attitudes Survey was used to quantify teachers’ cultural competence and a Social Classroom Climate Measure was used to gather scores on the four key factors of the social climate. Hierarchical Linear Modelling was used to assess the influence of teacher cultural competence and several demographic variables on student perception of the classroom social environment.
Results
Several demographic variables were shown to impact students’ perception of the classroom social climate. The teacher’s reported level of cultural competence, however, was not shown to be a predictor of students’ perception of classroom social climate.
Conclusions
The results of this study highlight the possibility of two major issues. First, students’ perceptions of the classroom social climate are affected by particular student characteristics, in this case, grade-level and ethnicity. This outcome lends support to the push to place students at the center of learning and pedagogical decisions. Second, it is difficult to differentiate between the effects of cultural competence and good teaching. Hence, it is important for teachers to rigorously engage in high-quality pedagogical strategies in an effort to produce instruction that addresses the ways in which all students learn best. This concept is at the heart of cultural competency, which requires teachers to have the knowledge and skills to successfully teach all students.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Teachers' Cultural Competence and Students' Perception of the Social Classroom Climate in Culturally Different Middle School Classrooms"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Elvin Gabriel","Tevni Grajales","Larry Burton"],"dc:creator":["Spence, Olivia L. R."],"dc:date.available":["2016-08-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Problem
Teachers and students often come from different cultural backgrounds, so classrooms are increasingly becoming the venue where interactions, if not appropriately managed, will produce a social climate not conducive to learning. The present study seeks to determine to what extent teacher cultural competence impacts student perception of the classroom social environment.
Method
The Teacher Multicultural Attitudes Survey was used to quantify teachers’ cultural competence and a Social Classroom Climate Measure was used to gather scores on the four key factors of the social climate. Hierarchical Linear Modelling was used to assess the influence of teacher cultural competence and several demographic variables on student perception of the classroom social environment.
Results
Several demographic variables were shown to impact students’ perception of the classroom social climate. The teacher’s reported level of cultural competence, however, was not shown to be a predictor of students’ perception of classroom social climate.
Conclusions
The results of this study highlight the possibility of two major issues. First, students’ perceptions of the classroom social climate are affected by particular student characteristics, in this case, grade-level and ethnicity. This outcome lends support to the push to place students at the center of learning and pedagogical decisions. Second, it is difficult to differentiate between the effects of cultural competence and good teaching. Hence, it is important for teachers to rigorously engage in high-quality pedagogical strategies in an effort to produce instruction that addresses the ways in which all students learn best. This concept is at the heart of cultural competency, which requires teachers to have the knowledge and skills to successfully teach all students.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/1604"],"dc:subject":["Cultural Competence","Multicultural","Effective Teachers","Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Education"],"dc:title":["Teachers' Cultural Competence and Students' Perception of the Social Classroom Climate in Culturally Different Middle School Classrooms"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Curriculum and Instruction PhD"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:53:14Z"}