Deepening pre-service teachers' understandings of race and ethnicity through intergroup dialogue

This qualitative study examined the participation of undergraduate pre-service teachers in an intergroup dialogue course. Intergroup dialogue (IGD) is one model of organizing a critical dialogue about race and ethnicity (Nagda & Zúñiga, 2003). This study was used as an intervention with pre-service teachers to explore whether the participation in an intergroup dialogue course influenced their understanding of their racial and ethnic identities, racial attitudes, and the experiences of others. It also explored whether the course influenced how they thought about their future teaching. Data analysis included recorded dialogue sessions and weekly written reflections that asked pre-service teachers to reflect on their racial and ethnic identities, to consider how privilege or oppression have impacted their lives, and to examine race policies and practices in their school placements. Five case study interviews were conducted at the start of the dialogue experience and again four months after the dialogue experience. Findings from this study suggest that intergroup dialogue was a useful intervention to help pre-service teachers develop more race-conscious attitudes and see the impact of race and racism in society and, more specifically, in schools. Participants reported a greater understanding of race, privilege, and oppression, conveyed a greater understanding of racial identity, developed a comfort level talking about race related issues; also they gained useful facilitation skills to talk about critical issues in their future classrooms. This is important given that the teaching force is predominantly white, whereas students of color are increasingly changing the racial makeup of schools. This intervention provided these pre-service teachers a better lens into lived racial experiences of students they will one day teach as well as tools and skills to facilitate dialogue with their own students.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Murray-Everett, Natasha Camille

Contributors dc:contributor

• Parsons, Marilyn
• Harris, Violet J.
• Möller, Karla J.
• Welton, Anjalé D.

• dialogue
• pre-service teachers
• race
• anti-racist
• identity

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 Natasha Camille Murray-Everett

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90557

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90557