"minority"tudentfailureseeFoley,1997;Kavale&Forness,1987;Irvine&York,1995forreviews).Forexample,ndividu-als fromonegroupmaybecharacterizedslearningholisticallywhereasndividuals romanothergroupmaybecharacterizedslearninganalyticallyrindividualsmaybedividedntocooper-ativeversusndividualistearnersn thebasisofmembershipnaparticularulturalgroup.Addressingearningtylesastraitsalsoseems obe acommonwaytoprepareeachersomake the link todiversityGuild,1994;Matthews,1991).Clearly,eachingto adifference hatcanbelabeled(e.g.,learningmodalities)soundsappealingoteacherswhohaveimitedresources,upport,ortrainingo meetthechallengesof newstudentpopulations.AnobservationbyonehighschoolEnglishasa secondlanguageeacher llustratestheapplicationfacommonperception eportednour studiesofEnglish-languageearners:I thinkt'salsoverymportantoinclude..multimediaech-niquesecauseehavegroupownschool hat sverydiverseintheirlearningtrategies.ouknowmostarevisualanguagelearners,oifyougivehemomethingheyan eeortouch,heyare actile.hatetsothem;heyanunderstandhat.Gutierrez,Crosland,Berlin,001)Ofcourse,here s value nusingmultipleormsofassistance,includingmedia.Ourfocus, however,s on theimportancendbenefitofknowingabouthehistoriesndvaluedpracticesfcul-turalgroupsratherhantryingoteachprescriptivelyccordingtobroad,underexaminedgeneralitiesboutgroups.ncultural-historicalapproaches,earningsconceivedofasaprocessoc-curringwithinongoingactivity,and notdividedntoseparatecharacteristicsfindividuals nd contexts(Cole&Engestrom,1993;Lave,1996).Includingonsiderationf thehistoryf aper-son's oragroup'selatedengagementsan account or"disposi-tions"they mayhave nnewcircumstances.owever,he crucialdistinctionwe aremakingsbetweenunderstandingprocessesndlocatingharacteristics.ithoutsituatingocialpracticesnd thehistoriesofparticipantsnparticularommunities,approachesthatattributestyletomembershipnagroupmake t difficult oaccount orvariation ndchangenindividualsrtheirpractices.TreatingCulturalDifferencesAs Individual TraitsEncouragesOvergeneralizationThetraitapproachssumes hattheres abuilt-inrelationshipbetweenlearningtyleandminoritygroupmembership.orex-ample,approacheshataccommodatenstructionalpracticeogroupstylesreatwhatis"known"boutagroupasapplyingoallndividualsnthegroup.This makes t moreikelyhatgroupswill betreatedashomogenous,withfixedcharacteristicsarriedbythecollectionofindividuals hatcomprisehegroup.Scholars romawiderangeofdisciplineshavecalledattentiontotheproblemsf"essentializing"eopleon the basisof agrouplabelandhaveunderlinedhevariabilityhatexistswithingroupsand theirpractices.Scholarsexaminingculturaltyleshave ar-guedforamoresituatedanddynamicviewofthe culturalprac-ticesofethnicandracialgroupsBanks,1995;Gay,1995, 2000;Irvine&York, 1995; Nieto,1999).Yet,theproblemofovergeneralizationersists,especiallynattemptsbyschoolsodesign earning xperienceshatcomple-mentthelearning-styleifferences fparticularthnicgroups(e.g.,Dunn &Dunn,1992; Dunn,Griggs,&Price,1993).Al-thoughhe workonlearningtylesoften cautionsagainsttereo-typingandgeneralizingabout thecognitivestylesofvariousgroups,matchingndividualearningtyleto aparticularthnicgroupmayencouragehe idea thatpatternsfperformancee-rivefrom the essenceof an individualor agroup.Forexample,some studies that contrast helearningtylesof studentsromseveral thnicgroupsmakeprescriptionsorcreatingearningenvironments hatcomplementhelearning-styleifferencesfthe various thnicgroupsuchas the time ofdayindividualsfparticular roupsarereceptiveoinstructionr theinstructionalseatingarrangementmost conducive oparticularthnicgroups(Dunn,Griggs,&Price;Dunn,Gemake,Jalali,Zenhausern,Quinn,&Spiridakis,990;Hickson,Land,&Aikman,1994).Unfortunately,categorizationf individualsngroupshasbeentreatedausally, ieldingexplanationsndexpectationsfindividualkillsandbehaviors n thebasisofcategorymember-ship,assuminghat allgroupmembershare he sameset ofex-periences,kills,andinterests.This hasedto a kind oftrackinginwhich instructionsadjustedmerelyonthebasisof
agroup
categorization.2
Withinastylesapproach,singlewayofteachingndlearningmaybe usedwith aparticularroupwithoutaccountingorndi-viduals'astexperiencesithcertainracticesr withoutprovid-ingnstructionhatbothextends
hoseexperiencesnd ntroducesnewandevenunfamiliar
aysofdoinghings.This standsnstarkcontrastothestrategicormsof assistance e haveobservedn
ro-bustlearningommunitieswhere he co-constructionf acom-munity'sariousracticesndndividualdevelopmentupporthechangingnatureofparticipationnd the formsof assistancero-vidednjointactivity.ntheseclassroomommunities,tudentsreceivemultipleformsofassistancendparticipatenrigorouslearningctivities hatextendheir nitialapproachesolearningandparticipationGutierrez,aquedano-Lopez, Tejeda,1999;Moll, Saez,&Dworin,2001;Rogoff,GoodmanTurkanis,&Bartlett,001).As aresult,tudentshaveongoingopportunitiesto assumenew rolesand learnnew
approaches.There are severalxplanationsor the sustainedcurrencyftraitapproachessplausibleexplanationsf individualperfor-mance.Notionsofindividualearningtylesarecommonplacein bothpublicandeducationaliscourse.Descriptionsndsub-sequentmethodsof identification flearningtylescan beeasytounderstandnd toidentifywithin the taxonomiesn invento-ries hatprovidemeasures findividual ifferences ndresultantprofilesPrice&Dunn,1997).Furthermore,eductive otionsofcultureandculturalgroupsmayreinforcehebroadapplica-tion oftraitapproaches.BeyondReductiveApproachesOften,normative iewsofcultureareemployednwayshatap-pearbenign,especiallywhentheypurporto focusonindividualdifferencesather hanondeficitsn the individualr in theso-cialgroup.This is anexceedinglymportantssueastherecon-tinues o be a reductiveendencyn the social ciences o seekandacceptingularffectsoexplainocialandcognitivephenomena.Supported ystaticor normativeunderstandingsfculture,heapplicationf traitapproachesoindividual choolperformance
20EDUCATIONALESEARCHER
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