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Reviewing Related Literature

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Reviewing Related Literature

The article to be reviewed by this paper is “Teacher Perspectives Regarding Gifted Diverse Students” by Szymanski (2013). In this study, the research question to be answered were; What are the teacher’ perceptions in training with Hispanic gifted learners? How do teachers choose the students to participate in a talented or gifted program? How are classroom instructions modified by teachers to meet the talented and gifted students’ needs? and What barriers are perceived by teachers to affect the participation of Hispanic gifted students in talented or gifted programs?

This article acknowledges that teachers often play a role in recommending variety of programs and services to children in schools. The outcome of this process is influenced by many factors beyond the general classroom. Teachers’ perception of the needs of students is relatively influenced by their individual experiences. This may include the differences in language and culture. According to Szymanski (2013), these are the major reasons why the Hispanics are underrepresented in the gifted and talented programs since teachers are less diverse and less culturally competent therefore, holds little expectations for these students. With respect to the levels of underrepresentation of the minority group and the growing diversity in the student population, it is very crucial to increase teacher understanding (Szymanski, 2013). With a related background of study, this article therefore, will help me understand the perception of teachers towards the effects of differences in racial identities of students. It will also lend a hand in determining the strategies for improving the understanding of teachers and solving the negative effects of such diversities.

After the completion of the study, Szymanski found various results. He found out that teachers’ experience differences as they train to work with diverse, gifted and low income students, teachers use their personal beliefs in compensation in identifying and accommodating gifted students due to their lack of training and lastly, teachers perceive the barriers that exist for students taking part in gifted programs (Afolayan, 1994). These findings from the study gives a broader understanding on the perception of teachers towards diverse gifted students and how it shapes the interaction between teachers and students. The findings show the effects of the perception of these diversities which also applies in the effects of perception of student diversities. Also through the results, the researcher is able to find some solutions to these challenges which include understanding the unique needs of gifted learners so as to help teachers identify the needs in the students and integrated training for working with both the gifted students and the English language learners. This will also be essential in solving my research problems by solving the challenges of the teachers’ perceptions.

Bases on my research question of “how do teachers perceive the effects of teachers and student’s racial identities” and the literature review as stated in the research proposal, the research aims at testing various hypotheses. These hypotheses are formulated with respect to the dependent variable and independent variable. The independent variables are culture, language, religion and family background. The dependent variable is the perception of teachers. Therefore, the hypotheses to be tested are: Teachers negatively perceive the effects of differences in culture, teachers negatively perceive the effects of difference in religion, teachers negatively perceive the effects of differences in family background and lastly, teachers negatively perceive the effects of difference in language.

References

Afolayan, J.A. (1994). The implications of cultural diversity in American schools. To

Improve the Academy. Pp. 135-144.

Szymanski, T. (2013). Teacher perspective regarding gifted diverse students. Gifted Children.

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