Abstract

It is vital to have a clear understanding of the preparedness of preservice teachers to implement culturally responsive teaching as it can contribute to teacher education programs in improving their curriculum for preparing teachers to meet the challenges of teaching in culturally diverse school settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice elementary school teachers’ preparedness for culturally responsive teaching in Taiwan and focused on their knowledge base of multicultural education, awareness of children of new immigrants in the class, and implementation of culturally responsive teaching in their student teaching. Data were collected through interviews from eight preservice elementary school teachers who had at least one child of new immigrants in their student teaching class. The findings showed that most preservice teachers lack systematic knowledge base in multicultural teaching, they often ignore the cultural diversity of students in the class, and they lack cultural responsiveness in their teaching. However, these teachers did have a positive attitude toward culturally responsive teaching and reflect several suggestions for improving their own competencies to teach in culturally diverse classrooms. The contribution of this study implies for the needs of teacher preparation programs to identify and enhance teaching in culturally responsive teaching competencies of future teachers.