EDUC 10002

WEEK EIGHT

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“Strangers, people different from us, stir up fear,
discomfort, suspicion, and hostility. They make us lose
our sense of security just by being “other”.”
Henri J. M. Nouwen
STEREOTYPING

• Stereotype: to place a person or group of people into an inflexible, all-

encompassing category
• When we stereotype, we fail to consider the uniqueness of the individual,
group or event
• Every person is, in some respect either:
– like all others
– like some others
– like no others
•A stereotype is an exaggerated belief, image or distorted truth about a
person or group — a generalization that allows for little or no individual
differences or social variation.
• Stereotypes are based on images in mass media, or reputations passed
on by parents, peers and other members of society. Stereotypes can be
positive or negative.
 PREJUDICE
•
Prejudice: Prejudging someone before you know all the facts
or background of that person
•
Usually involves negative attitudes towards a certain culture
or group
•
Inhibits effective communication
•A prejudice is an opinion, prejudgment or attitude about a group
or its individual members. A prejudice can be positive, but in our
usage refers to a negative attitude.
•Prejudices are often accompanied by ignorance, fear or hatred
 DISCRIMINATION
•
Discrimination:
–
Often the result of prejudice
–
Treat members of groups differently from their own in negative ways
•
Discrimination in hiring and promotion is illegal in Canada
•
Stereotyping and prejudice are barriers to effective
communication

 Discrimination is behavior that treats people unequally because of their

group memberships.
 Discriminatory behavior, ranging from slights to hate crimes, often begins
with negative stereotypes and prejudices
 ASSUMING SIMILARITY OR DIFFERENCE

•
Inaccurate to assume that people who belong to a different
group or class are different from you
•
Also wrong to assume they are the same
•
A self-focused perspective, focusing on superficial things like
appearance, clothing or occupation can lead to false impressions
•
We need to take the time to determine what we have in common
and where we differ
• To automatically assume someone is different from you can also
cause communication barriers
• Despite cultural differences we do have similarities
• Identifying common cultural issues and similarities can help
establish common ground
 DONALD BROWN…

• According to cultural anthropologist Donald Brown, people in all cultures:

– have beliefs about death
– have a childhood fear of strangers
– divide labour based on gender
– experience envy, pain, jealousy, shame and pride
– use facial expressions to communicate emotions
– Have rules for etiquette
– Experience empathy
– Value some degree of collaboration or cooperation
– Experience conflict and seek to manage or mediate conflict

• When discussing an issue that you and the other person disagree on, it can be
helpful to establish a larger common value
• It may help to get the other person to listen to you
• Effective communication is diminished when we assume similarities or
differences
 HIDDEN BIAS

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HIDDEN BIAS

• Biases thought to be absent or extinguished remain as "mental residue" in

most of us.
• Studies show people can be consciously committed to equality, and
deliberately work to act without prejudice, yet still possess hidden negative
prejudices or stereotypes
• Significant link between hidden biases and actual behavior.
• Hidden biases can reveal themselves in action, especially when a person's
efforts to control behavior consciously flags under stress, distraction, relaxation
or competition
•Unconscious beliefs and attitudes have been found to be associated with
language and certain behaviors such as:
– eye contact
– blinking rates
– smiles
Recognizing Your Hidden Bias

• Recognizing that the problem is in many others as well

as in ourselves motivates us all to act.
• There are many different bias tests to try at

• Take both tests (Race and Gender)

Recognizing Your Hidden Bias

• Recognizing that the problem is in many others as well

as in ourselves motivates us all to act.
• There are many different bias tests to try at
• https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/langchoice/canada.ht
ml

• Take both tests (Race and Gender)

About Stereotypes and Prejudices

• "Implicit Association Tests" (IATs) can tap those hidden, or automatic, stereotypes and
prejudices that avoid conscious control.
• Project Implicit — a collaborative research effort between researchers at Harvard University,
the University of Virginia, and University of Washington — offers dozens of such tests.
• Hidden Bias tests measure unconscious or automatic biases. Your willingness to examine your
own possible biases is an important step in understanding the roots of stereotypes and
prejudice in our society.
• The ability to distinguish friend from foe helped early humans survive
• The ability to quickly and automatically categorize people is a fundamental quality of the
human mind.
Categories give order to life, and every day, we group other people into categories based on
social and other characteristics.
• This is the foundation of stereotypes, prejudice and, ultimately, discrimination
HOW DO WE LEARN PREJUDICE?

•Children begin to acquire prejudices and stereotypes as toddlers.

•Many studies have shown that as early as age 3, children pick up terms
of racial prejudice without really understanding their significance
•Soon, they begin to form attachments to their own group and develop
negative attitudes about other racial or ethnic groups, or the "out-
group".
•Early in life, most children acquire a full set of biases that can be
observed in verbal slurs, ethnic jokes and acts of discrimination
How are our Biases Reinforced?

• Once learned, stereotypes and prejudices resist change,

even when evidence fails to support them or points to the
contrary.
How do we Perpetuate Bias?
• Bias is perpetuated by conformity with in-group attitudes and
socialization
• Mass media use stereotypes as shorthand to paint a mood, scene or
character.
•The elderly, for example, are routinely portrayed as being frail and
forgetful, while younger people are often shown as vibrant and able.
•Think about: movies, shows you like, social media
Bias and Stereotypes in the Media
• Stereotypes can also be conveyed by omission in popular culture,
• TV shows present an all-white world
• Bias conveyed by the media helps to explain why children can adopt hidden
prejudices even when their family environments explicitly oppose them
 Hidden Bias
• A now classic experiment showed that white interviewers sat farther away from
black applicants than from white applicants, made more speech errors and ended
the interviews 25% sooner.
• Such discrimination has been shown to diminish the performance of anyone
treated that way, whether black or white
• Those who showed greater levels of implicit prejudice toward, or stereotypes of,
black or gay people were more unfriendly toward them.
• Subjects who had a stronger hidden race bias had more activity in a part of the
brain known to be responsible for emotional learning when shown black faces
than when shown white faces.
Unconscious Prejudice
• People who argue that prejudice is not a big problem today, may be,
ironically, demonstrating the problem of unconscious prejudice.
• Because these prejudices are outside our awareness, they can
indeed be denied.
 The Effects of Prejudice and Stereotypes

•Despite years of equal-rights legislation, levels of poverty, education

and success vary widely across races.
•Discrimination continues in jobs, housing and real estate, and racial
profiling exists – even though as Canadians we would like to think
otherwise!
•Results in under-achievement and loss of individuality
 Committing to Change
• If people are aware of their hidden biases, they can monitor and attempt to
respond to and modify hidden attitudes before they are expressed through
behavior.
• This compensation can include attention to language, body language and to the
stigmatization felt by target groups
• A change in behavior can modify beliefs and attitudes.
• A conscious decision to believe in equality for all might lead one to widen one's
circle of friends and knowledge of other groups. Such efforts reduce the strength
of unconscious biases.
• It can be easy to reject the results of the tests as "not me" when you first
encounter them. But that's the easy path. To ask where these biases come from,
what they mean, and what we can do about them is the harder task
Working with ELL/ESL Students
• Canada's foreign-born population is at its highest level in 70 years
• Canada’s visible minority population has tripled since 1981
• More school-age children will enter the public school system with
unique linguistic and socio-cultural needs
Who Are English Language Learners or English
as a Second Language Students?
• English Language Learners (ELL) or English as a Second
Language (ESL) students
– students who first learned to speak, read and/or write a
language(s) other than English.
– ESL students may have recently immigrated to Canada or
– may have been born in Canada and live in homes in which
the primary language is not English.
 General Classroom Accommodations
• Use a variety of instruction and assessment strategies
• Use cooperative group learning- reciprocal teaching, learning
circles
• Provide a model or demonstrations of required/expected written or
oral responses
• Use visuals during instruction and accompany print material with
visuals for clarification and explanation
General Classroom Accommodations
• Allow partner work
• Follow predictable routines in order to create an
environment of security and stability especially for
students new to the language and culture
• Involve students’ culture and family in school events
and projects
• Create a sense of belonging for EVERY student in
the class
Specific Accommodations for ELL students
• Reduce length and allow more time for written assignments
• Allow students to substitute drawings, pictures, or diagrams,
graphs, charts for a written assignment
• Accept all attempts at speech production without error
correction
• Assign a personal buddy to help the student learn the layout and
rules of school and classroom
• Seat new ELL's toward the middle or front of the class
Help Them Begin Reading in English
• In addition to essential phrases, beginners need to learn simple
words such as:
– those related to food, the human body, clothing, animals, and
physical action.
– names of objects in the classroom (blackboard, desk, door),
– places in the school (washroom, cafeteria, office),
– names and job titles of the adults they interact with.
• As soon as beginners can recognize and produce these words orally,
they can learn to read them
Photos, Printed Material, Found Objects
• Use photographs – photo stories, photo collages, etc.
• Use brochures, pamphlets, and posters to help beginners develop
vocabulary they need to function in everyday life, and as a basis
for talking, reading, and writing about their new country and
community.
• Use household and found objects to explore descriptive language,
to stimulate discussion, and to celebrate cultural diversity.
Manipulatives, Images and Art Materials
• Use manipulatives (such as blocks, counters, tessellation tiles, and
rods) to teach the language used for counting, sorting, and
patterns.
• Use images from magazines and posters as a springboard for role
playing or writing
• Use art materials have students create drawings, paintings, and
sculptures, using a variety of common art supplies, and explain
their creations.
Ideas for ELL Students
• Creating multilingual displays or signs
• Writing first drafts, notes, journal entries, and outlines
• Tutors or class partners
• Learn some words from their language
– have the student share
• Share stories from their own experiences
Games to help teach

• http://iteslj.org/games/

• Try one of the games on this website

 Want to Learn More?

• http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/manyroots/manyroots.pdf