2.5 Racial identity and the role of perception in student academic performance
Interestingly, although Oates finds high levels of anti-Black bias among White teachers, he finds that Black teachers in his study were race neutral. White teacher perceptions were not only shown to be biased, they were shown to be consequential as a predictor of performance among both Black and White students. Significantly, positive perceptions among White teachers were more consequential as a predictor of improved performance across both White and Black students than were those of Black teachers.
In a similar study conducted by Chang et al. (2007) on a sample of education students at the University of California, teachers of all races were shown to hold stereotypes about students of other races, whether positive or negative. For example, Asian students were generally viewed by teachers of all races as diligent, more intelligent and industrious. Unlike Oates’ findings, however, Chang et al.
found that the stereotypes of Black and White students, although they clearly existed, did not differ greatly between teachers of different races, suggesting that teacher perceptions are potentially impactful regardless of the race of the teacher.
The findings of Oates and other researchers suggest that teacher perceptions are significantly related to teacher student racial congruence and that these perceptions impact student learning and performance. Oates opines that it is appropriate to conclude, therefore, that the predominantly negative perceptions of White teachers perpetuate the Black-White student performance gap in the United States. By implication, performance can be enhanced by pedagogical strategies that either encourage race neutrality among White teachers or match Black students with Black teachers, assuming that other factors, such as teacher quality, are effectively neutralised. Regarding the latter (and potentially controversial) implication, Oates makes specific commentary in his report on the findings of his research that cautions against concluding with finality that Black teacher, Black student matches predict performance improvement, pointing out that Black teachers’ perceptions were less consequential than those of White teachers (Oates, 2003).
However, it is not only teacher perceptions that appear to make a difference in multicultural classrooms. Studies have shown that student perceptions and their own sense of racial identity not only vary among students of different races, but also impact their learning experience and academic attainment (Chavous et al., 2003, Rucker and Gendrin, 2003, Wilson, 2006). For example, Rucker and Gendrin’s (2003) investigation on the impact of immediacy on the academic achievement of students of various races revealed that students’ perceptions of racial identity influenced the way in which they responded to teachers of various races and consequently their academic performance.
Chavous et al. (2003) similarly explored the relationships between racial identity factors and academic achievement among African American students. They used the MMRI (multi-dimensional model of racial identity) to distinguish between three aspects of racial identity: racial centrality, private regard and public regard (Sellers et al., 1998). Students’ scores in respect of these aspects of racial identity were compared and clustered into ‘profile groups’ which were then related to academic performance, educational beliefs and later attainment (college attendance). The results suggested that students may hold either a positive or a negative belief about their race and that these varying senses of racial identity may influence not only their attitudes toward education, for example, but by extension also impact their potential for academic achievement.
Wilson (2006) examined the extent to which perceptions among undergraduate students at an American university predicted their attitudes and performance in the classroom. She found that student perceptions of lecturers’ attitudes towards them accounted for significant variances in motivation, attitude and projected grades and that this predictive ability of lecturers’ attitudes towards students was largely independent of other factors, such as immediacy.
In a more recent study involving 1,416 undergraduate students from four universities in the United States, Schrodt et al. (2009) were able to show a chain of impact between instructors' communication behaviours, instructor credibility and student learning outcomes. In their study, students’ perceptions of various prosocial behaviours (confirmation, clarity, and immediacy) on the part of their teachers accounted for significant percentages in the variance in instructor credibility and learning outcomes.
As with Wilson’s study (Wilson, 2006), immediacy was shown to be the least important of the factors contributing to learning outcomes, while perceived teacher ‘confirmation’ and ‘clarity’ produced the strongest effects for credibility and learning. Schrodt et al. (2009) summarise these findings by pointing out that these ‘confirmation’ and ‘clarity’ behaviours on the part of professors are impactful because they “reduce perceived psychological distance with their students” and “are likely to yield fruitful dividends by increasing students’ motivation, affect, and effort in the classroom” (Schrodt et al., 2009).
While the study by Schrodt et al. (2009) investigated the relationship between teacher credibility and student learning outcomes, gender and ethnicity factors were not explicitly considered. Glascock and Ruggiero (2006) similarly investigate university students’ perceptions of professor credibility, but include an examination of the extent to which gender and ethnicity play a part in the results. Glascock et al. (2006) point out that source (teacher) credibility is one of the most important student perceptions in the higher education context. Glascock et al. (2006) cite McCroskey and Young’s (1981) definition of credibility as “the attitude toward a source of a communication held at a given time by a receiver”,
and refer to a number of studies that relate race and gender to students’ perceptions of teacher credibility (Hendriks, 1997, Rubin, 1998, Patton, 1999, Centra and Gaubatz, 2000).
It is not difficult to see how the findings referred to in the foregoing in respect of racial identity, teacher and student perceptions, immediacy and affinity and the impact thereof on student attitudes, motivation and performance in the classroom are related. Although different authors and studies have different focus areas, the nexus appears to be the resultant attitude or perception of the student and their sense of affinity with the teacher in the classroom. Racial identity issues may impact the way in which the student reacts to teachers who exhibit racially biased attitudes and behaviours. Teacher perceptions of students may be racially prejudiced or otherwise negative and discriminatory, which in turn affects the student’s sense of affinity with the teacher. Teacher immediacy behaviours are only impactful in terms of student reactions to them. Thus it would appear that student perceptions are a key aspect in any discussion on factors that impact student performance in the multicultural classroom.
2.6 Social cognitive theory in computer education