Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Motivation in Education

Jessica T. DeCuir-Gunby, Paul A. Schutz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138859838
• eBook ISBN: 9781317508380
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Motivation in Education collects work from prominent education researchers who study the interaction of race, ethnicity, and motivation in educational contexts. Focusing on both historical and contemporary iterations of race-based educational constructs, this book provides a comprehensive overview of this critical topic. Contributors to the volume offer analyses of issues faced by students, including students' educational pursuits and aspirations, as well as the roles of students' family and social networks in achieving educational success. A timely and illuminating volume, Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Motivation in Education is the definitive resource for understanding motivation issues posed by non-dominant groups—including African American, Latino, Asian-Pacific Islanders, and Arab-American students--in educational contexts

Part I

An Introduction to Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Motivation in Education

1

Researching Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Motivation in Educational Contexts

An Introduction

Paul A. Schutz and Jessica T. DeCuir-Gunby

Issues related to race and ethnicity have always played a role in the history of the United States (e.g., see Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896; Scott v. Sanford, 1856), including the development of our schools (see Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954; Mendez v. Westminster School District, 1946). With the current prediction that people of color will represent nearly 50% of the population by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012) and that schools are now almost 50% students of color (Kena et al., 2015), it seems clear that issues related to race and ethnicity will play an increasingly important role in all aspects of society, particularly the school system. As such, research related to the roles that race and ethnicity play in teaching, learning, and motivational processes is needed.

Although there is a clear need for research on motivation from a racial/ethnicity lens, it is also the case that inquiry from this perspective is challenging. That challenge begins with the attempt to define constructs like race and ethnicity. For example, because of the socially constructed nature of race, the definition of race and who is classified as a particular race has continued to change over time, as have definitions and notions of ethnicity (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014; Haney Lopez, 1997; U.S. Census, 2012). To compound this challenge, scientists have found little genetic difference between racial groups (Jorde & Wooding, 2004; Omi & Winant, 1994; Smedley & Smedley, 2005). For example, Lehrman (2003) indicated that at the genetic level, Homo sapiens share around 99.9% of their DNA. This suggests that at the genetic level there should be few differences among racial and ethnic groups. Yet in our schools, students of color tend to be overrepresented in special education programs and underrepresented in gifted and advanced programs (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014; Ford, Chapter 12, this volume), suggesting differential treatment based on social indicators. Thus, as indicated by DeCuir-Gunby and Schutz (2014), “although race may not have a genetic basis, it is important sociohistorically, and it is therefore vital for social scientists to investigate race as a sociohistoric phenomenon” (p. 4).

Given the aforementioned challenges and importance of research in this area, our aim in this edited book is to present in a single publication the work of researchers who use race-reimaged or race-focused constructs while investigating motivation within educational contexts (see DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2014). A race-reimaged focus is where traditional motivational constructs (e.g., self-efficacy, self-regulation, achievement motivation, etc.) are reconceptualized to include racially influenced, sociocultural perspectives (e.g., history, context, multiple identities, etc.). A race-focused approach involves placing racial constructs at the center of analysis (e.g., influence of Hispanic/Latino students’ racial/ethnic identity development on academic identity, motivation, and achievement). With such an approach, the racial constructs themselves are important for understanding the educational experience.

In doing so, this volume includes innovative approaches that will push the theoretical and methodological boundaries for researching race and ethnicity in educational contexts. For this reason, we expect this edited volume will become a standard source of reference for those researchers interested in studying the roles that race and ethnicity play in teaching, learning, and motivational processes. Additionally, this volume will make a contribution to ongoing debates regarding the study of motivation in educational contexts. In general, the objectives of this edited volume are to (1) interrogate the use of the social historical constructs of race and ethnicity and (2) discuss how those constructs can be best used in the study of teaching, learning, and motivation in educational contexts.

This volume features a number of important and influential scholars who represent a variety of disciplines (e.g., educational psychology, teacher education, gifted education, etc.), scientific paradigms (e.g., experimental research, nonexperimental field studies, critical perspectives, and postpositivist perspectives), and research methods (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods). Thus the authors take an eclectic and holistic look at research in this area, presenting current approaches from diverse perspectives, thereby making this volume a significant contribution to the field.

Book Structure

The book is organized into five sections. In the first section, Chapter 1, the present chapter, we begin the discussion of the goals of the book related to researching race and ethnicity in the study of teaching, learning, and motivation in educational contexts and set the stage for the remainder of the book.

The second section is titled “Using Race-Reimaged Approaches to Examine Motivation in Educational Contexts.” The authors in this section, informed by many of the key traditional motivational theoretical frameworks (e.g., attribution theory, self-determination theory, social cognitive theory, achievement motivation theory), focus on developing understandings regarding race and ethnicity in educational contexts from those theoretical perspectives. This section features such scholars as Sandra Graham; Kelly A. Rodgers; DeLeon L. Gray, LaBarron K. Hill, Lauren H. Bryant, Jason R. Wornoff, Oriana Johnson, and Lisa Jackson; Shirley L. Yu, Danya M. Corkin, and Julie P. Martin; Rhonda Bondie and Akane Zusho; and Cynthia Hudley and Su-Je Cho.

In Chapter 2, Sandra Graham draws on her research that has used attribution theory as a framework for addressing the achievement motivation and social outcomes of ethnic minority youth. She focuses on four areas: the feedback provided by teachers and how it indirectly communicates a low ability attribution; the consequences of causal controllability (responsibility) on African American boys labeled as aggressive and our efforts to change their maladaptive attributions about responsibility in others; the controllability attributions that adults in the juvenile justice system make about adolescent offenders and how these attributions might help us understand racial disparities in the treatment of juvenile offenders; and the attributions of victimized youth and how the school racial context can be an antecedent to particular attributions. The goal of her chapter is to illustrate ways in which her research uses an attributional lens to shed light on the school experiences of ethnic minority youth and how educators can help make those experiences better.

In Chapter 3, Kelly A. Rodgers takes a look at the motivational issues underlying retention and persistence of college students of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. Specifically, in this chapter she examines the ideas of retention versus persistence, situating them within a self-determination framework to understand the motivation of students of color in STEM fields. She begins the chapter with a discussion of persistence, a student-centered variable, versus retention, an institution-centered variable. Then factors shown to be integral to both retention and persistence in STEM are discussed, with a focus on those factors that may apply to all students and with specific focus on those factors relevant to students of color. After an overview of the theory, she discusses the motivation of college students of color within the context of Deci and Ryan’s (2000) self-determination theory. She concludes the chapter with directions for research, as well as suggestions for students and institutions.

In Chapter 4, DeLeon L. Gray, LaBarron K. Hill, Lauren H. Bryant, Jason R. Wornoff, Oriana Johnson, and Lisa Jackson, using unique research methods, examine the connections among students’ social experiences and their emotions, motivation, and achievement by using heart rate variability as a biomarker of emotion regulation, physical health, and cognitive functioning. They point out that little research is available that examines whether—and under what conditions—students’ social experiences are linked with their patterns of cardiovascular reactivity. They use a sample of African American high school students and provide results that reveal that patterns of cardiovascular activity are a function of students’ perceptions of how much they fit in with their peers. Importantly, these patterns differ depending on whether the student is an African American male or an African American female. This work represents their effort to think beyond the current borders of educational psychology research in hopes of substantially advancing discourse on African American students’ experiences in achievement contexts.

In Chapter 5, Shirley L. Yu, Danya M. Corkin, and Julie P. Martin examine the issue of the underrepresentation of students of color in engineering majors and careers. They point out that significant national efforts have been made during the last three decades to increase the number of underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM disciplines, yet only modest increases have been realized. In addition, research that examines contextual and cultural factors among URM students that may promote or hinder their persistence in STEM remains important. Their chapter focuses on research informed by social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), which has identified psychological and contextual factors that play a major role in students’ persistence and success in different subjects and careers. They review studies that have examined the influence of racial and/or ethnic identity, acculturation, parent/teacher/peer support, and barriers such as racism on the motivation of URMs to persist in STEM domains. Their conclusions have implications for researchers and educators who wish to promote URMs’ motivation to persist in STEM disciplines.

In Chapter 6, Rhonda S. Bondie and Akane Zusho describe their implementation of a motivationally based teacher professional development (PD) program called ALL-ED (All Learners Learning Every Day) across 15 New York City public high schools serving immigrant students with low literacy in their native languages. Their ALL-ED program is rooted in theories of motivation and self-regulated learning and focuses on improving teachers’ abilities to integrate motivationally and cognitively supportive instructional routines into their daily practice so that teachers provide all students with equal and optimal opportunities to learn. More specifically, ALL-ED helps teachers instantiate a mastery-oriented approach to instruction by improving teachers’ ability to develop and use clear, rigorous, and relevant tasks that are tied to instructional standards; formative assessments that promote monitoring and self-regulated learning (SRL); group routines that promote efficient and effective collaboration; and instructional practices that promote choice and autonomy (see http://all-ed.org for more information). They also present data collected during the 2013–2014 academic year on the 39 teachers who participated in the ALL-ED PD, focusing more specifically on the six teachers (two math, three science, and one social studies) for whom they have observational, survey, and teacher and student interview data.

In Chapter 7, Cynthia Hudley and Su-je Cho examine school engagement and future expectations in a culturally diverse sample of high school students. Most importantly, their analyses include an examination of ethnic diversity among the population subsumed under the racial label Asian-Pacific Islander (API). Their analyses examine how students’ future expectations are related to behavioral and affective engagement as well as to perceptions of classroom climate. Their results reveal that perceived climate and measures of student engagement are indeed related to future expectations, and this relationship is moderated by ethnicity. Overall, their findings speak to the powerful impact of relationships for sustaining student engagement, and they draw implications for schools about the broad variability that can be subsumed under monolithic racial labels such as API. In doing so, they demonstrate the importance of disaggregating data in order to reflect the heterogeneity in the API population.

The third section of the book, “Using Race-Focused Approaches to Examine Motivation in Educational Contexts,” focuses on how educational contexts transact with culture to influence student identity, engagement, and achievement. This section features chapters by Tabbye M. Chavous, Samantha Drotar, Gloryvee Fonseca-Bolorin, Seanna Leath, Donald Lyons, and Faheemah Mustafaa; Francesca López; Revathy Kumar, Stuart A. Karabenick, and Jeffery H. Warnke; Tim Urdan and Veronica Herr; and Donna Y. Ford who investigate challenges and opportunities related to student identity, engagement, belonging, and achievement.

In Chapter 8, Tabbye M. Chavous, Samantha Drotar, Gloryvee Fonseca-Bolorin, Seanna Leath, Donald Lyons, and Faheemah Mustafaa highlight psychological, motivational, and contextual factors related to Black student achievement in predominantly White universities, with emphasis on STEM fields where Blacks are particularly underrepresented. In contrast to common deficit explanations of Black achievement, they take a risk and resilience approach. Specifically, they conceptualize Black students’ normative experiences of racial stigma on campus (e.g., discrimination, microaggressions, token status) as a motivational risk factor. At the same time, they consider individual-level assets related to students’ racial and cultural backgrounds—including their racial and gender identities—that may promote positive academic identity and motivation and help mitigate the negative impacts of stigmatizing experiences on motivation and persistence. Along with student-level assets, they note the importance of context-level characteristics—including institutional supports, resources, and opportunities—as critical to promoting motivation and academic resilience in settings where Black students normatively experience minority status and stigma due to race and gender.

In Chapter 9, Francesca López describes a framework that incorporates critical awareness and asset-based pedagogy (ABP) with teacher expectancy and effectiveness studies to address the paucity of evidence on classroom dynamics research focused on traditionally marginalized youth. She illustrates the application of the framework by describing a study in which she examines the extent to which dimensions of teacher-reported ABP beliefs and behaviors are associated with upper-elementary Latino students’ identity and achievement outcomes in reading. Consistent with the assertions in extant literature that ABP is related to students’ outcomes, López finds that teachers’ beliefs and behaviors reflecting consideration of students’ cultural backgrounds (e.g., incorporating students’ culture into the curriculum) are positively related to students’ reading and identity outcomes. Her research also uncovers issues with the current conceptualization of teacher expectancy, which has implications for educational psychology research. She discusses the need for future research to consider mixed-methods approaches to further refine the theories about the ways students’ identities are shaped in the context of classrooms.

In Chapter 10, Revathy Kumar, Stuart A. Karabenick, and Jeffery H. Warnke discuss their interdisciplinary approach that utilized multiple research methods to frame the opportunities and constraints on adolescents’ identity negotiations as well as their social and academic adjustment. They focus on their research project that examines Arab American and Chaldean adolescents’ identity negotiations and adjustment in culturally diverse American schools. The theoretical perspectives framing the project include social identity theory, intergroup contact hypothesis, and the social cognitive theory of motivation—achievement goal theory. They utilize multiple data collection methodologies including focus-group interviews and survey data from students, web-based survey data from teachers and principals, and implicit association test data regar...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword: Motivation and Racial-Ethnic Dynamics
• Part I An Introduction to Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Motivation in Education
• Part II Using Race-Reimaged Approaches to Examine Motivation in Educational Contexts
• Part III Using Race-Focused Approaches to Examine Motivation in Educational Contexts
• Part IV Future Directions in Examining Race and Ethnicity in the Study of Motivation
• About the Contributors
• Index