In the last decade, the student population in American schools has become increasingly diverse in accordance with the shifts in the demographic trends. As reported by Futrell, Gomez and Bedden (2003), racial or ethnic minority groups currently constitute 35 percent of the student population in elementary and secondary schools. Even more significantly, this figure is likely to reach 51 percent by 2050. Based on this development, prominent educators, Linda Darling-Hammond, Arthur Wise and Paul Klein, have highlighted the need for educators to be "prepared to address the substantial diversity in experiences children bring with them to school" (qtd. in Futrell et al., 2003, p. 381). Nonetheless, in their survey of teachers, Parsad, Lewis and Farris (2001) found that only 32 percent of the respondents reported that they were confident in their ability to cater to the needs of students from diverse cultural backgrounds.
The purpose of this paper is thus to address the teacher's role in promoting multiculturalism and diversity in the classroom today. Rather than rely on their traditional conceptions of teaching and learning, teachers today must be willing to adopt an approach that embraces the richness and the diversity of the cultural backgrounds of their students (Jimenez, 2003).
One of the most important roles of a teacher in the classroom today is to cultivate the literacy skills of their students by taking into account the distinctive cultural backgrounds and experiences of their studies. Essentially, in helping minority students acquire English skills, teachers should tap into the students' existing communication abilities and build on the existing foundation of their already sophisticated linguistic abilities in their native languages (Jimenez, 2003; Meier, 2003). For example, many students from minority backgrounds develop their language skills through their interactions with their family and community members and the ...