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The Relationship of Self-Concepts to Changes in Cultural Diversity Awareness: Implications for Urban Teacher Educators

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Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between the self-concepts and cultural diversity awareness of 100 European–American pre-service teachers. The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale:2 and the Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory were administered as a test–retest to ascertain if changes in cultural diversity awareness occurred during a stand-alone multicultural course, and if so were they related to the study participants' pre-test self-concepts. The findings indicate that a statistically significant relationship does exist between total self-concept and total cultural diversity awareness. However, not all five components of self-concept consistently predicted the direction or magnitude of change in the five elements of cultural diversity awareness. These results imply that urban teacher educators should consider both constructs when developing intervention strategies to thwart student resistance to multicultural tenets in stand-alone cultural diversity courses.

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Brown, E.L. The Relationship of Self-Concepts to Changes in Cultural Diversity Awareness: Implications for Urban Teacher Educators. The Urban Review 36, 119–145 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-004-0616-0

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