Responsive Pedagogy is grounded in skill at teaching in cross-cultural or multicultural settings by fostering cultural competence and exchange. Zaretta Hammond explains that responsive pedagogy uses "[a]n educator’s ability to recognize students’ cultural displays of learning and meaning making and respond positively and constructively with teaching moves that use cultural knowledge as a scaffold to connect what the student knows to new concepts and content in order to promote effective information processing."
Key Elements of Responsive Pedagogy
- Diversifying instruction and accommodating discussion-centered learning.
- Encouraging each student to relate course content to their cultural context.
- Using formative assessments to offer low-stakes learning opportunities.
The Results
- Benefits all students by promoting cultural inclusiveness and honoring multiple learning styles (Villalpando as cited in Quaye and Harper).
- Promotes gains in cognitive development, perspective-taking, critical thinking skills, academic achievement, and problem-solving skills.
- Can help uncover unconscious bias so that faculty can respond more effectively to their students.