Assessing cross-cultural sensitivity awareness: a basis for curriculum change.

This study examined the social attitudes related to race, gender, age, and ability among senior level health education students at a mid-sized university in the southeast by means of a personally experienced critical incident involving a cross-cultural incident. A qualitative editing analysis protocol developed by Crabtree and Miller (1992) was used to analyze data and develop conceptual themes. Levels of awareness and empowerment emerged from the data indicating these students were moderately aware of diverse attitudes and perspective and were only minimally to moderately empowered to take responsibility or action. These data mirror the awareness element of Pedersen's (1988) multicultural training model and suggest the need to help students further examine their own and others attitudes, beliefs, and worldviews as well as develop a broad contextual knowledge base from various cultures. Specific approaches for expanding awareness are discussed.

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National initiatives aimed at educational reform challenge schools, colleges, and universities to be centers of excellence in learning for all students. The increasing complexity and diversity of U.S. society has enhanced and complicated this challenge. As such, there has been an increase of one million English-language learners during the past 10 years and they now comprise 5.5 percent of the total school-aged population. (Clair & Adger, 1999). It is estimated that one in five children enrolled nationally in the Head Start program speak a language other than English. The number of English language learners will continue to grow along with the increasing diversification of the U.S. population resulting from immigration rates, aging trends, and higher birth rates for Asian and Latino cultural groups (Phillips & Cabrera, 1996; Kagan & Garcia, 1991). These individuals do not represent a homogeneous group. Instead, they enter U.S. culture at different ages and stages of development and represent a diversity of languages, cultural experiences, and economic and social power.

The critical role of colleges and universities in adapting their instructional models and course content to better prepare health educators to handle increasing diversity in classroom settings must be recognized. Institutions must continually reassess their educational role in the context of a pluralist society. The purpose for this study was to examine the social attitudes related to race, gender, age, and ability among health education students at a mid-sized southeastern university. This research imperative is supported by Graft (1992) who states that rather than fostering political correctness, intellectual conflict should be part of the university's objective whereby students are actively engaged in exploring a diversity of ideas and worldviews. He asserts that fields of study thus far have handled cultural conflicts with a "separatist approach" which tends to downplay the role of students as active pursuers of ideas and instead teaches course subjects in an isolated fashion--without showing their connection to each other and the whole.

Gallos, Ramsey, and Associates (1997) recommend that before teaching multicultural issues, educators should consider themselves as learners first and start with their own self-awareness. This idea of self-examination is also reinforced in the counselor education literature which indicates that the first step in successfully relating to culturally diverse populations is increasing self-awareness (Pedersen, 1988). Additionally, Ivey, Ivey, and Sinek-Morgan (1993) and Sue (1992) stated that for effective communication to occur, one must understand the worldview from which one's own responses emerge as well as understand the worldview of others. Not considering the diversity of worldviews displayed in the typical classroom retards a more comprehensive understanding of factors that lead to greater achievement and positive attitudes (Coburn, 1989).

Pedersen (1988) developed a useful multicultural training model that integrates self-awareness along with two other critical variables. The model is an integration of awareness, knowledge and skills. The three major elements are discussed as follows:

1. Awareness: This element requires that pre-professionals and educators examine their own myths, attitudes, beliefs, worldview and stereotypes.

2. Knowledge: This aspect uses information that facilitates the development of an adaptable, non-stereotyping conception of family communications as well as the cultural, sub-cultural, and social dynamics of diverse groups. The political, economic and historical contexts in which people from various cultures are ingrained must also be understood.

3. Skills: Development and implementation of culturally sensitive and empowering methods and strategies that are reflected in one's verbal and nonverbal communication related to teaching, treatment, and advocacy.

If increased awareness of one's multicultural attitudes and beliefs is primary step in successfully relating to culturally diverse populations, it seems that ascertaining the attitudes and beliefs of professionals in training would be a necessary step in planning more effective instructional models and curricular content. Thus, the purpose of this pilot study was to ascertain diversity attitudes and beliefs of undergraduate health education majors at a mid-sized southeastern university, with the goal of obtaining information to enhance program and curricular experiences.

Review of Literature

Social attitudes and beliefs are formed out of interactive personal experiences with members of one's culture (Schwartz, 1992; Wolcott, 1991). A growing concern exists regarding the level of sensitivity and awareness of pre-professional students concerning race, gender, ethnicity, ability, and other diversity issues. Although there are multiple sources of variation within cultures, one's experiences tend to become organized into definite systems of thought (Agar & Hobbs, 1985; Kearney, 1984; Wolcott, 1991). As a result, there is an increasing awareness of the vital need to address diversity in educational institutions where university faculty are beginning to understand the importance of infusing multiculturalism into the curriculum.

It has been documented in numerous published reports that race and ethnicity have a significant impact on health status, educational success, and overall quality of life of culturally diverse populations. For example, racial and ethnic disparities in health status, which have been documented repeatedly over several years, have persisted despite improvements in the health status for the nation as a whole (National Center for Health Statistics/Healthy People 2000, 2000). Correspondingly, high school dropout rates among minority students are extremely high with a mere 57% of Hispanics ages 25 and older holding a high school diploma. This compares to 88.4% of non-Hispanic Whites in the same age group having graduated from high school (Therrin & Ramirez, 2000). Inequities in the probability of school success of children from diverse backgrounds is a serious affront to the success of American culture and presents dire challenges for a knowledgeable population, a successful workforce, and harmonious cross-cultural interactions.

However, the awareness of the need to address diversity has not been manifested in educational practice. While appearing more liberal and acknowledging the importance of diversity, Magner (1996) found that a "majority of professors do not touch on race or gender in their teaching and research" (p. A 12). Mezirow (1990) also recommended that learners reflect upon prior information, knowledge and experiences to determine how they acquired their beliefs and values and then to use this information as a basis for greater understanding of their own values as well as others' values and perspectives.

The Ecological Model developed by Bronfenbrenner (1979) and expanded by others (Knoff, 1986; Nuttall, Romero, & Kalesnik, 1992) provides an integrated approach to understanding contextual influences on attitudes and perception. This model asserts that to best understand or evaluate others, it is necessary to consider their multiple contextual experiences using the following conceptions: (a) microsystem, (b) mesosystem and (c) macrosystem and (d) exosystem.

Using the Ecological Model, the microsystem relates to the world of the individual. The social network of family and friends, as well as the immediate and extended family constitute the mesosystem. Cultural and subcultural influences comprise the macrosystem and the exosystem relates to anthropological social structures such as the nature of humanity. Cultural sensitivity training must do more that skim the surface. The curriculum and educational materials for training must integrate the Ecological Model and integrate awareness, knowledge, and skills (Sanchez, 1995). "It is critical," emphasizes Sanchez (1995), "that diversity and multiculturalism not be conceived as being accomplished by adding a course, a lecture, or a one-day multicultural fair" (paragraph 15).

A total curriculum transformation needs to take place where the critical issues of diversity and multiculturalism are integrated into all aspects of students' academic achievement, social skills development, and relationship with the community at large. The social organization of the classroom refers to the structure in which teaching, learning, and performance occurs. This includes the way in which children demonstrate their learning and competence, the amount of independent and assisted learning that occurs, as well as the size and composition of groups in which children are clustered. For instance, established classrooms emphasize frequent student-teacher exchanges involving question-and-answer dialogues. This stands in direct contrast to the social organization of traditional Hawaiian families in which children are frequently cared for by siblings that create a climate of comfort with peer interactions. This challenges the hierarchical structure of pupil-teacher exchanges and represents an environment that is foreign to these learners. When these children were placed in familiar peer-type interactions involving work in small groups with indirect teacher monitoring, the children were more attentive and their behavioral disruptions were substantially reduced (Vogt, Jordan, & Tharp, 1987; Weisner, Gallimore & Jordan, 1989).

The necessity for understanding one-self, the differing attitudes and beliefs of others, and the larger social contexts can be daunting. However, going beyond the more superficial questions to the tangible process of recognizing and ascertaining the underlying values and beliefs being expressed is necessary for developing effective cross-cultural competence.

Additionally, educators have long relied on a sophisticated knowledge of the critical stages of child development, such as those conceptualized by Piaget and Erikson. These earlier research paradigms viewed cognitive and social development of children as universal and sequential. However, Cole's research (1992) points out that divergent development in children has typically been attributed to deficiencies within the culture rather than stemming from the investigator's failure to use tasks and investigative methods that are relevant to the cultural groups being studied. He further asserts that as researchers have begun to make culturally relevant adjustments in investigative methodologies, the multiplicity of paths by which children can achieve developmental milestones is becoming evident.

As a pluralistic culture, it is imperative that educators help pre-professionals to become more aware and sensitive toward cross-cultural issues as a basis for becoming more effective practitioners. Curricular experiences must engage students in a frank exploration of tough issues such as racism, sexism, heterosexism, and ablism to name a few (Ponterotto & Pedersen, 1993). To accomplish this, it is important to know the level of understanding that students have of their own attitudes and beliefs so that effective classroom experiences can be provided. Researchers conducting this investigation used a Critical Incident Analysis protocol to assess the prevailing diversity attitudes and beliefs of pre-professional health education students. The primary aim of this pilot study was to ascertain some of the students' core attitudes and beliefs underlying a critical incident involving their experience with multicultural bias.

Methodology

The data were collected from 25 senior level health education students attending a mid-sized (14,500 students), rural, south-eastern university. Of the total population 21% were male and 79% were female. To better describe the population, demographic data were collected including age, gender, and race. Sixty-two percent of the participants were African-Americans and 38% were European-American. All were between the ages of 21 and 24 years.

Students were asked to recall an experience in their lives involving a cross-cultural issue related to racism, ageism, ablism, heterosexism, classism or any other stereotype that exists about a specific cultural group. The participants were given 60 minutes to write a detailed description of the incident and to answer the following questions on the worksheet entitled Critical Incident Analysis.

1. Describe the cross-cultural situation you experienced.

2. Describe in detail the events as they occurred. This description should include the events in sequence indicating what, when, where, how, and why the events occurred.

3. List the cultural status of the person(s) involved in the situation, giving their relationship to one another. (For example, were the individuals of differing ages, races, genders or socioeconomic status?)

4. Specify how you handled or reacted to the situation.

5. Explain the types of cross-cultural issues that arose from the situation.

6. Describe how you feel the situation could have best been handled?

7. Identify any additional information we might need in order to use this situation as a training tool.

The written critical incident essays provided the data for analysis. A theoretical editing analysis protocol was used to analyze data and to develop conceptual themes (Crabtree & Miller, 1992; Patton, 1990, Strauss & Corbin, 1990). This methodology assisted the investigators' search for meaningful segments of text that were then sorted and organized into patterns and theme categories. To more fully understand the phenomena being investigated and to enhance the verification process, investigator triangulation was used. This process began with each investigator independently analyzing the critical incident essays into provisional themes and categories. These themes and categories were subsequently reexamined jointly by the researchers and collectively reorganized into conceptual theme categories. Each conceptual theme was then crosschecked within and across categories. To further enhance the credibility and conformability of the findings, a professional peer reviewer examined the data categories and themes. The researchers then participated in a critical dialogue and peer debriefing with the reviewer. The contributions of the peer reviewer's feedback and critical dialogue further enhanced the strength of the study findings. The peer reviewer's feedback was especially useful for "fine tuning" the conceptual themes.

The primary way in which qualitative inquiry is confirmed is through the use of member checks. Member checks is the most significant action inquirers can take to enhance data credibility (Guba, 1981 & Guba, 1978). This involves presenting the themes and findings to the original participants in an effort to check for accuracy of data interpretation. This was done in a two-hour discussion in which researchers encouraged the interviewees to share any additional thoughts or insights that may have occurred since writing the critical incident. In addition, the investigators summarized the critical incident responses to the group and provided them with an opportunity to correct any misinformation. Feedback from participants through these member checks indicated accuracy in data interpretation and their appreciation for the opportunity to expand and clarify their ideas. One participant who took part in the member check said: "I've never been able have a voice like this before in class. It's great to be heard and understood."

Results

Each Critical Incident essay was analyzed to identify conceptual themes related to the student's core attitudes and beliefs involving an experience with multicultural bias. As a result, two themes emerged from the data that were verified from the participants coded transcripts. These included: Level of Awareness and Level of Empowerment.

Levels of Awareness

High, moderate, and low levels of awareness of one's beliefs and attitudes related to self, others, and the situational context were identified from the coded transcripts of participants' responses. Students categorized as highly aware saw diversity among people as positive and valued. This category also incorporated an understanding that people were treated inequitably based upon their differences. Inequities were also recognized in the moderate-level awareness category, however, unlike the high-level awareness category, these interviewees saw differences among people but did not embrace the value of the differing perspectives. Participants who mainly saw similarities among people and downplayed differences characterized the third category, low-level awareness. They saw little value in diverse perspectives, attitudes or beliefs.

Moderate Awareness

Two-thirds of the participants presented as moderately aware that differences and inequities existed. As such, they did not see that differing attitudes, beliefs and practices occurred at many differing levels of society. This was exhibited by the tendency to see one element of their critical incident while remaining blinded to other factors. For example, a Black female (age 22) described being watched and followed by a Black security guard and White employees while shopping with friends in a clothing store. The interviewee clearly felt that racism was involved and said: "Because I was black, they thought I was stealing." What was interesting in this situation was that the interviewee discounted the Black security guard's participation in the incident. When asked to describe the cultural status of the persons involved in the situation, she wrote: "... the employees were white females about 28-30 years of age ..." When asked how she felt the situation should have been handled, she said: "The employees should not have followed me and my friends around the store. All black people do not steal." There was no reference to the Black guard's participation in the incident.

Another cross-cultural situation that depicted moderate-level awareness was described by a 24 year old Black female as follows: "At work some employees made a racial comment at my register about the Hispanics that come in the store. They talked about hanging some Hispanics." Both of the employees were White males about 18 years of age. She also described them as coming from "middle class" homes and saw this cross-cultural incident as racism in the workplace. Her essay depicts the process of emerging awareness in that she was able to recognize a general feeling of discomfort but was not able to more specifically describe her response. She grappled with her ability to clearly label her reaction. It is hopeful that with enhanced awareness, she will be able to more clearly label and articulate a more specific reaction.

Low-Level Awareness

Participants who displayed low-level awareness wrote approximately 16% of the essays. A notable example is provided by a 21-year-old White male who was a supermarket employee. For two years he worked in the produce department of a grocery store. Females were hired to prepare fruit baskets while the male employees distributed produce to the floor. Recently, a new store manager was hired who initiated a new store policy. The interviewee added: "He (the new manager) is incorporating the females to work on the floor and distribute produce. I like the way that things have changed. Getting the females to work on the floor helps relieve some of the stress on the guys and helps with scheduling too. I think the situation is on track and being handled in a good way." When he described the cultural status of the persons involved in the situation, he said: "The workers are of all varieties.... To be able to work in the produce department, you have to be at least 18 years old. When he was asked to describe the type of cross-cultural issue that was presented by his essay, he said: "I don't think it has raised a cross-cultural issue yet." Consistent with low-level awareness, this participant mainly saw similarities among people and downplayed differences. This participant's awareness of the role of gender differences in the ways in which the store manager treated employees was minimal.

High-Level Awareness

High-level awareness was demonstrated in a participant's essay where she described a Black couple being treated badly by a White waitress and clearly recognized and challenged the inequity she observed. A 25-year-old White female manager at a local restaurant described this situation. The White server was assigned to wait on a Black couple. She was reluctant to wait on them and said: "You know those niggers don't tip." She treated the couple rudely and this behavior prompted another restaurant patron to report the incident to the manager. The manager apologized and told the couple she would address this situation. The essay indicated that this was not the first time this server displayed prejudice toward African Americans. The manager responded with high level of awareness as indicated in her description of how she handled the situation. "I was appalled. After closing, she (server) was written up for her behavior and the next day the other manager and I sat with her and discussed the behavior and her employment." Sixteen percent of respondents wrote essays that demonstrated high-level awareness in their descriptions of the critical incidents.

In addition to understanding the participants' levels of awareness, the data revealed varying stages of empowerment among the interviewees. Their ability to take personal action to address discriminatory or unfair situations is reflected in their levels of empowerment.

Empowerment

A conceptual analysis of the essays resulted in the identification of high, moderate and low levels of empowerment. Empowerment is a multilevel construct that includes intrapsychic elements such as self-efficacy and perceptions of empowerment, motivation to exert control, and actual skill development to bring about change (Wallerstein, 1992). Additionally, it embodies participation in one's sociopolitical context to promote system-wide change. Tisdell (1995) clearly synthesized the individual and organizational elements of empowerment by noting that knowledge is political; however, the participants themselves can and should take control in examining and changing the way knowledge has been defined, constructed and disseminated.

High-level empowerment was demonstrated when the participants clearly saw inequities/intolerances and took personal responsibility and action to address the situation. Ten percent of respondents were found to be highly empowered. Thirty-seven percent of the participants were categorized as moderately empowered. The moderate-level empowerment group saw that inequities/intolerances existed, however, they did not take personal responsibility or action to address the situation. Instead, they reported the situation to another person--expecting him or her to take action against the inequity. A desire to maintain the status quo characterized those who were at a low-empowerment level. These individuals either saw minimal inequities/intolerances or did not see them at all. Therefore, they saw no need to take personal responsibility or action in any way. Fifty-three percent of respondents wrote essays describing incidents that demonstrated low-level empowerment.

Low-Level Empowerment

A low level of empowerment characterizes this participant's critical incident. She described the situation between herself (White female college student, age 22) and the owner of the store where she was employed (White male, age 55, owner of three athletics stores).

   I was in a situation that occurred at our Christmas party for the athletic
   store where I worked. The owner of the store, whom I never really spent
   much time with, attended the party. I was one of three girls that work
   there that was at the party. He made comments to me that were extremely
   inappropriate and unprofessional and I knew he would not have said them to
   the male employees. He made comments in a way that he was "trying" to sound
   complimentary, but it was completely embarrassing. I wouldn't have wanted
   my own boyfriend to say something like that to me in front of others. After
   he made the statements, I tried to ignore him, but couldn't help but feel
   furious. Thank goodness it wasn't a situation in which there was any actual
   contact, and I was in a room full of other people. I showed him in my
   expression and the fact that I walked out of the room that I didn't
   appreciate it. But as for confronting him or anyone about it, I didn't.

She noted that she saw this as an incident of sexism. When asked to describe how the situation should have best been handled, she said: "Maybe by informing someone or he himself; but then again, I really don't know." In this situation, she saw minimal inequities and felt powerless to respond in a proactive or empowered way. This is most clearly seen in her remarks that she felt furious but didn't know how to respond effectively.

High-Level Empowerment

When participants clearly saw inequities and intolerances and took personal responsibility and action to address them, they exhibited high-level empowerment. An excerpt from one participant's essay indicated high-level empowerment. At the time of the incident she was 3 1/2 months pregnant and was concerned about using cleaning solvents at her workplace. She was a 22-year-old Black female. She stated:

   I was working at a supermarket and I was 3 1/2 months pregnant. The store
   had just hired a new assistant manager and when I came to work one day,
   people were doing different things around the store, such as stocking
   shelves, zoning and light cleaning. Then the new manager came up to me and
   told me that I needed to clean my register. I said OK but I didn't know
   that he wanted me to clean it with alcohol and a toothbrush. I told him
   that I would not do that (since I was pregnant). So then he put the alcohol
   and toothbrush in front of my face.... Afterwards, we went into the office
   and he asked me again to clean the register. I told him no and he told me
   to get my things and go home. I did. I left to go home, but before I did, I
   wrote a note to the store manager explaining what had happened and that I
   would be in the next day to talk with him. When I went the next day, the
   store manager fired me. After this, I called the store's main office in
   Florida. They addressed the situation. Soon after they called me and I had
   my job back.

In this situation, the participant took personal responsibility that involved several types of actions intended to address the situation. These involved first challenging the assistant manager directly, then leaving a note for the manager explaining the situation, next a follow-up conversation with the manager, and finally contact with the store's main headquarters regarding the problem. Her directness and persistence in resolving the difficulty suggests that she took empowered actions.

Moderate-Level Empowerment

Moderately-empowered participants observed that inequities and/or intolerances existed and did not take personal responsibility or action to address these situations. Rather, they reported the situation to another person--expecting him/her to take action against the inequity. In cases where the individual to whom they reported the incident did not take the actions that they though were appropriate, the moderately-empowered participants became angry and frustrated. Nonetheless, these participants were not personally willing to initiate any type of action related to the situation. In one essay, a 21-year-old African American female employee describes witnessing two 17-18 year-old White males verbally harassing Hispanic patrons who were shopping at a department store. When asked how she handled or reacted to the situation, the participant said: "I was upset by the situation and I reported it to the store manager." The store manager did not respond to the incident in any way. This angered the employee who reported the situation and she said: "I felt as though there should have been some type of investigation and he should have taken disciplinary action."

The employee who witnessed the verbal harassment was angry and disappointed that the store manager did not respond or take action. However, she did not become personally involved.

Discussion and Implications

Overall, the participants who wrote Critical Incident essays in this study were more aware of diverse attitudes, beliefs and perspectives than they were empowered to take personal responsibility or action in the face of inequities and/or intolerance. It has been documented in numerous investigations that before an individual can take an empowered action, he/she must first develop a foundation of awareness (Pedersen, 1988).

Pedersen asserts that the main goal of awareness is to make sure that the students have accurate and appropriate attitudes, opinions, and assumptions about culture. In many cases, inaccurate awarenesses or stereotypes related to a particular culture or group exist. These must be called into question, challenged, and corrected before multicultural development aimed at knowledge and skill building can go on. The observation that the students who participated in this study were more aware than empowered suggests that most are in the process of developing awareness of the multiple levels and faces of diversity. Thus, it is imperative that educators provide adequate time in the curriculum for students to develop critical awareness. Further, the level of awareness must be assessed as adequate before students are able to successfully incorporate the other elements of multicultural development including knowledge and skill/empowerment.

The aim of this inquiry was to describe the scope and depth of university students' awareness and sensitivity to multiculturalism so that curricular experiences might be developed that would facilitate three stages of development. These include: increased awareness, knowledge enhancement, and interpersonal skill development to aid in creating empowerment and competent cross-cultural communication. Although empowerment and communication skill building are the eventual aims of multicultural education, this investigation pointed to the imperative to "begin where the students are."

To skip over the vital initial step of awareness or to dismiss it prematurely in favor of knowledge or skill building is likely to be counterproductive and create resistance. To mandate change or new perspectives without first establishing a foundation of critical consciousness ignores the critical obligation of educators to help learners become aware of the cultural contradictions that oppress them and others (Mezirow, 1985). Change can be scary and difficult. Even so, Jackson, Carroll and Griffin (2001) asserted that when students have an awareness of differing perspectives, they can then understand how knowledge or a set of "facts" can be interpreted differently, depending on the perspective of the learner.

It is necessary to conduct a needs assessment to ascertain the levels of multicultural development existing within a classroom before developing and implementing a curriculum. The Critical Incident Analysis data collection format used in this study can also be used as a needs assessment tool for planning course curricula.

In this investigation, the researchers discovered that the majority of participants were categorized as either low-level awareness (16%) or moderate-level awareness (68%). Thus, not perceiving the value of multiplicity and varying perspectives indicates that the first element of the curriculum should explore the students' awareness of basic belief systems. In his classic work Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), Freire points out that freedom is often confused with the maintenance of the status quo in society. Instead of maintaining the status quo, or seeing diversity as a "problem" to be overcome, Sanchez (1995) suggested that "diverse students and communities can be conceptualized as wonderful and exciting elements of the world we live in, and not as hindrances to the educational process" (paragraph 20).

It is not surprising that this study revealed that a low to moderate level of awareness also corresponded to a relatively low level of empowerment. Fifty-three percent of the participants were categorized a low-empowerment and 37% were moderately empowered. Only 10% wrote essays describing situations in which they took personal action and responsibility in the critical incident. Disempowerment was characterized as "not having voice." Co-existing with a sense of disempowerment among the study participants was a sense of anger. The anger came from three sources. First, the anger resulted from directly observing or experiencing an injustice or inequity. Then, there was frustration and fear in their inability to respond to the situation effectively. Ultimately, most respondents were frustrated and angry when those they chose to "report" the incident to a third party and he or she failed to act in a manner they deemed desirable.

Having completed a student needs assessment, the educator is faced with the question: How can multicultural awareness, knowledge and skill building most effectively be developed in pre-professional students? One highly effective approach is to apply the "listening-dialogue" approach in student interaction (Freire, 1970). This is especially useful for expanding awareness. The listening-dialogue process initially involves listening to others' life experiences and making students co-investigators of shared learning in the classroom community. This type of listening is a highly participatory and active process that reveals issues of emotional and social significance.

This phase is also consistent with Pedersen's (1988)recommendation that educators rely on critical incidents that actually occurred in the students' lives. Thus, the Critical Incident Analysis format used in this study can be used to conduct an initial needs assessment then expand discussion to the listening-dialogue process. Critical incidents can be expanded and processed through the use of such strategies as storytelling, small group work, role plays, dyad and triad sharing, problem-posing techniques, and reflective journal writing to name a few. These issues can later become the foundation of the curriculum.

After students have spent an adequate amount of time expanding their awareness, the next phase involves a "dialogue" about the multicultural issues revealed in the listening phase. The aims of this dialogue are to increase knowledge, critical thinking and problem solving skills. These skills are then used to move beyond personal perceptions to empowerment and "actions" for change. Projects in which students take action around issues of common concern within the classroom and community are especially useful at this phase of development (Mercado, 1993; Kordalewski, 1999).

Acknowledging the vital role of student dialogue and "voice" in evolving multicultural education is a cornerstone of this complex issue. This research points to the fact that diversity education is a worthwhile goal. However, implementing it is not without difficulties. This exploratory study was intended to examine students' attitudes, beliefs and perceptions in an effort to create developmentally appropriate educational approaches. However, the findings also point to the cognitive and emotional complexities that exist when working in this area.

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Diane Wasson, Ph.D., CHES, R.D., Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology, University of Texas-Arlington. Dr. Mary Jackson, Faculty, Georgia Southern University.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Dr. Diane Wasson, P.O. Box 19259, 801 Greek Row Blvd., Arlington, TX 76019.