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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

African American students--Attitudes; Cognitive styles; Learning, Psychology of;

Abstract

In recent years, the importance of recognizing the unique characteristics of different cultures has drawn increased attention. In fact, many scholars have suggested that educators must be especially concerned with understanding the implications of cultural diversity in the classroom. Specifically, educators are becoming increasingly aware that different cultural groups may utilize different cognitive styles in the classroom. The purpose, of this study was to identify the cognitive styles utilized by African American students in the classroom. The participants in this study were students of a large urban high school in an Iowa community of approximately 95,000. The 43 students who participated in this study represented a broad range of individuals involved with public speaking, policy debate, and individual events. One broad research question was posed. The specific question that emerged was, "What are the preferred cognitive styles employed by African American students in the classroom?" In order to acquire a better understanding of African American cognitive styles, literature regarding African American culture, communication, cognition, as well as the implications of diverse cognitive styles in the classroom was discussed. Two cognitive styles have been revealed in the literature, field dependence and field independence. Each cognitive style represents a different way of reasoning and relating to stimuli in the environment. Field independent thinkers have been described as analytic, internally directed, individualistic, and insensitive to social undercurrents. Field dependent thinkers have been described in the literature as externally directed, attentive to social information, interpersonal, and sociable and gregarious. After this stage, data were gathered in the setting through conversation, observation, and informal interviews with the students. In-depth ethnographic interviews and participant observation served as the primary means of data collection in this study. In order to triangulate my research, I administered Cognitive Style Assessments (CSAs) and the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT). The results of this study suggest that the African American students did tend to employ field dependent cognitive styles in the classroom. The following six themes were discerned from the data: (a) characterizations of cognition, (b) constructing a speech, (c) differences between individual events and debate, (d) morals, (e) cultural identification, and (f) education. Based on my analysis of the data collected in this study, the African American students were more likely to utilize field dependent cognitive styles while the white students were more likely to utilize field independent cognitive styles. The results of this study also demonstrate the need for researchers and educators in all fields to he concerned with the cognitive styles of students in the classroom. The final chapter offers an overview of the themes that have emerged from the data collected during the course of this study, a detailed description of the implications for future research, as well as the limitations of this study.

Year of Submission

1994

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Communication Studies

First Advisor

Melissa L. Beall

Second Advisor

William A. Ausmus

Third Advisor

Paul J. Siddens

Comments

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Date Original

1994

Object Description

1 PDF file (155 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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