Studying Abroad in the Dominican Republic: Preparing Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teachers for 21st-Century Classrooms

This article describes the conception, goals, design, and evaluation of a 3-week study abroad program in the Dominican Republic for preservice teachers at New York University to address cultural diversity in teacher education. Taking a critical approach to teacher education and drawing on four interrelated areas of research-second language acquisition, study abroad, culturally responsive pedagogy, and intercultural competence-the program sought to deepen teachers' understanding of their students' cultures, develop empathy toward language learning, and promote culturally responsive pedagogy. Program evaluation revealed that participants developed more critical understandings of the Dominican language, culture, and education system, which they could harness to practice culturally responsive pedagogy.