THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN INTERCULTURAL SENSITIZER FOR TRAINING NON-NAVAJO PERSONNEL.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a Navajo Intercultural Sensitizer. It is an attempt to sensitize non-Navajo educational personnel who have come to work in the Navajo Nation to the attributional system of the Navajo culture. The assimilationist, culturally destructive educational policies of the past have been an objective failure. This effort attempts to build on the cultural strengths of Navajo people by promoting the acknowledgement, respect, and understanding of cultural differences. The method used is based on the identification of critical incidents that produce misunderstanding, confusion, or bad feelings between Anglo and Navajo people. The construction of the Navajo Intercultural Sensitizer involves four phases: episode generation, episode selection and construction, attribution elicitation, and attribution selection. Critical incidents (87) were gathered from Navajo students, teachers, and teachers' aides at two Reservation sites. Fifty-six of the incidents were selected by an eight person bilingual and bicultural panel of Navajos who were community and educational leaders. Attributions were elicited in response to the incidents and questions posed. An Anglo sample was drawn from students who were entering the fields of education, educational psychology, counseling, and clinical psychology. Attributions were elicited from them upon presentation of each episode and associated questions concerning the thoughts, feelings, or behavior of the Navajo participant in the incident. An empirical test, consisting of 56 incidents and the question associated with each episode, was administered to a sample of Navajos (n = 70) from two Reservation sites and the Anglo group (n = 56). Each question was followed by four choices. Forty-six of the incidents yielded significant (p < .05) differences in the attributions chosen by the two cultural groups in a chi-square test of significance. These incidents, plus two more, were used in the development of the Navajo Intercultural Sensitizer. The ICS is in a programmed instructional format. The learner is presented with the incident, the question and four plausible attributions. The task of the learner is to learn how the Navajos tended to attribute meaning to the incident.