Following is a summary of James Bank's "Variables Within Ethnic Groups on Which Individuals Differ." See reference below.
Variables | Varying Levels of Competency |
Values and Behavioral Styles | The individual's ability to portray values and behavioral styles that are common to the ethnic group. This also refers to the ability to perceive and understand values and behavioral styles that are common to the ethnic group. |
Languages and Dialects | The individual's ability to comprehend and speak the languages and/or dialects in the ethnic group. |
Nonverbal Communications | The individual's ability to recognize, correctly construe, and communicate the nonverbal communications in the particular ethnic culture. |
Cultural Cognitiveness | The individual's ability to understand how his/her own ethnic group compares with other ethnic groups and the national macroculture. |
Perspectives, World Views, and Frames of Reference | The individual's ability to be aware of and comprehend the perspectives and world views that are common to their ethnic group. This also refers to his/her ability to examine actions and circumstances from the perspectives and world views common to their ethnic group. |
Identification | This refers to not only the individual's ability to have an identification with an ethnic group that may be unconscious, but also his/her ability to display clear actions that show mindful identification with one's ethnic group. |
Reference
Banks, J.A. (1999). An Introduction to Multicultural Education (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.