TPC-Journal-V5-Issue3

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 3 425 Discussion This is the first study to examine the effect of bilingualism on counseling students’ self-perceived multicultural counseling knowledge and awareness. Bilingual counseling students in this study self-reported higher multicultural counseling knowledge and awareness than did their monolingual peers, which supports the research hypothesis. This result is a natural complement to the Ramos- Sánchez (2009) study in which clients considered bilingual therapists to be more multiculturally competent than monolingual therapists. In both the Ramos-Sánchez study and the current study, components of MCC were perceived as higher in bilingual individuals than monolingual individuals. More importantly, the results of this study suggest that bilingualism, rather than ethnicity or multicultural training, accounted for perceived differences in multicultural counseling knowledge and awareness. Controlling for ethnicity and multicultural training was particularly important in this study because previous studies have revealed strong relationships between these variables and MCC (Castillo, Brossart, Reyes, Conoley, & Phoummarath, 2007; Constantine, 2001; Ivers, 2012; Murphy, Park, & Lonsdale, 2006). Constantine (2001) reported that non-Caucasian participants received higher expert-observer ratings on their MCC than did Caucasians. Similarly, Ivers (2012) found that Latina/o counseling students self-rated their MCC higher than did Caucasian counseling students. Other studies also have suggested that non-Caucasian individuals are more open to cross- cultural relationships and are perceived as more culturally competent by others, when compared to Caucasians (Liang & Prince, 2008; Smith, Bowman, & Hsu, 2007). Therefore, it was important to substantiate in the current study that bilingual participants self-rated their multicultural counseling knowledge and awareness higher than their monolingual peers because of their bilingual abilities rather than their ethnicity, which is why ethnicity was incorporated as a covariate. The findings of the present study suggest that bilingual status, rather than ethnicity or multicultural training, was responsible for differences in self-perceived MCC. The positive effect of bilingualism on counseling students’ self-perceived multicultural awareness may be explained, at least to some degree, by the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and contact theory (Allport, 1954). With both concepts in mind, it may be that bilingualism enhances individuals’ multicultural awareness through cultural immersion (i.e., contact theory). The act of learning a second language and interacting in more than one language inherently exposes an individual to latent, diverse cultural paradigms (see Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis; Hall, 1989). This sustained exposure to the deeper elements of culture arguably would increase second-language learners’ awareness of their own culture and other cultures, their ability to contest previously unquestioned beliefs about reality, and their sensitivity to diverse cultural worldviews. Sustained exposure also would provide opportunities for second-language learners to test their cultural biases and prejudices (Allport, 1954; Hall, 1989; Ivers et al., 2013). Concerning multicultural knowledge, it may be that bilingualism inherently exposes individuals to cultural principles that are sewn into the fabric of language, such as is postulated in the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Multicultural knowledge represents counselors’ understanding of their own culture as well as diverse cultures. Knowing more than one language, with different cultural aspects embedded in each language, may enhance individuals’ knowledge of diverse cultural values and beliefs. Similarly, exposure to and knowledge of diverse cultural paradigms gleaned from bilingualism may also make salient the underlying aspects of one’s own culture.