Guiding Principles for Teaching Multicultural Literature

Abstract

When using multicultural literature in the classroom, teachers should Check the text's authenticity Help learners understand the characters' world Encouage children to see the world through the characters' perspectives Identify values underlying the characters' conflict resolution strategies Relate self to the text and critique the portrayal of characters in the text and in popular media Use variants of the same story or collection of stories to help students to build schema Encouage students to talk, write, and respond throughout reading the multicultural texts The author reports a study in a fourth‐grade classroom in which these principles were applied in teaching four variants of the Mulan story and watching Walt Disney's Mulan video. Data included videotaped records of instructional sessions, transcripts of the sessions, field notes, teacher journals, student journals, and student projects. After a three‐week instructional unit, students demonstrated critical understanding, empathetic understanding, and conceptual understanding of the texts. Teachers of children and young adolescents can apply these principles to teaching other multicultural literature selections.

A Mirror, a Window: Assisting Teachers in Selecting Appropriate Multicultural Young Adult Literature

“…I chose to focus on two key aspects related in several pieces of literature: authority and authenticity (Athanases, 2006;Bishop, 1993;Bishop, 1997;Cai, 2002;Gay, 2000;Johnson & Smith, 1993;Louie, 2006;Nilsson, 2005).…”

“…After reviewing the research, one can reasonably state that authority should be given to an author who has engaged in research in order to present an accurate portrayal of the culture (Louie, 2006). Hinton (2006) has pre-service teachers look at both the positives and negatives of taking an insider or outsider stance in multicultural writing.…”

“…Just like authority, it is also a controversial subject, especially when looked at in context of cultural authenticity, as most critics do. Cultural authenticity is the ability of the author to portray characters, setting, themes, and more, in an accurate light (Louie, 2006;Nilsson, 2005). Authority and authenticity are then intrinsically linked because without the ability of the author to accurately portray the story, stereotypes, distortions, and biases will appear.…”

“…The key criteria for teachers and students to have when assessing a book for cultural authenticity is information about the culture being depicted (Bishop, 1993;Louie, 2006;Nilsson, 2005;Willett, 1995). If students and teachers are able to distinguish between stereotypes and realistic portrayals of minority groups, they are already more than halfway to becoming adept critics of multicultural literature.…”

Hands-On Russian Culture Lessons

“…These ideas of omniculturalism were applied to the current curriculum project through first making connections between the similar behaviors and values of Russian people and Americans, and then highlighting and celebrating cultural differences. Louie (2006) offered guiding principles for multicultural education using children's literature. First, authenticity of the work needs to be ensured, a matter accomplished in our study through the first author who is a native-born Russian.…”