Reading the World: Reconceptualizing Reading Multicultural Literature in the English Language Arts Classroom in a Global World

Loh, Chin Ee

doi:10.1080/13586840903194755

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…We concur with Mullen (2004), who argues that -understanding the factors that affect the portrayal of ethnic immigrants could help to understand children's intergroup perceptions‖ (p. 251). In addition, we agree with Loh (2009), who makes the case that -literary narratives are a rich resource for conversations about issues that preoccupy self and world‖ (p. 294).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…She embraces Bishop's definition of multicultural literature as reflecting -the racial, ethnic, and social diversity that is characteristic of our pluralistic society and the world‖ (cited in Hinton, 2006, p. 51). Immigrant narratives clearly fit Bishop's definition and speak to Loh's (2009) call for multicultural literature that extends beyond the boundaries of the United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…With more young adult fiction exploring these themes, the hope is that immigrant students will relate better to books that reflect something akin to what they have been through and that native students will better understand their immigrant peers through such reading. As Loh (2009) argues, -The use of a variety of cross-cultural literary texts can serve to portray a pluralistic and changing American world‖ (p. 291). Teachers would do well to expose immigrant and native-born students alike to such fiction, as a springboard to a richer understanding of their own lives and the world around them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Immigrant Narratives: Power, Difference, and Representation in Young-Adult Novels with Immigrant Protagonists

Clifford

Kalyanpur

2011

IJME

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As of 2008, about 23% of children in the United States were immigrants or the children of immigrants. This paper examines how immigrants are portrayed in books aimed at teenagers. From a sample of 20 young-adult novels we look at the demographics of both protagonist and author and examine how three main themes are addressed: 1) experiences prior to immigration, 2) journeys of immigration, and 3) adjustments due to immigration. Finally, we explore how the issues of power, difference, and representation play out in these immigrant narratives.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Immigrant Narratives: Power, Difference, and Representation in Young-Adult Novels with Immigrant Protagonists

Clifford

Kalyanpur

2011

IJME

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“…These pedagogies seek to cultivate in students an openness towards those who are often deemed to be different or marginalised in society and the world. Among others, these include teaching multicultural literature from writers of marginal and marginalised communities (Cai, 2002;Ginsberg & Glenn, 2019a;Gunn & Bennett, 2023;Landt, 2006;Loh, 2009;Margerison, 1995;Slaughter, 2021), the teaching of canonical texts with a focus on ethical concerns of discrimination (Del Nero, 2018;Dyches, 2018;Mohamud, 2020;Shah, 2013) and adopting critical approaches to literary representations of race and inequality (Borsheim-Black & Sarigianides, 2019;Dyches & Thomas, 2020;Thein et al, 2011.…”

Section: Dialogic Other-centric Pedagogies and Ethical Invitations In...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a Dialogic Ethical Criticism:

Nah

2023

L1-ESLL

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Since the late 20th century, Literature educators have adopted dialogic pedagogies that connect aesthetic appreciation and other-centred approaches to literary texts. However, classroom research on students’ ethical meaning-making has rarely been connected with theoretical developments of ethical criticism or conducted in non-western contexts and classroom debate settings. To map how Literature classroom interactions open or close possibilities for ethical meaning-making, I propose a dialogic ethical criticism that synthesises an other-centred ethical criticism influenced by Emmanuel Levinas’ ethical philosophy and Hans-Georg Gadamer’s notion of hermeneutic conversation. Using deductive and inductive analysis, I develop and apply a coding framework to examine classroom discourse in a high-ability Singapore Secondary Four (Grade 10) class in an Asian poetry unit. I focus on a series of classroom debates comparing poems with ethical invitations on the representations of asylum seekers, the process of embracing diversity, and reasserting identity amidst discrimination. While some students keenly consider others’ perspectives and develop the strength of their interpretive possibilities with close textual evidence, other students simulate an ethical openness by selectively using textual evidence. Although antagonistic forms of literary debates can inhibit students’ ethical meaning-making, student adjudicators providing constructive feedback with close textual support can facilitate responsible interpretive possibilities.

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“…All texts embody power relationships and represent ideologies at play, so by being given access to ideas that matter and authors who write with authenticity and integrity, children can be prompted to understand different viewpoints and form opinions on challenging issues. In this way, literature contributes to young people's identity constructions, e.g., [68,69] and can help them make personal connections and come to understand their own culture [70]. The ability to identify, analyse and critique the literary construction of meaning as part of learning to read is far more complex than the ability to decode and encode words.…”

Section: Reading Children's Literature and Cultural Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responsible Reading: Children’s Literature and Social Justice

Kohls

Cremin

2022

Education Sciences

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In high accountability cultures, primary phase literacy education tends to focus on improving children’s test scores. Driven by each country’s performance in international league tables, this results in narrow, predominantly skills-based programmes designed to address attainment gaps. While scores may have been enhanced in recent years, there is little evidence that policy directives have positioned literacy in the lives of learners in ways that have become meaningful for them or been transferred into ways of thinking that promote social equity. Indeed, teaching practices that exacerbate the challenges for those young people who are already disadvantaged by circumstance have become more prevalent. Teachers, therefore, have an ethical responsibility to redress this through their teaching. This paper argues that literature is core to more equitable literacy development. As not all reading practices are equal, developing literacy education for a more socially just society needs to challenge the dominant pedagogic hegemony. Literature has the potential to spark the kind of mindful disruption necessary to shift standardised paradigms of thought, so literacy education should have children’s literature at its heart. By examining the value of literature through a set of complementary lenses, this paper seeks to reveal its affordances in young people’s lives. Then, through commentary taken from a pair of vignettes drawn from professional learning contexts, we illuminate shifts in teacher perception gained through scaffolded introduction to reading literary texts. The insights teachers gained reveal reconceptualisation of reading and the role of literature in primary education. This has the potential to redirect their future classroom practice. Consequently, we propose that for teachers to be adept at improving literacy outcomes through productive adoption and use of literary texts, they need: an aesthetic appreciation and knowledge of children’s literature; personal experience with reading such literature as social practice; and pedagogic insight into how to use literature to teach literacy and develop volitional readers. We call this knowledge set the additive trio, noting that no ‘step’ or understanding is sufficient on its own, and that together they can enable the development of Reading Teachers who work with literature to advance the social justice agenda.

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Reading the World: Reconceptualizing Reading Multicultural Literature in the English Language Arts Classroom in a Global World

Cited by 12 publications

References 29 publications

Immigrant Narratives: Power, Difference, and Representation in Young-Adult Novels with Immigrant Protagonists

Immigrant Narratives: Power, Difference, and Representation in Young-Adult Novels with Immigrant Protagonists

Towards a Dialogic Ethical Criticism:

Responsible Reading: Children’s Literature and Social Justice

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