OK, so I have just about decided that I would like to research something to do with multicultural literature. I say “just about” because it is still very early in the process, and because I have a hard time making decisions about anything. That said, I think that it would be very interesting to research the effects that multicultural literature, and teachers’ attitudes towards multicultural literature, have on the attitudes of students, especially students of different ethnicities, races, and what I like to think of as cultural backgrounds, towards their English classes.
With this, there are a lot of variables to be defined and investigated, but for now, I am considering a survey approach. Ideally, I would like to survey both teachers and students to determine attitudes. The survey for teachers would also ask them about how often they teach literature that is written by and representative of different cultures; the student survey would have to include their attitudes to reading literature by and about cultures that are different from their own. I think it would add depth to my study if I could also observe students in the classrooms to see their attitudes towards English classrooms, and perhaps to interview a few students and/or teachers as well.
Once I have collected the survey data, I will have to analyze it. I think that it may be interesting to not only report percentages, but to perhaps conduct some sort of a correlation test as well, as I think that the data may lend itself well into a correlational study.
With all of my high aspirations, I see this as getting way out of hand really quickly, but I am not concerned for now, because I still have plenty of time to tame this savage beast before I begin writing surveys and collecting data. It might be necessary to leave the teachers out of the study and focus solely on the students, but I genuinely believe that teachers’ attitudes towards multicultural literature will have an influence on students’ attitudes.
3 comments:
Amanda – My sister teaches 10th grade World Literature and does a lot of multicultural things with her students. She focuses mainly on African and Indian cultures that her students do not know much about. She has had some great success especially with novels. I don’t know a lot about it being a science major (just what she shares with me). I would be happy to give you her e-mail address if you would like it.
Amanda, it is still early in the process.... I think you have settled on multicultural literature as a topic. What remains is to determine the exact research question you want to study, and then to determine the best way to collect data to do that. You actually have many possibilities here. I would select either student or teacher focus, and not try to do both. Then you will be able to better see what kinds of data you need, and plan a manageable study.
Well, Amanda, I love your general idea. :) As you and I have discussed outside of class, I definitely think there are awesome ways to bring multicultural lit into the classroom, and it seems to me that you already have a pretty solid foundation in terms of pedagogy and resources to make that happen in your own classroom, so I think it would be really valuable for you to look into the effects on student performance or perception of literature (or English class in general). :) Great idea!
Post a Comment