Understanding unfamiliar literary aesthetics: White preservice teachers examine race through story
Abstract
Reading and reflecting upon ethnically unfamiliar literature can provide opportunities for teacher candidates to critically examine assumptions of self and other relative to racial, cultural, and linguistic identities. However, ethnically unfamiliar literatures can be difficult for readers to understand and appreciate due to the aesthetics they embody. This study addresses the struggles White preservice English teachers’ experience in making sense of unfamiliar ethnicities in narrative forms and how this frustration might be mediated through explicit attention to and study of the aesthetic elements of ethnically unfamiliar texts. Findings reveal a keen interest in understanding and engaging with multicultural literature among participants coupled with a persistent hesitation to include it and related conversations of race in their instruction. Participants opened themselves to learning more about others but struggled to implicate themselves in the transfer of new knowledge to teaching practice. The study’s findings contribute to the conversations of scholars in teacher education, multicultural studies, and young adult literature by offering an approach to teaching multicultural literature to preservice teachers that encourages complex, racially informed responses to ethnically unfamiliar texts and revealing potential tensions that may emerge in the process.
Reference
Glenn, W. (2015). Understanding unfamiliar literary aesthetics: White preservice teachers examine race through story. Action in Teacher Education, 37 (1), 23-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2014.969852
Journal
Action in Teacher Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
- Literacy methods course
- University
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
11
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- Interviews
- student reflections
- student work
Data Analysis Tools
- coding (non-specific)
- Inductive analysis
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
- Inside (studying their own practices)
Research Questions
How does explicit attention to the literary aesthetic in the reading of ethnically unfamiliar literature influence preservice English teachers’ understandings of and attitudes toward this literature and the people and communities described therein?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
How does this attention influence preservice English teachers’ considerations of using multicultural literature in the classroom?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes