#WhoNeedsDiverseBooks?: Preservice Teachers and Religious Neutrality with Children’s Literature
Abstract
The social media campaign #WeNeedDiverseBooks has called for more varied works of literature. However, one of the arguments for increasing the visibility of diverse books has not received much attention: #WNDB to cultivate religiously pluralistic thinkers. Currently, there is a conflict between the evasion of religious neutrality in English language arts (ELA) instruction and the need to prepare young people to become pluralistic thinkers in a global society. This article examines three lines of inquiry: How likely are preservice teachers to (a) include children’s books with religious diversity in their future classrooms, (b) discuss the religious content of the books with their future students, and/or (c) employ dominant social discourses in interpreting the religious content? Grounded in theories of religious neutrality, social discourses, and cultural superiority, the study analyzes 79 preservice teachers’ responses to the cultural-religious milieu of the renowned picture book memoir In My Family/En Mi Familia (Garza, 1996). The corpus of data, which includes the preservice teachers’ written reflections and responses to a set of open-ended questions, indicates that privileging a nonreligious reading lens and excluding relevant religious perspectives from discussions about diverse works of children’s literature can inadvertently contribute to the defamation of other cultures and religious traditions. The study underscores the responsibility of teacher educators to help preservice teachers take a religiously neutral approach to ELA instruction.
Reference
Dávila, D. (2015). # WhoNeedsDiverseBooks?: Preservice Teachers and Religious Neutrality with Children's Literature. Research in the Teaching of English, 50(1), 60.
Journal
Research in the Teaching of English
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
unclear
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
- Children's Literature Course
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
79
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- course discussions
- course materials
Data Analysis Tools
- Discourse Analysis (Gee, 1999 framework)
- grounded theory
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
How likely would you be to use In My Family in your future classroom? (p.68).
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
If you were to use In My Family with your future students, how likely
would you be to discuss the religious significance of the water tank painting in “The Miracle”? (p.68)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes