| This case study explored how teachers use multicultural literature in their classrooms. Five questions provided the framework for the study: (a) How do teachers define and select multicultural literature? (b) What strategies do teachers use with multicultural literature? (c) What factors impede or support their use of multicultural literature? (d) What are the beliefs and experiences that have led them to encompass multicultural literature? (e) How do teachers feel their students are responding to multicultural literature? Three high school English teachers in northeastern Ohio were observed and interviewed over a three-month period.;Findings of this study suggested that teachers define multicultural literature as literature of difference and define multicultural authors differently. Teachers choose multicultural literature based on characteristics of texts and characteristics of their students and themselves. Teachers organize their selections of multicultural literature through thematic units with an emphasis on the representation of various cultures.;Teachers use the following teaching strategies with multicultural literature: provision of background information, creation of class books, connection with multicultural literature, stimulation of critical thinking, class discussion, showing of movies, and presentations by guest speakers. Teachers also deal with sensitive issues like racism, religion, and sexuality when teaching multicultural literature. Teachers report successful and unsuccessful multicultural texts that they have selected.;High school administrators, colleagues, parents, and community members are supportive of multicultural literature programs; however, local school districts are not particularly supportive of them. English Departments choose the high school literature anthology series through textbook selection committees. Teachers choose the book-length works for their English courses. Teachers report using various sources including local bookstores, publishers' catalogs, and other school personnel and refer to various professional organizations as resources to help them teach multicultural literature.;Teachers share similar beliefs about why teachers should teach multicultural literature: integration of multicultural literature throughout the curriculum, exposure to other world cultures and perspectives, recognition of student identities, and importance of universal themes. University experiences and influential literature shape teachers' beliefs about multicultural literature. Teachers share similar feelings about their students as readers and writers of multicultural literature: connections with the multicultural texts, discussion of cultural backgrounds, and initial resistance to multicultural literature. |
