Teaching Multicultural Texts: Exploring the List Paradigm
Abstract
How can we help students access nontraditional texts and better understand the culture from which they originate? In order to address these issues, I developed the LIST Paradigm, a culturally responsive framework for reading multicultural literature that prompts students to ask significant questions designed to foster critical reading from multiple perspectives via four elements of culture: Language, Identity, Space, and Time. In order to evaluate the impact of the LIST Paradigm on student learning and attitudes, faculty members from two disciplines, English and Foreign Languages, used the LIST method to teach several selected texts. Students were provided with guidelines for using the LIST Paradigm to analyze texts, and worksheets to guide them through the analysis process. These materials guided class discussions and writing assignments. At the end of the semester, students rated the LIST Paradigm as a tool for literary analysis. Data suggest students using the LIST Paradigm saw themselves as more proficient in evaluating literature from multiple perspectives, and they showed greater gains in their awareness of and sensitivity to cultural awareness.
Location
Atrium/Concourse
Recommended Citation
Washington, Durthy, "Teaching Multicultural Texts: Exploring the List Paradigm " (2012). SoTL Commons Conference. 65.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2012/65
Teaching Multicultural Texts: Exploring the List Paradigm
Atrium/Concourse
How can we help students access nontraditional texts and better understand the culture from which they originate? In order to address these issues, I developed the LIST Paradigm, a culturally responsive framework for reading multicultural literature that prompts students to ask significant questions designed to foster critical reading from multiple perspectives via four elements of culture: Language, Identity, Space, and Time. In order to evaluate the impact of the LIST Paradigm on student learning and attitudes, faculty members from two disciplines, English and Foreign Languages, used the LIST method to teach several selected texts. Students were provided with guidelines for using the LIST Paradigm to analyze texts, and worksheets to guide them through the analysis process. These materials guided class discussions and writing assignments. At the end of the semester, students rated the LIST Paradigm as a tool for literary analysis. Data suggest students using the LIST Paradigm saw themselves as more proficient in evaluating literature from multiple perspectives, and they showed greater gains in their awareness of and sensitivity to cultural awareness.
