Personal Response and Social Responsibility: Responses of Middle School Students to Multicultural Literature

Because it is often assumed that reading and responding to multicultural literature will help dominant-culture readers value diversity and gain a greater appreciation of their own heritage, it is important to examine what children in actual classrooms are learning from the books they read. Analysis of the writing of 123 dominant-culture eighth graders during a carefully designed multicultural literature unit revealed that students need experience with alternative views of the world to develop understanding of how authors position readers in relation to power and society. Although students liked the unit novels, their perceptions reflected their own cultural groups and this influenced their understandings and interpretations. Readers re-created nondominant characters in their own images rather than identifying with them. Although they were able to empathize with characters in the story world, this understanding seldom transferred to cultural understanding in the real world. When the text world conflicted with their personal world views, readers assumed the text world to be an anomaly and either rejected the text material or reshaped it, resulting in inconsistencies and illogical conclusions. Teachers need to become colearners within trusting, supportive classroom environments or negotiations about the meaning of difference will be left to the children whose voices are dominant.