Teaching literature in the multicultural classroom

Funding Year:2006
Type:2 years

Organisation: University of Waikato

Principal Investigator

Terry Locke

Research team

Gail Cawkwell & Emilie Sila’ila’i with Alison Cleary, Willem de Beer, Sandy Harris, Elizabeth Lumby, David Riley, Janet Sturgess and Julie-Ann Thumath

Partnerships

University of Waikato School of Education, with Henderson Intermediate School, Wymondley School, Somerville School, and Macleans College

Project Aims

 The overall aim of the project was to fi nd effective ways of teaching literature in multicultural and multilingual classrooms at primary and secondary level. In doing so, the aim was to develop a range of effective classroom approaches and practices for the teaching of literature in such settings. A subsidiary aim was to link the research associated with this project with research being done in relation to other fi rst language (L1) curriculums. A further subsidiary aim was the eventual production of at least one teachers’ resource on the subject of teaching literature in the multicultural classroom.

In order to achieve these aims, University of Waikato researchers, in conjunction with the project’s teacherresearchers, sought to:

• review a range of approaches to the reading and composition of literary texts in primary and secondary classrooms
• review a range of pedagogical (including questioning) strategies aimed at motivating students and enhancing the teaching and learning of literature in primary and secondary classrooms
• develop, trial and evaluate a range of strategies or interventions for achieving cultural and linguistic inclusiveness in the teaching and learning of literature.

Research Questions

• What discourses currently shape teacher understandings of “literature teaching” and “cultural and linguistic inclusiveness”? How do these discourses relate to each other and to the larger context of the national policy environment?

• What features characterise the successful classroom practices/processes of a sample of teachers engaging students in activities aimed at fostering their ability to engage in the reading and composition of literary texts?
•  In particular, what aspects of pedagogy have been successful in developing a culturally and linguistically inclusive classroom for the teaching and learning of literature? (These aspects may include programme design, resourcing, activity design and formative assessment.)
•  In what ways can information and communications technologies (ICTs) be integrated productively in a culturally and linguistically inclusive classroom for the teaching and learning of literature?

 Research Outputs