Do You See Yourself In Multicultural Literature? Seeking Self-reflections From Black Students

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Thomas, A. (2023). Do You See Yourself In Multicultural Literature? Seeking Self-reflections From Black Students. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

In the United States, Muhammad (2020) explains how Black students who attend schools have a greater potential for success when they see themselves represented in the curriculum and when their cultural, gender, and racial identities are affirmed. This dissertation study examined the ways in which third grade Black girls and boys (n=8) see themselves in American multicultural literature. The study also investigated the literary elements in African American multicultural text that encourage self-reflection. The study’s methodology was based on a qualitative research design, which included a pilot study (n=4) of the interview protocol. The interview protocol was revised for suitability based on the findings from the pilot study. Both the pilot study and the main dissertation research study were conducted using semi-structured interviews. The participants chose a text from a collection of African American multicultural literature and shared their responses to that text based on the revised interview protocol. The following research questions guided the study: 1) How do Black children respond to African American multicultural literature?; 2) How do Black children describe their cultural and racial identity within African American multicultural literature?; and 3) What literary features facilitate Black children’s ability to self-reflect? The findings of the study were organized based on these research questions. The study utilized Black Identity Development (Jackson III, 2012) to unpack and discuss the findings. The discussion and analysis of the study’s findings includes the definitional support for the idea of "multicultural self-reflection." This idea explains and provides insights into how Black children self-reflect when reading African American multicultural literature. Multicultural self-reflection represent the emergence of an idea for future research studies to further examine how Black children engage in "multicultural self-reflection" when responding to African American multicultural text.

Details
Author

Thomas, April

Title

Do You See Yourself In Multicultural Literature? Seeking Self-reflections From Black Students

Physical Description

1 online resource (166 pages) : PDF

Date

2023

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

In the United States, Muhammad (2020) explains how Black students who attend schools have a greater potential for success when they see themselves represented in the curriculum and when their cultural, gender, and racial identities are affirmed. This dissertation study examined the ways in which third grade Black girls and boys (n=8) see themselves in American multicultural literature. The study also investigated the literary elements in African American multicultural text that encourage self-reflection. The study’s methodology was based on a qualitative research design, which included a pilot study (n=4) of the interview protocol. The interview protocol was revised for suitability based on the findings from the pilot study. Both the pilot study and the main dissertation research study were conducted using semi-structured interviews. The participants chose a text from a collection of African American multicultural literature and shared their responses to that text based on the revised interview protocol. The following research questions guided the study: 1) How do Black children respond to African American multicultural literature?; 2) How do Black children describe their cultural and racial identity within African American multicultural literature?; and 3) What literary features facilitate Black children’s ability to self-reflect? The findings of the study were organized based on these research questions. The study utilized Black Identity Development (Jackson III, 2012) to unpack and discuss the findings. The discussion and analysis of the study’s findings includes the definitional support for the idea of "multicultural self-reflection." This idea explains and provides insights into how Black children self-reflect when reading African American multicultural literature. Multicultural self-reflection represent the emergence of an idea for future research studies to further examine how Black children engage in "multicultural self-reflection" when responding to African American multicultural text.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Reading
Education

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

African American
Black Children
Black Identity Development
Interview Study
Multicultural Literature
Multicultural self-Reflection

Subject Area

Curriculum & Instruction

Advisor(s)

Byker, Erik

Committee Members

Cross, Karen
Washburn, Erin
Taylor, Bruce

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2023.

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Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Thomas_uncc_0694D_13445

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:3323