"These Are Normal People": White High School Students' Responses to Interracial Literary Fiction

Autor/inn/en	Findora, Jessie; Hammond, Thomas C.
Titel	"These Are Normal People": White High School Students' Responses to Interracial Literary Fiction
Quelle	In: Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 17 (2021) 1, (21 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1559-9035
Schlagwörter	White Students; High School Students; Student Attitudes; Multicultural Education; Fiction; Literary Genres; Racial Relations; Computer Mediated Communication; Reader Response; Racial Bias; Empathy + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? High school; High schools; Student; Students; Oberschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Schülerverhalten; Multikulturelle Erziehung; Fiktion; Literarische Form; Computerkonferenz; Leserbrief; Racial discrimination; Rassismus; Empathie
Abstract	When schools present texts through their explicit curricula, they infuse those stories with a certain perceived value (Eisner, 2002). When those accounts all ring with the same voice, they promote the merit of those people represented over those excluded (Haslem, 1998). In this study, we explored how White high school students responded to independently reading and discussing interracial literary fiction in an online forum. Drawing on narrative empathy and imagined intergroup contact theory, the study employed a theoretical framework based on critical reflection and reader response theory. The participants in this study were randomly assigned to White-normative male canon or interracial literary fiction groups, from which they selected texts and subgroups. Over the course of three weeks, the students independently read their books before engaging in an online discussion with their subgroups. In a qualitative analysis, we analyzed those discussions to explore how students responded to their texts. This study suggests that White high school seniors who read interracial literary fiction can achieve the same goals as their counterparts who read a White-normative canon; however, they also may explore issues of discrimination and prejudice--even independent of direct teacher intervention. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. 315 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602. Tel: 706-542-7866; Fax: 706-542-3817; e-mail: jolle@uga.edu; Web site: http://jolle.coe.uga.edu
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01