The effect of multicultural literature on the cultural awareness and sensitivity of freshmen-literature students.
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The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
This study quantitatively and qualitatively examined the effect of multicultural literature, discussed and explored in an open, multiculturally-aware environment, on the cultural awareness and sensitivity of 121 University of Arizona English 102 (Freshmen literature) students, 66 of whom followed a rhetoric based text and curriculum, and 65 of whom followed a multicultural text and curriculum. The quantitative measures included (1) The Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), used to measure potential for cross-cultural effectiveness and the traits that comprise it--emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, perceptual acuity and personal autonomy, and (2) ten critical incidents used to measure "open-mindedness." The qualitative measures included (3) an analysis of student explanations as to what happened in the critical incidents, and (4) a self-evaluation to determine whether the students felt that their cultural awareness and sensitivity had improved over the semester, and whether they felt that their text played a role in this change. Quantitative results showed no difference between the two groups except for their levels of potential for cross-cultural effectiveness and personal autonomy, however qualitative results showed a substantial difference between the two groups, suggesting that when students read, discuss and explore multicultural literature, they not only appear to be more open-minded, culturally aware and sensitive, but they also feel themselves to have these traits.Type
textDissertation-Reproduction (electronic)
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Second Language Acquisition and TeachingGraduate College