Misreading a Different Culture: Preservice Teachers' Interpretations of International Children's Literature

• In Event: Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Cultural (Mis)Understanding

Abstract

This study investigated pre-service teachers’ interpretation of two stories from Japan using ethnocentric monoculturalism as a theoretical framework. 64 pre-service teachers read the two stories for children and wrote a reflection paper, and their essays were qualitatively analyzed. Although most participants cognitively understood the theme of the story correctly, they were reluctant to introduce the story due to their overwhelming desire to position their own feelings of disgust as universal values. The study suggests that pre-service teachers need to be trained to analyze their own emotions to the themes and characters in a story, and to develop an understanding of a story’s cultural context, in order to authentically present international children’s literature.

Author

• Yukari Takimoto Amos, Central Washington University