Multicultural Literature Curiculum REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introducti

The presented review first defines multicultural education and presents a brief overview of its conceptual foundation and general goals and objectives. This overview is followed by an examination and discussion of empirical studies looking at the effects of multicultural education on minorities and other at-risk student groups. The review then examines literature-based learning as it specifically relates to the use of multicultural education materials (books, texts, stories) and techniques. The literature-based, multicultural curriculum thesis project is then discussed in the specific context of this research.

Multicultural Education: Definition and Objectives

America is a pluralistic society which is to say that it contains many diverse ethnic groups and culture. According to Porter (1994), for most of American history, America was perceived as a "melting pot," whose different peoples had joined to form a "new" culture. The purpose, therefore, of the educational system was not only to t

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ticultural program. One of these is educational setting. In this regard, Ladson-Billings (1995) reports that, regardless of their ethnicity, students learn best in schools that are well designed, well-lighted and clean with extensive libraries and good computer facilities. Poorly kept up schools with poor resource facilities seldom achieve many of the benefits associated with education even if the curriculum is centered around students' own culture. Another non-curricular factor that has been found to be very much associated with the success of a multicultural/Afrocentric curriculum is teacher education. Most teachers, both black and white, receive little formal preparation in terms of learning about and teaching about other cultures. Frequently, when white teachers do take such courses, they tend to feel that the material is designed to make them feel guilty (Ladson-Billings, 1995). However, findings show that if white teachers persist and take a variety of courses, these feelings can be overcome. Moreover, they tend to go on to become good multicultural educators. In another study of the effects of multicultural education, Mosely (1993) compared fourth and sixth grade classes of two elementary schools with simil
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Approximate Word count = 4754
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page)