Diverse learners, diverse texts: Exploring identity and difference through literary encounters

Abstract

This article reports from a yearlong ethnography that examined two urban 10th-grade English classes of ethnically diverse students in which the teachers diversified literature selections for newly designed ethnic literature curricula. The study reports texts students found most memorable and meaningful and analyzes the values students found in their encounters with these literary works. When students identified with characters and texts, they reflected on personal concerns, including family nostalgia and loss; adolescent challenges; and culture, gender, and sexual-identity formation. Literary encounters also fostered discoveries about diverse groups (identified by race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexual orientation) that helped students move past stereotyped notions of others. Choices of meaningful works were often tied integrally to ways in which the texts were treated during class time - particularly to activities involving the social processes of constructing meaning, exploring interpretation, and openly discussing issues of culture and identity. The results remind researchers of the need to include in curricular theorizing the importance of instruction that fosters students' thinking about literature, identity, and diversity.