Responding to the political and educational crises over cultural literacy, multiculturalism, and expanding the canon of literature, I present case studies of eight first-year college students and their attitudes about literature. These are students who have scored 4s or 5s on the Advanced Placement English Examination and who represent a discourse community well versed in a traditional canon of literature. In first-year composition, I offer them a multicultural curriculum, presenting contemporary Native American and Mexican American literatures in dialogue with more traditional literatures. Specifically, I examine their responses to the politics of aesthetics, setting up a contrast between canons of texts and canons of methods in Advanced Placement English and a first-year college composition course stressing multicultural literatures. I pay special attention to their "cultural literacy" and to their awareness and acceptance of cultural differences. Chapter 1 gives a background and overview of the study. Chapter 2 examines the literature on cultures and its effect on canons of literary texts and methods of teaching and responding to them. Chapter 3 describes the ethnographic methods of this study, traces the history of Advanced Placement English, and lays out the multicultural curriculum of this study. Chapter 4 is a case study of one student before, during, and after the multicultural curriculum. Chapter 5 examines the past histories--families, high schools, and Advanced Placement English--of seven other students. Chapters 6 and 7 describe the responses of these seven students to a multicultural literature curriculum. Chapter 8 reviews the findings, offering interpretations and commentary on Advanced Placement English, the Advanced Placement English Examination, cultural literacy, and multiculturalism, concluding with recommendations for curricula of the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/186132 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Hall, Anne-Marie Fish. |
| Contributors | Fleming, Margaret, Roen, Duane, Warnock, Tilly, Evers, Larry |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| 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. |
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