Task 2: Question 1

Multicultural literature can be concluded as reading materials that come from

various cultures and ethnics from all over the world. Reading multicultural literature
helps the children to gain new knowledge and better understanding of people from other
countries and ethnic backgrounds. Literature is a powerful vehicle for helping children
understand their homes, communities and the world. Even before young children can
read, family members, child-care providers, and teachers read them stories about
people in faraway places, sometimes about people whose lives are similar to their own.
The impressions and messages contained in these stories can last a lifetime. (Santora,
2003) These stories may describe how people live in different parts of the world, or they
may portray how children from different cultural backgrounds live together in the same
country. They can be fiction, nonfiction, folk tales, fairy tales, legends, or poetry, but
above all they must be accurate and portray characters in positive, non-stereotypical
ways.
Multicultural literature plays its role in children development and it has been
proven to have positive developmental affects on children of all backgrounds. For the
children of a specific ethnic minority, reading positive stories about their own ethnic
group can increase self-esteem and make them feel part of a larger society. For
children of a majority group, reading stories about other cultures can increase their
sensitivity to those who are different from themselves, improve their knowledge of the
world, and help them realize that although people have many differences, they also
share many similarities. For example, Malay children who read about history in History
of Malaysia will gain awareness and instill patriotism value. From this story, they can
exemplify all of the positive values which were shown by the previous leaders. Besides
that, they the readers also will be able to know how the colonists tortured our nation
over their ruling era. The setting, characterization and other literary devices would
strategically place value on what was previously regarded as valueless through detailed
descriptions of culture, personalities and communities that were disregarded and
dehumanized in the colonial scheme of things. (Subramaniam, 2007) This shows that
multicultural literature plays a great part in rebuilding self-worth and communal dignity.
Apart from that, by reading this kind of text children will realize that it is not easy to get
the independence without the efforts and struggles from the past leaders. This will
increase their confidence level and make them feel grateful living in this harmony
country. Another example is a Kelantanese child who reads about Kelantan culture such
as in the short story Of Bunga Telur and Bally Shoes will be proud of his or her own
ethnic traditions. Different ethnics have different cultures which show their uniqueness
and aesthetic values. These examples illustrate the importance of multicultural literature
in developing childrens minds.
Children's books, at their best, invite children to use their imaginations, expand
their vocabularies and gain a better understanding of themselves and others. And, if the
titles reflect the diverse groups of people in the world around them, children can learn to
respect not only their own cultural groups, but also the cultural groups of others.
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of An Unwanted Daughter is one of the good story
books that can be used for the children to expose themselves with Chinese cultures and
language. Through this story, it is not only to intrigue the readers with the plight of a little
girl growing up in China, but also to interest them in Chinese language, history and
culture. In this story there are some Chinese words used to address people for instance,
Ye Ye (grandfather), Nai Nai (grandmother) and Niang (mother). Besides that, this
story also contains Chinas history which is about the Opium War. This fact will broaden
childrens knowledge and help them to think maturely in undergoing todays world.
Some Chinese traditions also are included in this story. For example, in those days a
tight bandage is used around feet to bend the toes under the sole and crushing the arch
so that the feet would remain small. This has been the custom in China for over a
thousand years, ever since the Tang dynasty. In those days, small feet were considered
feminine and beautiful. Chinese believes that if you had large, unbound feet, no man
would marry you. By reading this story, children will learn to respect other cultures and
help them in gaining new understanding about Chinese customs. It is very important
thing to be learnt especially to Malaysian children who live in this multicultural country.
Individuality issues such as racism, stereotyping and discriminations can be avoided if
the society learns about other cultures since they were young. Children's literature
serves as both a mirror to children and as a window to the world around them by
showing people from diverse groups playing and working together, solving problems
and overcoming obstacles. (Partners Against Hate, 2003) This shows that children who
read this kind of story will be able to raise their sympathy and empathy towards the
hardships faced by an unwanted daughter. The children will put themselves in the
characters shoes to sense what the she feels and thought. At its best, multicultural
children's literature helps children understand that despite our many differences, all
people share common feelings and aspirations. Those feelings can include love,
sadness, fear and the desire for fairness and justice. Simultaneously, the positive
values and attitudes which are shown by the characters become good examples to be
acquired by childrens today.
Other than that, multicultural literature also helps children to improve self-
concept. Recent research studies have revealed that young children are more
psychologically aware of themselves and others than used to be thought (Thompson,
2009, 2009 in Santrock, 2011) This studies show that children are more sophisticated at
understanding not only themselves but others, than used to be taught. Therefore,
multicultural literature aids them to understand themselves and other people better
through the stories and messages portrayed. It also generates childrens minds on how
they think and reason about other people without biasing and stereotyping. This is very
important for growing children as they will learn how to face variety of people with
different characterizations. Childrens curiosity towards an issue leads them to be more
critical and analytical in thinking. This will develop their cognitive development to be
more realistic and logic. After reading multicultural books, children will be able to solve
their problems in a right way and balance in their emotions.
As a conclusion, multicultural literature plays an important role in developing
childrens thinking and emotions. Multicultural literature teaches diversity and it enables
children to see human interdependence and it encourages the idea that we are all
interconnected and interrelated.


REFERENCE LISTS

Partners Against Hate. (2003). Retrieved from The Importance of Multicultural
Children's Books: http://www.partnersagainsthate.org/educators/books.html
Santora, L. A. (2003). Choosing Multicultural Books for Young Children. Retrieved from
The Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A World of Difference:
http://www.adl.org/education/miller/choosing_multicultural_books_for_young_chil
dren_english.pdf
Santrock, J. W. (2011). Child Development :Thirteenth Edition. New York: McGraw Hill .
Subramaniam, G. (2007). Approaches to Teaching Literature: Theory and Practice.
Petaling Jaya: Sasbadi Sdn.Bhd.
http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/book.php?id=8
http://www.amazon.com/History-Malaysia-Barbara-Watson-Andaya/dp/0824824253