WhoNeedsDiverseBooks
Preservice Teachers and Religious Neutrality with Children’s Literature
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13683094 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Denise Dávila (0000-0003-4899-8036, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 60-83 |
| Publication date | 2015-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Research in the Teaching of English (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-527X • E-ISSN: 1943-2348 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.58680/rte201527426 |
| OpenAlex | W2606928483 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 15 |
The social media campaign #WeNeedDiverseBooks has called for more varied works of literature. However, one of the arguments for increasing the visibility of diverse books has not received much attention: using #WNDB to cultivate religiously pluralistic thinkers. Currently, there is a conflict between the evasion of religious neutrality in English language arts (ELA) instruction and the need to prepare young people to become pluralistic thinkers in a global society. This article examines three lines of inquiry: How likely are preservice teachers to (a) include children’s books with religious diversity in their future classrooms, (b) discuss the religious content of the books with their future students, and/or (c) employ dominant social discourses in interpreting the religious content? Grounded in theories of religious neutrality, social discourses, and cultural superiority,the study analyzes 79 preservice teachers’ responses to the cultural-religious milieu of the renowned picture book memoir In My Family/En Mi Familia (Garza, 1996). The corpus of data, which includes the preservice teachers’ written reflections and responses to a set of open-ended questions,indicates that privileging a nonreligious reading lens and excluding relevant religious perspectives from discussions about diverse works of children’s literature can inadvertently contribute to the defamation of other cultures and religious traditions. The study underscores the responsibility of teacher educators to help preservice teachers take a religiously neutral approach to ELA instruction
Mathematics education · Neutrality · Pedagogy · Political science · Sociology · Education and Islamic Studies · Psychology · Religious Education and Schools
Extending the Dialogue
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The Intersections of Religion and Science in NSTA-OSTB Biographies
Learning and performing Sanskrit as a sacred language
‘Quicksand of Hate’
Using HBO’s The Wire to Foster Critical Cosmopolitanism in Preservice English Teachers
Whose Reality Matters? Children’s Ontologies, Theories of Mind, and Reading
Exceptionalist narratives and faceless clip art
We Don’t Know Enough About It”
Transnational Youth Expressing Religious Being and Belonging through Writing
Included, but how? A critical investigation into elementary social studies standards about religion
Rethinking the Role of Knowledge in the Literacy Classroom
| Unique citing works | 15 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,14 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 15 |