L'insegnamento della lingua inglese nella scuola primaria: letteratura multietnica per l'infanzia e competenza interculturale

Abstract

Based on my experience of teaching English to undergraduate students in Primary Education at the University of Bari, this study is an attempt to understand why and how to train prospective primary English teachers (PPETs) about cultural diversity concerning the English-speaking communities in the United States through the use of children’s multiethnic literature. The rationale here is to create an awareness among PPETs of the important role multicultural literature plays in the lives of children. Indeed, teachers can help children receive affirmation of themselves and their culture through literature and be able to connect text to self in order to promote greater meaning. With this in mind, this paper aims to explore PPETs’ understanding of the use of multicultural varieties of the English language and literature in the classroom. To this purpose, specific children’s multicultural texts have been selected (see References) from two ‘minor’ ethnic literatures in the U.S., that is the African-American and the Chicana.