Cultural Diversity Values Embedded in Children’s Literature

Shatha Al-Ajeely; Fatmeh Jafar

Shatha Al-Ajeely Professor of Educational Psychology Faculty of Educational Sciences, Amman Arab University, Jordan, shathaalajeely@yahoo.co.uk
Fatmeh Jafar Lecturer of Teaching English Methods Center of Training English Language, Jordan

Abstract

Abstract: This study investigated the cultural diversity values embedded in children’s stories of the age of 8-12 years in the Arab World presented by the characters of the stories taking, Jordan as a case study. The following questions were raised: 1- What are the cultural diversity values embedded in children stories for the age of 8-12 years? 2- What are the of characters in children stories in terms of gender (male – female), age (child-adult-old), and types (human-animal) that represented these values? A thorough revision was included for the stories of children. Thirty-three stories were chosen and analyzed using a developed checklist of the cultural diversity values, and Child, Potter & Levine (1971) classification of characters. Findings revealed that the cultural diversity values in children’s stories were not sufficient as they should be according to the used scale.

Key Words : cultural diversity, values, children’s literature, children's' stories, content analysis

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