Using Multicultural Texts to Increase Urban Literacy

Cultural relevance is increasingly becoming more important to a student's literary development as they encounter more reading experiences at school. However, the existing literary disparity among African American students exhibits a problem in the current literary canon that educators use for literacy instruction. Research declares students are learning from a Eurocentric curriculum cultivated by canonical literature that many African American students do not relate to or do not understand. Six African American students constructed literary responses and focus group discussions after exposure to several multicultural genres in contrast to mainstream genres exposing the inability to interpret mainstream literature. As a result, incorporating ethnic literature in alignment with the diverse range of ethnicities growing in each classroom is a new crucial ability and transformative tool for all teachers to embed within their pedagogical instruction for positive literary growth and development for all students.