Proceedings of the 36th International Academic Conference, London

CULTURAL DIVERSITY VALUES EMBEDDED IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

FATMEH JA'FAR, SHATHA AL-AJEELY

Abstract:

This study investigated the cultural diversity values embedded in children’s stories of the age 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 characters in children stories in terms of gender (male – female), age (child-adult-old), and types (human-animal) that represented these values? 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.

Keywords: Cultural diversity, values, children’s literature.

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2018.036.020

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