미국 초등교사의 그림책 선정에 대한 연구: 학생 다양성을 중심으로

Abstract

Korean society has become considerably multicultural where people with various races, ethnicities, religions, languages, and cultural backgrounds compose its population. Picture books have been considered as an effective tool for multicultural education. Therefore, it is crucial to closely examine the factors of student diversity in school teachers’ text selection process. This study analyzed the cases of the United States, in which a multicultural society has been formed over a relatively longer period of time than in Korea in terms of languages, culture, social and economic backgrounds. This study aimed to clarify the factors and values that teachers in the lower grades of elementary school in the U.S. consider important as having priority, thus has more influence in selecting books, and how various backgrounds of students are reflected in teachers’ text selection process. The data was collected by interviewing 13 lower-grade American elementary school teachers and was qualitatively analyzed. The findings the research derive implications for the role and direction of teachers in using picture books for multicultural education in Korea. Based on the implications, this research contributes to the effective selection and use of picture book of multicultural education in Korea and contributes to the establishment of the foundation for the development of teacher education as well.