Applying the Reader-Response Theory in Teaching Multicultural Short Stories to Develop Cultural Awareness to Young Learners

Volume 2 Issue 2 Monsoon Edition 2022

Abstract

Aim: This article discusses the role of multicultural short stories for the enhancement of cultural awareness among secondary school students in Nigeria. Data were collected by selecting three stories of Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo languages through purposive sampling from documents of multicultural short stories published by (NTA, 2010) Nigerian television authority and focus group interviews. In addition, the present study adopts the reader-response theory (Iser, 1978) in evaluating the selected three short stories. The findings showed the significance of teaching short stories that enhanced their intercultural knowledge of traditions, beliefs among different ethnic groups, imagination, and desires as well as intercultural sensitivity. Finally, it promotes their literary appreciation, particularly indigenous African literature.Method and Theory Role of the Reader-Response Theory: This paper uses a qualitative approach and focus group interviews to collect and evaluate the data. The paper also employed the works of previous scholars in justifying facts on teaching short stories for the development of cultural awareness of English as a foreign language in classroom contexts. For instance (Erkaya, 2005; Kaya, 2014; Kirgoz, 2012; Pardede, 2011; Strodt-Lopez, 1996) explained the values and benefits of incorporating short stories in teaching English as a foreign language in the classroom contexts. In addition, Reader-response theory (or it makes sense to talk of theories) is an umbrella term referring to several approaches toward the literary text analysis all shifting the undue emphasis on the author or the text to focus on the readers’ interactions or transactions with the text. As such, the theory considers “a concern of the reader” (Bressler, 2007. P 80).Conclusion: This study explored how multicultural short stories help the students to learn more about different cultures and traditions of other peoples.