Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers

One of the aspirations of the teaching of literature in English is to teach and promote ethics and values to students through literary texts by examining social cultural and political issues. In this study, we aim to examine the effectiveness of using ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf to in...

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Main Authors: Azlina Abdul Aziz, Faiza Rostam Affendi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2022
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20808/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20808/1/59112-196285-1-PB%20%281%29.pdf
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author Azlina Abdul Aziz,
Faiza Rostam Affendi,
author_facet Azlina Abdul Aziz,
Faiza Rostam Affendi,
author_sort Azlina Abdul Aziz,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description One of the aspirations of the teaching of literature in English is to teach and promote ethics and values to students through literary texts by examining social cultural and political issues. In this study, we aim to examine the effectiveness of using ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf to interrogate multicultural issues. This novel is based on one of the darkest periods in Malaysian history, the 13th May 1969 racial riots. Since then, racial issues continue to be a concern and permeate our politics, culture, and social fabric. We examined interpretations of the text relating to multicultural issues of race and race relations by 48 Year 2 TESL student teachers from the Faculty of Education, UKM. This study employed a mixed methodology research, utilising questionnaire, and interview as instruments in collecting the data. The analysis of the data has yielded two main themes, a) the value of ‘TWOOS’ in terms of its i) multicultural values, lessons and conflicts, ii) multicultural themes, iii) multicultural characters, iv) multicultural settings, v) young adult related, and b) the relevance of TWOOS in discussing issues of multiculturalism. This study revealed the value of the novel by encouraging young adult readers to think deeply, be empathetic and be critical when discussing about the multicultural issues in our country.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:208082022-12-20T09:07:24Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20808/ Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers Azlina Abdul Aziz, Faiza Rostam Affendi, One of the aspirations of the teaching of literature in English is to teach and promote ethics and values to students through literary texts by examining social cultural and political issues. In this study, we aim to examine the effectiveness of using ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf to interrogate multicultural issues. This novel is based on one of the darkest periods in Malaysian history, the 13th May 1969 racial riots. Since then, racial issues continue to be a concern and permeate our politics, culture, and social fabric. We examined interpretations of the text relating to multicultural issues of race and race relations by 48 Year 2 TESL student teachers from the Faculty of Education, UKM. This study employed a mixed methodology research, utilising questionnaire, and interview as instruments in collecting the data. The analysis of the data has yielded two main themes, a) the value of ‘TWOOS’ in terms of its i) multicultural values, lessons and conflicts, ii) multicultural themes, iii) multicultural characters, iv) multicultural settings, v) young adult related, and b) the relevance of TWOOS in discussing issues of multiculturalism. This study revealed the value of the novel by encouraging young adult readers to think deeply, be empathetic and be critical when discussing about the multicultural issues in our country. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2022 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20808/1/59112-196285-1-PB%20%281%29.pdf Azlina Abdul Aziz, and Faiza Rostam Affendi, (2022) Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers. AKADEMIKA, 92 ((SI)). pp. 95-104. ISSN 0126-5008 https://ejournal.ukm.my/akademika/issue/view/1466
spellingShingle Azlina Abdul Aziz,
Faiza Rostam Affendi,
Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers
title Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers
title_full Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers
title_fullStr Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers
title_full_unstemmed Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers
title_short Exploring multiculturalism in ‘The Weight of Our Sky’ by Hanna Alkaf among TESL pre-service teachers
title_sort exploring multiculturalism in ‘the weight of our sky’ by hanna alkaf among tesl pre-service teachers
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20808/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20808/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/20808/1/59112-196285-1-PB%20%281%29.pdf