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“Do I have to say it?”: Critical Encounters with Multicultural Children’s

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Maria E. Franquiz

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There was an air of excitement and a fl urry of
activity throughout the room as desks and chairs
were pushed and pulled. The fourth graders in
Mrs. Lynn’s1 English language arts class prepared
to meet for literature circle discussion. These
small student-led groups were organized in sharp
contrast to the whole-class teacher-led reading
instruction that had just ended.

The students loved the chance to talk with each
other about what they were reading. Mia, JLo, Lu-
pita, and Naila were meeting to read and discuss
events in the second chapter of the story, Felita
(Mohr, 1979). While the four girls in the literature
circle knew each other, they were not all close
friends. JLo self-identifi ed as Puerto Rican and
African American, and Naila as African American,
Both were profi cient in English and at beginning
stages of Spanish profi ciency. Mia self-identifi ed
as Mexican American and was profi cient in En-
glish. Lupita, who also self-identifi ed as Mexican
American, was more profi cient in Spanish.

In her role as discussion director, Mia waited
patiently as the other girls fl ipped through their
books to see who could fi nd the answer to her ques-
tion fi rst. “I know, I know,” JLo stated enthusiasti-
cally as she read the answer from a sentence in the
story. “Correct,” stated Mia, “Now it’s Lupita’s
turn to read.” Lupita read slowly, pausing occa-
sionally to think about the pronunciation before
reading the words aloud. She read what a neighbor
was saying to Felita, “. . . so many colors in your
family. What are you?” As the neighbors continued
to show contempt toward Felita and her family,
Lupita read, “Her mother is black and her father
is white.” Lupita continued reading, “They ain’t
white . . . just trying to pass.” She then read a word
none of the girls had ever read before, “Niggers.”

The girls all gasped and ran to their teacher. Mrs.
Lynn said, “It’s not a bad word, but it’s not a good
word.”2 Although Lupita had read the word to her
literature circle, she asked her teacher, “Do I have
to say it?” and Mrs. Lynn reassured her she did not
have to say it again. (From fi eld notes and audio
transcription, 3/26/03)

Critical encounters emerge when a word, concept,
or event in a story surprises, shocks, or frightens
the reader or readers to such a degree that they
seek to inquire further about the vocabulary or
event selected by the author. Through our work,
we have found that these encounters are pivotal
moments that have transformative possibilities for
student discussion and learning. Appleman (2000)
uses the term critical encounters to stress how
adolescents can learn to read critically by utiliz-
ing multiple literary theories. In our work and in
this article, we use the term critical encounters to
address the specifi c moments in reading that dis-
rupt the traditional social pattern of talk. In the
example above, the girls’ reading was frozen by
racist dialogue in their literature selection.

As Mia, Lupita, JLo, and Naila were reading the
second chapter of Felita (Mohr, 1979), they were
perplexed by the degree of discrimination the 10-
year-old female protagonist, Felita, and her Puerto
Rican family experienced when they moved to a
new neighborhood. While reading aloud, Lupita’s
voice expressed tension, and suddenly she had to
decide what to do with the uncommon presence of
a particularly pejorative word.

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Christina P. DeNicolo and Maria E. Franquiz

“Do I have to say it?”: Critical Encounters
with Multicultural Children’s
discussion groups in a fourth-grade bilingual English language arts classroom
identify a critical incident in a story that provides opportunities for students to examine
personal beliefs and societal realities.

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1. All participants in the study used self-selected pseud-
onyms.

2. Mrs. Lynn shared with us that she was aware of the
controversial nature of the word as well as the historical
meanings and varied uses that students may have been
familiar with. She wanted students to understand that it
was a word used to hurt. See Randall Kennedy (1999–2000;
2002) for an historical analysis of the word.

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selson
Text Box
Copyright © 2006 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved.

We argue that quality multicultural children’s
literature engages readers with critical encoun-
ters of social (in)justice through its selective use of
language, plot, and characterizations. As bilingual
researchers, we recognize an important connection
between multicultural literature and bilingual edu-
cation, as do other literacy educators. For example,
Dudley-Marling (2003) refers to the defi nition of
multicultural literature that he used when he was
teaching third grade: “[Multicultural literature is]
literature by and about people who are members
of groups considered to be out-
side the socio-political main-
stream” (Bishop, 1992, cited in
Dudley-Marling p. 305). This
defi nition was useful to us, as it
was to Dudley-Marling, because
it raises issues related to the
insider/outsider authorial perspective in children’s
literature, alludes to the types of opportunities that
should be presented to children to see themselves
authentically represented in the literacy curriculum,
and points to the benefi ts of providing storylines
wherein characters, and by extension students, are
pushed to question negative stereotypes, discrim-
inatory language, or unfair acts directed toward
characters in stories.

As part of our larger interest in the develop-
ment of literacies among bilingual students, we
have documented and analyzed the talk of four
girls regarding their critical encounter with racism
in the novel Felita. Through our participation as
bilingual researchers in the children’s classroom,
we were able to document the powerful conversa-
tions that occur in discussion groups in bilingual
programs using multicultural literature. The con-
text of the study was unique because the major-
ity of participants were members of diverse ethnic
groups, in this case Mexican American, African
American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican. Some stu-
dents self-identifi ed with two communities—
Puerto Rican and Panamanian, Dominican and
Salvadoran, Puerto Rican and Jamaican, Mexi-
can American and Irish American. In this urban
classroom context, the primary research question
we considered was, how do students in literature
discussion groups access cultural and linguis-
tic resources to build collective understandings of
multicultural literature? We propose that through
the analysis of children’s talk, we can make vis-
ible how meaning is mediated among teachers
and students. In the following section, we discuss
how sociocultural theory—functioning as a lens

for interpreting the ways student talk related to
critical encounters in text—altered the format and
content of student discussions.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Mrs. Lynn’s goal was to immerse all of her stu-
dents in a process through which they would
become full participants in the new literacy prac-
tice of literature circles. She was informed by
Daniels’s (1994) model of creating and sustain-
ing literature circles, and valued its apprenticeship

potential (Lave & Wenger,
1991) for building commu-
nity among her students. The
notion that learning through
apprenticeship is inseparable
from becoming full partici-
pants in the world of the class-

room is grounded in Vygotsky’s (1978) primary
tenet that higher psychological functions originate
in human social and cultural activities.

Vygotskian-inspired research (Moll, 2001)
advances the idea that there are cognitive bene-
fi ts to an individual when engaging in a meaning-
ful apprentice-type social activity. Students are
seen as knowledgeable beings with their own the-
ories of the world (Anderson & Pearson, 1984;
Smith, 1975) and are invited to bring their own,
and build on each other’s, prior knowledge. We
agree with Freire (1983) who espoused the the-
ory that literacy instruction must include the use
of culturally relevant reading materials in the dia-
logic interaction of a community of practice. The
success of literacy also requires that teachers act
as sociocultural mediators by organizing “learn-
ing aimed at the potential and not at the devel-
opmental level of the children” (Díaz & Flores,
2001, p. 30).

Accordingly, sociocultural theory suggests
some factors that must be present to foster liter-
acy development—an environment in which par-
ticipants can build a community of practice, in
this case with the help of a sociocultural media-
tor; availability of textual tools that are culturally
relevant, in this case through quality multicul-
tural literature; and literacy events that provide an
abundance of interactional opportunities between
and among classroom members, in this case
through literature circles. Unfortunately, national
policies have led to language arts programs where
discrete skills and scripted instructional strate-
gies all too often take precedence over literacy L

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How do students in literature
discussion groups access cultural
and linguistic resources to build

collective understandings of
multicultural literature?

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program designs that are more sensitive to local
histories, teacher knowledge, and students’ full
participation in learning.

CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
Mrs. Lynn’s English language arts classroom
was a rich context for our semester-long (Janu-
ary 2003 to June 2003) qualitative study of the
implementation of literature circles using qual-
ity multicultural children’s literature. The class-
room was located in a bilingual elementary school
of a large Midwestern city with a growing Latina/
o community. In this urban school, native lan-
guage reading instruction was provided for both
Spanish- and English-dominant students from
kindergarten through third grade. At the time of
the study, beginning in the fourth grade, students
received English language arts instruction and
Spanish language arts instruction. In addition, the
school district had mandated the use of a highly
scripted language arts curriculum, Open Court.
Programs such as Open Court are widely used in
urban school districts with bilingual populations
(Cadiero-Kaplan, 2004) and prioritize the acquisi-
tion of skills and profi ciency in English over criti-
cal reading practices (Gutiérrez, 2001).

Mrs. Lynn constructed her lesson plans in accor-
dance with the Open Court program, conducting
whole-class lessons using the order and class con-
fi guration outlined in the teacher
guide. Mrs. Lynn coordinated
with the Spanish language arts
teacher who used the Spanish
language version of the Open
Court program, Foro Abierto, for
instruction. They alternated sto-
ries within each theme so that students were never
receiving instruction on the same story in both lan-
guages. The total required language arts time was
divided between the two classes. Mrs. Lynn pro-
vided approximately one hour and forty-fi ve min-
utes of English language arts instruction to each
fourth-grade class daily.

At the start of the 2002–2003 school year, Mrs.
Lynn was searching for ways to support the stu-
dents assigned to her class who were in the pro-
cess of transitioning from Spanish to English
reading. In addition, she noticed that students
were not forming relationships across languages
as prior classes had, possibly due to students’ dif-
fering levels of English language profi ciency.
Some students felt more comfortable speaking in

Spanish, which contributed to their more frequent
association with peers who shared their language
preference. In consultation with the researchers,
she decided that discussion groups with quality
multicultural literature could address many of her
concerns.

Using ethnographic methods to collect and
analyze the data, we sought to understand how lit-
erature discussion groups infl uence English lan-
guage learners who speak a different language
or language variety in their homes. We utilized
classroom ethnographic methods through system-
atic collection of fi eld notes, interviews, audio-
and videotapes, and student-produced artifacts
in order to provide an in-depth account (Trueba,
1993) of the classroom culture (Dixon, Frank,
& Green, 1999). Artifacts included student role
sheets, evaluations, and written responses.

Mrs. Lynn communicated her enthusiasm for
literature circles to her fourth-grade bilingual
community. Prior to implementing literature cir-
cles, class time was dedicated to preparing stu-
dents for using specifi c roles in the discussions.
Daniels (1994) recommends using roles such
as: discussion director, connector, summarizer,
vocabulary enricher, and illustrator. These labels/
functions served as temporary scaffolds to support
the development of discussion skills during liter-
ature discussion circles. The discussion director

thinks of questions to promote
discussion; the vocabulary
enricher chooses interesting or
perplexing words or phrases to
pose to the group; the connec-
tor supplies connections with
other texts, fi lm, or personal
experiences; the summarizer

provides a summary of the section read; and the
illustrator represents visually his or her thoughts
related to the reading. In Ms. Lynn’s class, stu-
dents used “role sheets” with prompts created by
Daniels (1994) to remind them of their roles dur-
ing discussions.

Mrs. Lynn was explicit about upholding a prin-
ciple of reading and writing that would create
“our own theories and ways of understanding the
world” (Wenger, Pea, Brown, & Heath, 1999,
p. 48). She reminded students daily of the respon-
sibility they each had as members of coopera-
tive groups. As recommended by Wenger et al.,
her goal was to make students “aware of their
interdependence in making the job possible and

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Mrs. Lynn was searching for ways
to support the students assigned

to her class who were in the
process of transitioning from
Spanish to English reading.

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the atmosphere pleasant” (p. 47). Mrs. Lynn
made explicit the social values of both listening
intently when others read and encouraging the
use of Spanish and English in order to ensure that
everyone understood what was being read and
discussed.

The development of a new, shared practice
entailed a process of gradual release of specifi c
responsibilities—selecting materials to read, lead-
ing discussion, navigating multiple perspectives,
deciding next steps—from the teacher to the stu-
dents (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983). As well as
additional responsibilities, the shared practice
required a different style of participation than was
expected in the Open Court program. For this rea-
son, supplementing language arts instruction with
literature circles provided students with opportuni-
ties to take up increased respon-
sibility as well as access multiple
linguistic codes in making mean-
ing of text. For Mrs. Lynn, this
meant organizing instruction to
effectively support students in
both the teacher-directed format
of Open Court reading instruction and the mode of
participation required for the new practice of liter-
ature discussions.

MRS. LYNN: “I TEACH FOR LIFE.”
Díaz & Flores (2001) argue that as sociocultural
mediators, teachers must set up optimal environ-
ments for students to engage in and succeed with
school-based reading and writing practices. With
demands to meet requirements of a mandated lan-
guage arts curriculum such as Open Court, this
means teachers who value critical encounters with
literature must make a case for the inclusion of
quality multicultural children’s literature to sup-
plement the prescribed curriculum. Mrs. Lynn
strove to create a space in her English language
arts class to include literature that represented the
cultural diversity of her students. This decision
was a refl ection of her commitment to assist her
students in the development of their academic as
well as socio-emotional capacities.

As an African American woman, born and
raised in the city where the school was located,
Mrs. Lynn embraced the demographic shifts that
were occurring, mainly a growing Latino popu-
lation. Her decisions, such as supplementing the
scripted reading program with literature circles,
were grounded in her desire for her Latina/o stu-

dents to have an equitable education. For approx-
imately ten years, she had been active in the
bilingual school—as parent, community liaison,
teaching English as a second language, and as a
fourth-grade English language arts teacher. She
was learning Spanish as a second language and
was enthusiastically immersed in the multilingual
environment of the school and wider community.
She was determined to provide all of her students
with an education that enabled them to develop
pride in themselves and their culture, and respect
for one another.

Mrs. Lynn’s interest in extending beyond her
own African American community speaks to her
personal values and the potential these beliefs
have for learning about and developing respect
for lives across ethnic borders. She conveyed

that her choices at times were
questioned. For example, it
was not uncommon for Afri-
can American teachers who
chose to work in areas of the
city that were predominantly
Latino to sense disapproval

from the wider community for not “working
with their own.” Mrs. Lynn’s solid belief in her
role as a sociocultural mediator in and outside
of her classroom is of utmost importance today.
African American and Latina/o communities are
increasingly brought together to inhabit simi-
lar spaces, often set up to vie for resources rather
than learning to share. Thus, she stated, “I teach
for life.”

Teachers like Mrs. Lynn who accept and
understand teaching as a sociopolitical role have
extremely high standards and expectations for
their students (Foster, 1997; Ladson-Billings,
1995). Such teachers are not shy about provid-
ing opportunities for students to question oral and
written language, unjust policies and unfair acts
in former or present times, or in monocultural or
multicultural texts. Additionally, the strong com-
mitment to validate students’ language and lived
experiences is not dependent on being a member
of their students’ ethnic/racial community or hav-
ing profi ciency in their native language (Fránquiz
& Reyes, 1998; Fránquiz, 2002; Fránquiz & Sala-
zar, 2004). The way that literacy was co-
constructed in Mrs. Lynn’s classroom, then, pro-
vides an illustration of ways her personal val-
ues and political stances paved possible avenues
for all students to participate in learning within a
bilingual community of practice.

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[Mrs. Lynn] was learning Spanish
as a second language and was

enthusiastically immersed in the
multilingual environment of the

school and wider community.

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Mrs. Lynn was explicit in setting guidelines for
participation in the discussion groups to ensure that
all students shared their thoughts and contributed
to discussions regardless of their degree of English
language profi ciency. At the start of one discus-
sion group, she stated, “I want you all to respect
each other’s opinions and respect each other in the
groups. I don’t want to hear of anybody making fun
of anyone if they use a word wrong, or, you know,
because of their accent or whatever. I don’t want to
see any of that. It’s hurtful . . . your
group is your family. If a family
member is having problems, what
do you do?” (Audio transcription,
3/17/03). This statement brought
to the forefront an ideological
stance in which literary response
is a space for disagreements, and it
reinforced the premise that media-
tion is expected in this community
of practice when a class member is
having a problem.

QUALITY MULTICULTURAL
CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
Given Mrs. Lynn’s orientation toward teaching,
she was interested in providing students with lit-
erature selections that connected them with and
deepened their understanding of social issues,
such as race relations, health traditions, and fam-
ily mobility, among others. The variety of multi-
cultural books Mrs. Lynn selected for the literature
circles was intended to provide her students with
a more complex understanding of the survival
theme they were studying in the Open Court lan-
guage arts program. For this theme, the Open
Court program had a series of literature selections
that addressed surviving natural disasters, politi-
cal turmoil, and religious differences. The Open
Court student anthology contained only segments
of stories rather than entire literature selections,
and while a few selections centered on the experi-
ences of people of color, they did not represent the
cultural diversity of the classroom. For these rea-
sons, the multicultural literature Mrs. Lynn ulti-
mately selected to complement the Open Court
themes was grade-level appropriate, contained
main characters representative of the students’
age and racial/cultural backgrounds, and in some
cases, were available in Spanish (see Table 1). In
the following section, we take a closer look at the
approach for choosing the stories to implement the

new social practice of literature circles, with spe-
cifi c focus on the story, Felita (Mohr, 1979).

In multicultural literature for upper elementary
students, all aspects of culture, language, beliefs,
and attitudes are conveyed through literary ele-
ments presented in chapters. Multicultural litera-
ture highlights characters that participate within
and across multiple cultures to differing degrees
(Bishop, 1997) and honors the dynamic nature of

authentic communication that
can be accessed for different pur-
poses in the real world. Multicul-
tural literature also tells historical
accounts that may be absent from
the school curriculum and pres-
ents alternatives to stereotypical
representations of culturally and
linguistically diverse communi-
ties (Harris, 2003). Thus, multi-
cultural literature seeks to teach
via cultural images, characters,
languages, and dialects. Bishop
(1992) identifi ed three catego-
ries of multicultural books. These
classifi cations are dependent on

the degree of cultural understanding they afford
the reader. Culturally neutral books portray char-
acters of color but contain no real cultural content.
Culturally generic books focus on characters repre-
senting a specifi c cultural group (through a name,
a location, or perhaps a few non-English words),
but do not provide culturally specifi c information,
such as extensive use of language and its relation-
ship to the characters’ attitude toward their sense of
belonging in their home or community. Books like
Felita (Mohr, 1979) are culturally specifi c books
because they incorporate details that help defi ne the
main characters as members of a particular cultural
group, in this case Puerto Rican.

Felita was a character created over 25 years
ago. The author, Nicholasa Mohr, weaves mem-
ories of her childhood experiences growing up
Puerto Rican in New York City. Like the author,
the main character, Felita Maldonado, is Puerto
Rican. According to Anderson (2006), the reader
shares the hurt and anxiety young Felita experi-
ences when her family moves “from El Barrio to
what they believe is a better neighborhood and
school district for their children. Instead of the
better future that her father promised, the children
are faced with racism and hatred” (p. 229). Abue-
lita (Grandmother) is the confi dante who encour-
ages Felita to be proud of her heritage. She helps

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Felita with feelings such as missing her old neigh-
borhood and friends and dealing with unexpected
and unwelcome racist taunts from both children
and adults in the new neighborhood.

In the story, Nicholasa Mohr represents the
Puerto Rican community in New York across dif-
ferent eras with recognizable accuracy. The story
contains several strong themes that are still rel-
evant today—moving to a new neighborhood,
confronting racism, and losing a beloved grand-
mother. According to Nieto (1997), while there
exists great diversity within the Puerto Rican
culture, there are several themes that represent
commonalities within the broad Puerto Rican
community, such as the centrality of family and
personal resilience in the face of adversity. These
are both present in the characters of the story and
may account for the relevancy of this cultural tool
so many years after publication.

While some of the titles promoted more discus-
sion than others, Felita was the text that promoted
the most in-depth and complex discourse among
students regarding critical encounters. In other
transcript segments, the focus of critical encoun-
ters included …