Using Technology to Teach Multicultural Literature

Abstract

With the help of technology development in communication and transportation, people all around the world now get even more connected and manage to move around easily. This condition enables the formation of a multicultural society, in which people who have different traditions, religions, languages, and customs can inhabit the same space together. However, a multicultural society comes with enormous challenges because conflicts might occur when differences collide and cannot be compromised. Therefore, it is important to deal with these potential conflicts by introducing multicultural discourses to young generation. One possible method is through multicultural literature that reflects the condition of a multicultural society. This study offers some methods of utilizing technology to teach multicultural literature. It also investigates English students’ perceptions toward multicultural literature as part of the curriculum in English major. The data were taken from questionnaires given to English-majored students from Bina Nusantara University, Indonesia, and Aletheia University, Taiwan. The obtained data were later analyzed both quantitively and qualitatively. The result shows how students from both universities need to be motivated more to study literature from underrepresented literary scenes. It is expected that the inclusion of technology in teaching multicultural literature will help them to engage more in the courses.