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Caribbean Journal of Education

Stories that Transform Teachers: The Use of Fiction in Teacher Education Programmes

Authors: 
Pages: 
96-121
Publication Date: 
September 2013
Issue: 
Abstract: 

Through the ages, storytellers have known that well-told ‘complicated stories’ are, first and foremost, a source of entertainment for people of all ages. However, research suggests that, even as we are entertained by fiction, we benefit from listening to or reading fiction in other ways as well. Fiction illuminates ‘imagined-worlds,’ and socially constructed perspectives of identity and culture as it guides readers into critiquing portrayals of self and others, minimizing the caricaturing of the ‘Other’ (Clifford & Kalyanpur, 2011). Equally significant, using fictional literature in the classroom enhances literacy and critical reading proficiencies that are likely to complicate, enlighten, and transform our thinking about the world around us (Thein, Beach, & Parks, 2007; Jakubowski & Visano, 2002).

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