Beyond the Text: Using English Prose to Expand Students’ Cultural Horizons

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-348-1_23How to use a DOI?

Keywords

English prose; cultural awareness; cultural horizons; multi-cultural world

Abstract

Fostering cultural awareness and understanding is an essential component of higher education in today’s globalized world. This study explores the potential of English prose as an instrument for expanding cultural horizons among university students. By examining the integration of culturally diverse literary works into the teaching of English prose, the study aimed to evaluate the impact of English prose on students’ cultural awareness and competence. Using a descriptive-qualitative approach, data were collected through students’ intellectual diaries after reading Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner novel and in-depth inter-views from a sample of 37 university students enrolled in an English prose course. The findings revealed that the inclusion of culturally diverse prose significantly enhances students’ understanding of different cultures and promotes their critical thinking about cultural issues. Students reported that engaging with literary works from various cultural backgrounds helped them develop empathy and broaden their perspectives on global diversity. This study concludes that English prose can be an effective tool for cultural education since it provides insights into the values, convictions, beliefs, and life experiences of people from various cultural backgrounds. This research highlights the importance of incorporating diverse literary texts into English prose teaching to prepare students for successful interactions in a multicultural world.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Muh. Hasbi
AU  - Fitriyani Bakri
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/12/31
TI  - Beyond the Text: Using English Prose to Expand Students’ Cultural Horizons
BT  - Proceedings of the 7th Celt International Conference (CIC 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 325
EP  - 334
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-348-1_23
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-348-1_23
ID  - Hasbi2024
ER  -