This qualitative study describes and evaluates a pedagogical procedure that allows multicultural college freshmen to devise and research topics indigenous to their communal backgrounds. The researcher wishes to ascertain whether a method delineated by an academic procedure and limited to a classroom setting can have extended social implications for the inner-city student. Specifically, critical thinking and inquiry techniques are applied to the student research paper process, thus integrating communal issues with the academic curriculum. A further goal is to ascertain how the focus and motivation inherent in the modified research process affects student critical inquiry of text material.
Beach, R., & Myers, J. (2001). Inquiry-based English instruction. New York: Teachers College Press.
2.
Brookfield, S. (1986). Understanding and facilitating adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
3.
Brookfield, S. (1987). Developing critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4.
Comber, B., & Kamler, B. (1997). Critical literacies: Politicising the language classroom. Retrieved December 1, 2003, from http://www.schools.ash.org.au/litweb/barbl.htm
5.
Flower, L. (1997). Partners in inquiry: A logic for community outreach. Retrieved June 2004 from http://english.cmu.edu/research/clc/Com_Lit_Bib.pdf
6.
Flower, L., Long, E., & Higgins, L. (2000). Learning to rival. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
7.
Harste, J., Leland, C., Schmidt, K., Vasquez, V., & Ociepka, A. (2000). Practice makes perfect, or does it? The relationship between theory and practice in teacher education. Retrieved July 9, 2004, from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/harste/
8.
Hawkins, J. (2003). Critical inquiry and the urban multicultural population. The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 69, 29-33.
9.
Hunt, R. A., & Vipond, D. (1992). First, catch the rabbit: The methodological imperative and the dramatization of dialogic reading. Retrieved June 2004 from http://www.stthomasu.ca/hunt/litread.htm
10.
Karolides, N. (2000). Reader response in secondary and college classrooms. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
11.
Kurfiss, J. (1997). Critical thinking. Washington, DC: George Washington University Press.
12.
Rosenblatt, L. M. (1978). The reader, the text, the poem. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
13.
Schutz, R. (2002). Vygotsky and language acquisition. Retrieved January 7, 2004, from http://www.sk.com.br/sk-vygot.html
14.
Willis, A., & Johnson, J. (2000). A horizon of possibilities: A critical framework for transforming multiethnic literature instruction. Retrieved December 1, 2003, from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/willis/index.html
