Benefits of Culturally Relevant Literature on Latino Students

The Latino population is growing in the United States such that one of every five school-aged Latino children comes from a home in which a language other than English is spoken. Many Latino students are placed in English-only classrooms where their language and culture are not reflected in the curriculum. In particular, Latino students are mainly exposed to books that include middle-class white characters. Thus, Latino students do not see themselves reflected in the books they read. Given this problem, educators must incorporate culturally relevant literature into the curriculum. This capstone analyzes the benefits of culturally relevant literature for Latino students through the review of the literature, interviews with five teachers, and an anonymous survey of five students. The findings reveal various criteria which teachers use for selecting quality Latino literature, a list of quality Latino literature, and student insights about the power of Latino literature to engage students in their academic and personal lives