Multiculturalism in Literature as a Vehicle for Promoting Social Justice and Empowerment

This quantitative and qualitative research study investigates the contribution of the course Multiculturalism in Literature on Arab Muslim graduates of the B. Ed program, majoring in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in a teacher training college in the central part of Israel. The research participants took the course in their second year of studies from 2011 until 2017. Sixty-six participants out of a pool of 123 returned the questionnaire. Fifty-five of the respondents teach in Arab schools, and eleven in Jewish schools. Results show that the course helped them promote their cross-cultural and intercultural understanding and communication, raise their awareness of social and political injustices, and feel empowered as members of a national minority group in Israel.