Preservice teachers’ discussion of a multicultural young adult novel

The present study explored preservice elementary teachers’ literature circle discussion of a multicultural young adult novel with a focus on two research questions: (a) How do preservice teachers discuss a multicultural young adult novel? and, (b) What views and theories informed their understanding of literature response discussion? The discussion stances that emerged from the data indicated participants adopted either a literary analysis stance in their discussions or a personal association stance. The more distant literary analysis stance may limit important cross-cultural insights that might be gleaned from a young adult multicultural novel.