Indonesian literacy teachers’ efforts to integrate children’s literature in literacy classrooms

Abstract

Literacy is now an essential part of teaching for Indonesian teachers. This qualitative case study reports on three Indonesian teachers as they integrate the use of children’s literature into their literacy instruction. For 4 months, the teachers’ eforts to use children’s literature were documented through multiple sources such as focus group discussions and interviews, teachers’ refections, and classroom observational notes. The study uses the reader-response theory framework, especially the notion of teachers as part of the learning context in promoting students’ engagement with a text. The study highlighted some case study teachers’ classroom practices centering on children’s literature, giving access to books, infusing children’s literature in teaching, and using books to discuss difcult topics with students. The fndings discussion sheds light on some contributing factors to the teachers’ decision to integrate children’s literature into their classrooms and how they could make such decisions. The discussion points to a larger picture of how these teachers were empowered to make decisions to integrate children’s literature, particularly with diverse themes