Using Animated Folktales to Teach Cultural Values: A Case Study with Korean-American Bilingual Kindergartners.

ABSTRACTThis qualitative case study explores the intersection of multimedia, bilingualism, and culturally responsive practices by examining the responses that children of Korean descent have to animated folktales and the discussions about traditional cultural values that they sparked. Data were collected over 5 months in a classroom for children of kindergarten age in a Korean Language School in the midwestern United States. The focal literacy activity was online storybook reading sessions in which the children watched animated folktales taken from online storybook-reading software programs or YouTube clips. Data were collected from the children, their parents, and the teacher through interviews and observations of classroom literacy activities. The study found that listening to animated folktales and having dual language discussions about them created a supportive literacy environment in which the children were able to be more engaged in the stories they were reading and also gained a deeper understandin...