Although each Asian culture is unique, many
Americans tend to generalize and see Asian as one
vaguely defined culture. This case study assessed
whether nineteen fifth graders in a public
elementary school in the Southeast raised their
awareness of similarities and differences between
two Asian cultures after reading Yoshiko Uchida s
Journey to Topaz (1985) and Laurence Yep s Dragon s
Gate (1993). Children read two stories from
different Asian cultures with their reading
teachers. Multiple data were collected in the form
of open-ended questionnaires, response journals, and
observation field notes. I conducted individual
interviews with nine of the participants who either
volunteered or were selected by me. Based on the
quality of their responses, I chose five out of the
nine interviewees, within-analyzed their interview
data, and then reported the findings based on the
five emergent themes. Finally, the findings from
these interviewees were further cross-analyzed.
Americans tend to generalize and see Asian as one
vaguely defined culture. This case study assessed
whether nineteen fifth graders in a public
elementary school in the Southeast raised their
awareness of similarities and differences between
two Asian cultures after reading Yoshiko Uchida s
Journey to Topaz (1985) and Laurence Yep s Dragon s
Gate (1993). Children read two stories from
different Asian cultures with their reading
teachers. Multiple data were collected in the form
of open-ended questionnaires, response journals, and
observation field notes. I conducted individual
interviews with nine of the participants who either
volunteered or were selected by me. Based on the
quality of their responses, I chose five out of the
nine interviewees, within-analyzed their interview
data, and then reported the findings based on the
five emergent themes. Finally, the findings from
these interviewees were further cross-analyzed.