ENHANCING CROSS-CULTURAL READING IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSROOM THROUGH LITERATURE

This study explores the significance of integrating literature into the English language classroom, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between literary texts and the cultures they originate from. The influence of readers' cultural experiences on their interpretation of literature is examined, along with the representation of culture within literary works. The primary focus of this study is the short story "Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu, which serves as a representation of Asian-American culture. To conduct this study, an open-ended survey approach was employed as part of a qualitative research methodology. The survey was administered to individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds across different parts of the world.