Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Education Sciences

Publication Date

11-2025

Keywords

qualitative case study, comparative, cross-cultural, Chinese public school, Aboriginal Australia, K-2 reading

Abstract

This qualitative comparative case study examines how culturally grounded philosophies of education shape the teaching and learning of reading in two cross-cultural contexts—an Aboriginal Australian classroom and urban Chinese elementary schools. Drawing on interpretive and reflexive methodologies, it investigates how Aboriginal and Confucian epistemologies influence literacy practices and how these practices align with or resist dominant, decontextualized models of reading instruction. Data sources include classroom observations, reading assessments, teacher interviews, and researcher reflections. Conceptually framed by Gadamer’s hermeneutics, Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, Habermas’s typology of knowledge, and the Caribbean concept of overstanding, this research finds that Aboriginal literacy is embedded in relational, land-based knowledge systems, whereas Chinese literacy instruction reflects moral discipline and social hierarchy rooted in Confucian traditions. This study introduces overstanding as a pedagogical stance that foregrounds ethical engagement, cultural respect, and mutual understanding. By challenging universalist models of literacy, this research offers a framework for developing dialogical, culturally responsive, and equity-oriented reading practices.

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First published in Education Sciences (2025): https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15121603

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.3390/educsci15121603

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