Impact of Literature on Allegheny College Student’s Perceptions of Undocumented Immigrants
Persistent URL
Author(s)
Williams, Ela
Date Issued
April 5, 2023
Abstract
The United States general population's opinions towards undocumented immigrants as well as the politization of feelings regarding undocumented immigration is concerning considering the influx of undocumented Latinx/e immigrants crossing the border into the United States. My study filled a gap in the literature surrounding the impact of narration style and paratextual information on participants' feelings towards undocumented immigrants. Participants in this study filled out a questionnaire that asked them to rate on a 5-point Likert scale the extent to which they agreed with statements intended to measure their feelings towards undocumented immigrants. Participants were then primed with the information that the text they were about to read was fiction or nonfiction before they read a short paragraph about a single Latinx/e adult who is crossing the border without documentation. Following completion of the questionnaire, participants were given a filler task which included questions regarding qualitative information on the participant's reading habits and emotions. Finally, participants were asked to answer the questionnaire again and answer demographic questions. This study measured the impacts of different narration styles (first person vs third person vs journalism) and paratextual information (fiction vs nonfiction) on participants' feelings towards undocumented immigrants. The results of this study showed no statistical significance; however, the trend in the influence of narrative style indicated a potential for statistically significant results if there would have been more participants.
Major
English
Psychology
Honors
English, 2023
Psychology, 2023
First Reader(s)
Normile, Christopher
Other Reader(s)
Caballero, M. Soledad
Department
English
Psychology
Type of Publication
Senior Project Paper
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Impact of Literature on Allegheny College Student's Perceptions of Undocumented Immigrants.pdf
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