CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION: A DOCUMENT-BASED ANALYSIS OF ALL ARE WELCOME WITHIN THE QATAR EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT

Abstract

ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the cultural diversity that the picturebook All Are Welcome represents and how it facilitates intercultural communication in early childhood education in the Qatari educational context. It is premised on the position that children's literature is a cultural and pedagogical form that influences the ways young learners understand identity, belonging, and difference. The study is located in Qatar where multicultural educational environments coexist with significant commitments to Arabic language, national identity and values-based education. Using a qualitative, document-based approach, this study examines the verbal and visual aspects of All Are Welcome as a multimodal educational text. Mona Baker's socio-narrative theory is used as the main analytical framework and Sinicrope, Norris and Watanabe's synthesis of intercultural competence is applied secondarily to consider the text's educational implications. The results indicate that the book builds an effective story of inclusion from the repeated words of welcome, the depiction of diversity that at eye level, with children engaged in shared activities and the representation of the school as a safe communal space. The book is particularly effective in normalizing plurality and stimulating openness to difference. At the same time, the book presents diversity in relatively harmonious and conflict-free terms and issues of misunderstanding, unequal power, and the negotiation of difference receive limited attention. The thesis concludes that All Are Welcome has pedagogical value in Qatar, when it is used in a critical and contextual manner, with teacher mediation and alongside local materials that reflect the linguistic and cultural realities in Qatari classrooms. Keywords Early childhood education; cultural diversity; intercultural communication; picturebooks; All Are Welcome; Qatar; socio-narrative theory; multicultural education

Date of Award	2026
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Humanities and Social Science