“IN THAT CASE I CHOOSE TO WORK WITH SHORT STORIES” : A study about how English short stories are taught by nine upper secondary school teachers in Sweden and said teachers’ attitudes towards short stories

Reading English literature can help learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to develop their reading ability as well as other language skills. Reading can also have other benefits for EFL students such as learning about the target language’s culture or an English variety in written form. Thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Engwers, Anton
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: Mälardalens högskola, Akademin för utbildning, kultur och kommunikation 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-54100
Description
Summary:Reading English literature can help learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to develop their reading ability as well as other language skills. Reading can also have other benefits for EFL students such as learning about the target language’s culture or an English variety in written form. This present study investigates what types of literature are used in Swedish upper secondary school, the EFL teachers’ attitudes towards short stories compared to simplified novels/graded readers and their preferred assessment methods associated with literature teaching. The majority of the teachers that took part in this survey have a positive attitude towards short stories and use them in their EFL classes. The results also show that after the students have completed reading a short story, most of the teachers that participated in this survey preferred to combine examination methods such as a group discussion with a written test.The title of this paper comes from one of the informants’ comments when asked if she would rather use a short story or a graded reader in her English class. This informant had used graded readers in her English language classroom, but she and everyone that took part in this survey chose short stories over graded readers.