Using Literature in the Upper Secondary EFL Classroom

The Swedish upper-secondary level curriculum defines the English language as a necessary skill that the students need to be able to take part of the world around them, to participate in different social and cultural contexts and to learn about the world and broaden their horizons. In the curriculum, it is also stated that English literature is to be illustrate the different aspects of the English language. Literature is, in fact, introduced as a vital tool for the teachers of English. The purpose of this essay is to explore English teachers’ reasons and goals for using literature when teaching English, as well as their opinions on how literature should be used and is used in the English classroom. The results show that teachers see literature as a strong pedagogical tool that they use to help their students develop social and cultural understanding, as well as a tool for learning and studying the language itself. The problems encountered are the students’ negative attitude towards literature and their lack of motivation as well as planning and conducting literature-based teaching within a restricted time frame. All the teachers that took part in the study wished that they could use literature in a more extensive way and saw it as a great source for teaching a foreign language