Reading literature in English language teacher education Dr Christina Lima IATEFL Literature, Media and Cultural Studies SIG

Overview  Teachers & literature  The role of literature in language education  The ELT Online Reading Group  Data analysis and findings  How to create a reading group  How to join the ORG  Further reading

imagination transformation creativity for change knowledge creation empathy dialogue Literature

Teachers & Literature In many teaching contexts around the world, English language teachers …  Do English literature credit modules in their undergraduate degrees  Teach English literature as part of the curriculum  Use graded readers with their learners  Create in reading groups for their students  Use storytelling and drama in the classroom  Include creative writing in their lessons

‘In future years, the absence of imaginative content in language teaching will be considered to have marked a primitive stage of the discipline.’ McRae, p.vii

24 years later…  Few publications in the area of literature and language education  No qualification courses in the area of teaching literature in ELT  Little emphasis on the use of literature in ITT or CPD  Few TAs with Literature SIGs  Considerable resistance to the inclusion of literature in language courses

Fictional, literary accounts, if used mindfully, provide a ‘safe ground’ for the exploration of teaching and learning concepts, beliefs and feelings without exposing teachers too much. No person can have all the experience and knowledge in the world and teachers need the fictionality of literature to complement their own limited personal and professional experiences and help them better understand their students and different teaching contexts.

An investigation of readers’ responses to literary texts and their comments on such texts posted to an online discussion forum. ELT Online Reading Group

Discourse analysis

Research findings  Copy and recycle language from the literary texts they read  Copy and recycle language from others with whom they discuss texts  Use texts as communicative devices to establish and maintain relationships in the reading group  Connect texts they read to other texts and other media  Connect fictional stories to real life stories  Draw moral and ethical values from stories  Take notes and write elaborate textual analysis  Draw on other readers’ ideas and experiences

Thematic analysis Professional experiences Personal experiences Group experiences

Research findings For some members, participation in the reading group led to…  Increased participation in other online professional networks  The creation of their own local reading groups  The exploration of further literature online resources  The development of critical reading skills  Increased language awareness and the ability to better proofread and edit their own writing  The opportunity to make connections between fictional material and their personal and professional experiences  The promotion of intercultural understanding  The use of group material for classroom activities  The development of their own creative writing skills

Create your own  Know your readers  Engage a core group of enthusiasts  Choose your online platform  Select ‘relevant and interesting’ texts  ‘Connect’ the reading group to your training programme or course syllabus  Give participants agency over it  Participate and moderate

A case for literature If we are searching for texts which engage affectively, challenge cognitively, promote language awareness and help teachers to reflect critically about the world where they live and teach and act imaginatively to change it, literature should not be absent from our teacher education programmes.

Further reading  Browner, S., Sears, R. and Pulsford, S., Literature and the Internet: A Guide for Students, Teachers, and Scholars. London: Routledge.  Frye, N., The Educated Imagination. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.  Hall, G., Literature in Language Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave.  Hudson, T., Teaching Second Language Reading. Oxford: OUP  Kearney, R., On Stories. London: Routledge.  Lamy, M-N. and Hampel, R., Online Communication in Language Learning and Teaching. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.  Lancashire, I. (ed)., Teaching Literature and Language Online. New York, NY: Modern Language Association of America.  Lima, C. and Lamy, M-N., Online reading groups and network dynamics. In: M.-N. Lamy and K. Zourou (eds). Social Networking for Language Education. Basingstoke: Palgrave, pp.67–85.  Manguel, A., A History of Reading. London: Viking.  Sedo R.D. (ed), Reading Communities from Salons to Cyberspace. Basingstoke: Palgrave.  Tagore, R., Stories from Tagore. CreateSpace Online Publications.

Thank you