Page 98 - Getting of the fence
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                                Chapter 4
 4.5 Discussion and Classroom Implications
In this study we asked 635 students in 15 secondary schools to write down the benefits of EFL literature education. The most important finding of our study is that the majority of the students see the EFL literature component through the lens of their language course; a total of 74% of the students mentioned the Language approach as a beneficial component of EFL literature education. These findings support previous research such as Martin and Laurie’s (1993) who showed that the students generally perceived the inclusion of literature in a pragmatic language learning way. Although these results are not surprising (the EFL literature component in Dutch secondary education is after all part of a language course), the fact that the students indicated that they recognize the contribution of literature to their language development underlines the notion of an integrated language and literature curriculum promulgated by, for example, the Comprehensive Approach. This is supported by Dutch EFL teachers who value the use of the foreign language in the literature classroom (Kordes & Gille 2012) as well as different voices in the literature. Grabe (2009), in an overview of the research, suggests that meaningful foreign language reading, such as literature, is an important source for improving reading accuracy and reading rate. Lao and Krashen (2000), too, argue that reading foreign language literature exposes language learners to a wealth of language varieties and registers.
The second most beneficial approach according to this group of students was the Context approach. Slightly more than half of the students (56%) mentioned the Context approach at least once, and 47% of them focused on the ‘Historical, cultural, and social context’ element. The high percentage for this particular element could represent a desire that Martin and Laurie’s (1993) students also expressed: a desire for “relevant cultural content” (p. 195). Since most literary works that are presented to foreign language students are placed in a foreign world where students learn about the historical, cultural, and social elements through fiction, poetry and drama, studying these works in the foreign language classroom could enhance the students’ intercultural and critical cultural awareness (Byram, 2014). One could even argue that being able to contextualise a literary work through a language that is not your own, thereby possibly cultivating a sense of tolerance and understanding (Barrette et al., 2010; Bredella, 2012; McKay, 1982), might be a unique feature of foreign language literature education.
The two approaches that were absent from the answers of the majority of the students were the Reader approach (where 33% of students mentioned any of
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