Page 108 - Getting of the fence

Chapter 5
example, provide a recent example of such integration, reconceptualizing poetry as a multimodal genre in the foreign language-literature secondary classroom. Even though this is not new, Carter (2015) argues that this deliberate integration is carried out more consciously now: “many of the questions first raised 30 or more years ago are still being asked today, in many cases with greater sharpness and relevance to the design of today’s curricula in language and literature” (p. 317). Several frameworks based on practitioner evidence and beliefs have been developed to promote this integration in teaching practice, generally including a linguistic, a cultural, and a personal enrichment approach to foreign language literature (e.g. Carter and Long 1991; Lazar 1993; Maley & Duff 2007). Although these frameworks generally lack empirical research and validation, the most recent discussions have moved past whether literature should be a part of foreign language curricula, towards a discussion on how the two components should be integrated, visualized by Paran’s (2008) quadrant of the intersection of literature and language teaching (Figure 2.1). (See also Paesani 2011 for a review within the context of U.S. institutions of higher education).
5.2.2 Students’ perspective on EFL literature classes
Previous research in a variety of educational contexts around the world suggests that for students in the foreign language literature classroom it is language learning that comes to the fore. In the secondary school context, linguistic relevance and utility appeared, for example, pivotal in the study we reported in Chapter 4 where we investigated the perception of 635 Dutch secondary school students of their EFL literature lessons. By answering a single open question, these students reported that the benefits of EFL literature lessons were first and foremost to improve their English language speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills. Similar results were found in a Higher Education context by Martin and Laurie (1993), who report that students of French at an Australian university “are hesitant about literature as a formal part of their language course” (p. 204) because their primary objective is linguistic and improving their language proficiency. Interestingly, however, Akyel and Yalçin (1990), researching the perspectives of Turkish secondary school students, found that there was a connection between the student’s appreciation of EFL literature lessons and their English language proficiency.
Knowing that students perceive the foreign language literature lessons primarily as a language learning opportunity has a major impact on the classroom situation. For example, a foreign language literature lesson “where the teacher
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