Page 168 - Getting of the fence

Chapter 7
7.1 Introduction
This thesis focused on literature teaching as part of the EFL curriculum in Dutch secondary education. We were especially interested in analysing the current situation from a teacher and student perspective and in using these perspectives to take steps in building a well-structured and sustainable EFL literature curriculum, thereby breaking the justification habit regarding the inclusion of literature in the foreign language curriculum (section 1.4). The three main objectives of this thesis included: the design of a literature teaching model that includes various aspects of the learner, the context, and the literary text (Paran, 2008); a systematic enquiry into the current position of EFL literature education through the eyes of teachers as well as students; and an in-depth analysis of how teachers experience the relevance and usefulness of a literature teaching model as described in the first objective. This final chapter starts with an integrative overview of the findings by addressing the five main research questions. This leads to a discussion regarding a selection of the results that call for further elaboration. Further, the limitations, directions for future research, and the implications are discussed.
7.2 Integrative overview of the findings and answers to the five main research questions
7.2.1 Research question 1: What does a foreign language literature teaching model look like that includes various aspects of the learner, the context, and the literary text?
The most recent reform in the field of foreign language literature teaching shows a strong movement towards an integration of literature teaching and language acquisition within the foreign language curriculum. In Chapter 2, we took this recent reform as our starting point. A synthesis of Maley’s (1989) distinction between two primary purposes for foreign language literature teaching (the study of literature and the use of literature as a resource), Paran’s (2008) intersection of language focus and literature focus (Figure 2.1), and a selection of previously designed categorizations of foreign language literature teaching approaches (section 2.1.2), led to a first design of a foreign language literature teaching model that we named the Comprehensive Approach to foreign language literature teaching and learning. The model was further developed and validated with foreign language
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