Page 102 - Getting of the fence

Chapter 4
students in different schools, each of the four approaches of the Comprehensive Approach nevertheless featured in all but one of our 15 schools. Furthermore, the Language approach featured as the most dominant approach. In other words, the students indicated that they primarily see the EFL literature component as a means of improving their language skills but they also, in varying degrees, indicate benefits related to the context, reader, and Text approach. Considering the impact a student’s perspective has on how they learn, these findings have significant implications for the further implementation and development of integrated foreign language and literature curricula. If teachers want to create the desirable situation of congruence and constructive friction in their foreign language literature lessons, focusing on the Language approach in combination with the Context, Reader, and Text approach appears to be the way forward.
Understanding the range of student experiences within classes could contribute to effectively educating a wide variety of students (Pflaum & Bishop, 2004; see also Zapata, 2016), and there are different ways in which teachers can implement the findings from this study. This would most probably take the form of a small, localized research study in which teachers would: (1) find out what their students believe are the benefits of foreign language literature education, (2) compare the students’ perspectives with the curriculum they are offered, and (3) enrich existing programmes. Ways in which the student perspective can be researched within the classroom context are, for example: organizing focus groups where students discuss a particular part of the curriculum; organizing student presentations in which they explain what they would like to learn, how they would like to learn this and why; constructing a web quest where students research different ways of teaching literature and comment on them; or letting students design their perfect foreign language literature lesson. Gaining insight into how students perceive the benefits of a particular component of the curriculum can enhance current educational practice (Brown, 2009) and re-inform existing conversations about educational reform (Cook-Sather, 2002). This is especially valuable considering the current position of foreign language literature education in its transition towards an integrated language and literature curriculum.
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