Teachers’ Literature Selections. Teachers’ Preferences and Inspirations Regarding Their Literature Selections

Abstract

The aim of this research has been to categorise and understand what types of literature or fictional materials teachers select and their reasoning behind their literature selections. The Swedish upper-secondary courses in English all list literature as a required aspect of the provided syllabi with very few directions towards actual materials teachers should be using. A mixed-method design was used to incorporate quantitative and qualitative data, in order to better answer the questions posed on the topic of literature selection in this study. The results collected from the survey demonstrate that teachers tend to use a variety of media types, particularly a combination of novels, short-stories and films. Teachers gravitate to the genres young adult and classical literature and typically include themes like coming of age, race and ethnicity, or identity in their literature segments. Other things explored through the survey are how teachers find or exclude literature and titles of literature teachers shared. The interviews revealed that teachers preferences and inspirations often originated from ideas about what skills or lessons they wanted to teach by using literature. Literature selection does not necessarily start with the text, but rather the preparatory work that teachers then match their literature selections to. This research also made it clear that literature selection is a very individualised process where teachers have to interpret and merge the requirements of syllabi and the needs of their students. This degree paper will feasibly function as further inspiration for English language teachers on how to select literature.