Literature and language education: Exploring teachers’ views on teaching foreign language through literature in bilingual secondary schools in Madrid (Spain)

Jelena Bobkina, Elena Domínguez RomeroSusana Sastre-Merino
Abstract

This study explores the perceptions of English language teachers of the use of literature in the context of bilingual secondary education in the region of Madrid (Spain). An approach was adopted under which eighty-one English teacher participants completed a questionnaire so that a quantitative methodological approach of a descriptive – correlational nature could be adopted for this study. Results unveiled teacher perceptions of the benefits and drawbacks of using literary texts as a teaching and learning tool, their selection of literary texts and their actual implementation of these texts in their English classes, as well as the training needs for the effective use of literary texts as a language teaching and learning tool in the bilingual EFL secondary classroom. The pedagogical implications of the study emphasize the need to redesign and consolidate teacher training programmes containing literature and innovative teaching aspects both in initial teacher training programmes and for continued training.

Keywords:
Publication history
Table of contents

The present study strives to investigate the use of literature in EFL through the analysis of first-hand experiences shared by secondary school teachers from the region of Madrid (Spain). We align ourselves with the position that the benefits and drawbacks of the use of literature in EFL are directly proportional to the quality of the implementation of literature in the EFL classroom.

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