[Edling] Query about Literature Research in English Teaching

[Francis Hult]

Hi everyone,



I am currently teaching a course that prepares pre-service English teachers to do an advanced independent thesis project.  This includes, as might be typical in TESOL programs, the possibility of students doing field-based classroom research about teaching, (quasi-)experimental studies about SLA, and policy analysis of curricular documents.  Due to various aspects of institutional history and Swedish traditions about the subject of English, it also needs to include the possibility of using literary analysis as an inroad to research about English teaching.  For example, how does an analysis of Achebe's Things Fall Apart using postcolonial theory inform research-based practice?



I see some possibilities.  For example, one could analyze the Swedish national curriculum for where and how it provides for the teaching of postcolonial themes and literary works.  The analysis of the novel then serves to illustrate how literary research informs careful and systematic teaching of a particular novel in relation to the spaces in the curriculum.



As a policy researcher myself, I am familiar with scholarly work about policy analysis of curricula, but much less so about the literary angle.  I am definitely open to other possibilities than the example of policy analysis integrated with literary analysis (that's just the nail I want to hit with my own hammer).  I am wondering if anyone on the list is familar with the application of literary theory/analysis as research-based teaching (especially in ESL/EFL).  It would like to provide the students with some model articles so if anyone has suggestions about specific articles that do something along these lines, I would be grateful.



Best,

Francis



--
Francis M. Hult, PhD
Associate Professor
Centre for Languages and Literature
Lund University

Web: http://www.sol.lu.se/en/sol/staff/FrancisHult/

Editor, Educational Linguistics book series
http://www.springer.com/series/5894

Co-editor, Contributions to the Sociology of Language book series
http://www.degruyter.com/view/serial/16644

New Book: Research Methods in Language Policy and Planning: A Practical Guide
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118308395.html
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