In-depth analysis summary

In summation, the tasks that the informants are presented with in the classroom seem to have significant impact on their experiences of the literary texts they read. However, there are differences between “the phase-three-readers” discussed in this section. Tova and Emma tend to combine efferent approaches with aesthetic approaches when encountering texts and tasks in the EFL classroom. They therefore seem to be better prepared for literary work in the classroom than Tina and Kia, who struggle with shifting between approaches according to the different tasks (with different approaches suggested). The mixed-approach tasks (post-reading task 1) related to “Thou Shalt Not Kill” seem to assist and help Kenneth, “the efferent

reader”, to take new perspectives on the text.

Moreover, it seems to be very important that the pre-reading tasks aim to help the learners to enter the literary texts they are presented with in the EFL classroom. However, the pre-reading tasks given to “A Great Day”, “What is your idea of a great day?” and “What do you think the story is about?” did not seem to help Kia with comprehending and interpreting the text. Based on Kia’ experiences with encountering this text, I argue that a pre-reading task

93 which could help her to focus on narrative aspects of literary texts in general, and of this text in particular, might better prepare her for entering into dialogue with the text. Alternatively, a task that focused on how language can contain hidden meanings, and that an utterance can be ambiguous, might have been purposeful in this respect. Adan, “the analytical reader” seemed to respond well to the set of tasks he was presented with through the reading of “A Great Day”, as the analysis seemed to help him to interpret the hidden meanings beneath the surface of the text (subplot). This text, in combination with this set of reading tasks, seems to be too demanding for learners who approach the text based on their experiences and emotions, as the pre-reading task invites them to do.

4.8 Chapter summary

What can there be to learn from the way the informants in this study have described

themselves as readers of literature, and the way they have been placed according to the phases of Appleyard’s description of readers (1991)? Moreover, what are the implications of this knowledge as far as employing literary texts in the EFL-classroom is concerned? This chapter has described and discussed the learners’ approaches to literature within and beyond the EFL classroom. The majority of the informants have been placed within phase three of “the

adolescent reader” (Appleyard 1991). These learners want to read texts that make them think, and in which they can recognize themselves. The important aspects of literary reading for the phase three readers in this study are identification, involvement and the urge for “something new”, as many of them enhance through their statements. These informants tend to approach the literary text with basis in their experiences and emotions, and they want to identify

themselves with the fictional characters. A drawback with approaching literary texts based on emotions and experiences solely is that the reader may become too involved with the text, and not be able “to take a step aside” and comment on and/or discuss it (Appleyard 1991, Scholes 1998, Skarstein 2013). This seems to be the case with some of the phase three readers

amongst the group of informants (Tina and Kia). The informant who does not read literature at all beyond an educational context, and who reads literary texts the same way he reads factual texts, differs from the others in this respect. He communicates the view that the literary texts are “all the same” and that there is little variation from one story to the next. He reads texts in an efferent manner rather than aesthetically. His analytical approach makes him distance himself from the literary text in such a way that personal involvement becomes

94 impossible. Consequently, the literary reading may become uninteresting or boring. The only informant who was placed in the fourth phase of Appleyard’s descriptions (“the analytical reader”), Adan, approaches texts adapted to aim and purpose to a much larger extent than the others, and he is able to talk about literary experiences on a meta-level.

To summarize, some informants in this study (Jon and Adan) indicate that the reading of literary texts within the EFL classroom is less meaningful than the reading taking place beyond these limits. Furthermore, Tina indicates that she is not able to explore and discuss the literary EFL texts the way she could have wanted, because peers are often reluctant or

uninterested in this regard, something she points at in her statements²⁵.

However, all informants to some extent describe meaningful encounters with literature in English. The spare time reading is primarily experience-based and emotionally motivated, although most informants emphasize that they learn a lot from the reading beyond the

classroom as well, such as expanding vocabulary, getting new perspectives and learning how to express themselves better and more creatively in English. Additionally, it can be argued that the informants that express feelings of insecurity and deficiency when encountering literary texts in the EFL-classroom do so because they have difficulties coping with

unfamiliar content and literary style and form. In the EFL context these informants seem to struggle when they encounter literary texts which are different from the literature they are familiar with, and when they are deprived of the confidence which they have in their mother tongue (Ibsen 2000: 137). Readers of phase three, where most of the informants can be placed, lack the critical and analytical skills of the phase four readers, according to

Appleyard’s descriptions. Consequently, they are incapable of coping with some of these texts on their own, with support from the tasks in the textbook solely.

As shown in the in-depth analysis, literary analysis is perhaps the biggest challenge, not as far as following the plot is concerned but rather to understand the role of the narrator, the text’s literary style, cultural setting and background. Examples of this are Tina’s encounter with

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” where the narrator is a boy with

Asperger’s syndrome, and Kia’s meeting with “A Great Day” where a third person omniscient narrator ‘prevents’ her from having free access to the thoughts and feelings of the two

characters in the story. The cultural settings represented in the two texts are also, at least to

25 “What are they doing in class if they are not interested? It’s so irritating...” (Tina1)

95 some extent, unfamiliar. The literary style might also have been a challenge for the two

informants, as both texts are ‘unusual’ in this respect. However, the two learners do not explicitly comment on this, so it is difficult to assess. Since there is little focus on reading literature as a sociocultural process in the informants’ classrooms, valuable learning situations may go missing. In conclusion, there seems to be a need for more variation, challenging texts, more exploration of meaning and perhaps less checkable comprehension tasks.

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