Young Adult Literature (YAL) and EFL teaching: Sherman Alexie’s "The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian" (2007)

Abstract

Amalgamating linguistic, affective and cultural elements, the reading of literature in schools acquires a critical role as it not only enables students to meaningfully decipher their reality, but also constitutes a promising tool serving the purpose of linguistic instruction. Nevertheless, the English as a foreign language (henceforth EFL) teaching practice, especially concerning the Spanish secondary education setting, depicts a contradictory scenario where literature is a depreciated language teaching resource. Hence, this Masters’ thesis is a pedagogic improvement proposal of the current teaching of EFL whereby literature is presented as an invaluable tool for instructing students on language, culture and emotions. To prove so, this project describes the implementation of a lesson plan articulated upon a Young Adult literature (henceforth YAL) title, namely Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007), designed for a second year of ESO group. More specifically, following Carter and Long’s (1991) triadic model, a selection of relevant book fragments has been dealt with as a means of working upon students’ linguistic, cultural and personal growth development. The post lesson plan conclusion will emphasize students’ positive reaction to this classroom experience as a means of signalling that, when delivered in an accessible and attractive format, literature can be relied upon in the language classroom.