Using literature to teach English to secondary school students: a teaching proposal

Abstract

For many years, English has been taught in secondary schools by following a textbook, rejecting any kind of authentic materials, especially literary texts. Nowadays, the number of researchers pointing out the benefits of teaching teenagers with authentic literature is increasing. For this reason, this project aims to show that it is possible to teach English using authentic literary texts, focusing on three different models: the linguistic model, the cultural model and the personal-growth model. Thus, students are taught not only the vocabulary and grammar rules of the English language, but also some cultural aspects and values, while instilling in them the motivation to read for pleasure. In order to carry out this project, the first modality has been chosen, concerning an educational improvement. Therefore, I have created a teaching proposal using novels belonging to YAL genre, in order to implement it in a secondary school during my Practicum period. The unit was taught to students from 1st ESO, and the results obtained, although limited in scope, seem to prove that literature is an invaluable resource to teach English to teenagers.