Introducing Young Adult Literature (YAL) in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Classroom: The Maze Runner (2009) by James Dashner

Abstract

During the last years, there has been an increasing significant development in the study of the relationship between literature and education. Concretely, especial emphasis has been drawn on the key role of literature in teaching English language. There are reasons to suggest that literature is a weighty source to teach not only linguistic features but also socio-cultural and personal qualities. On this view, the selection of appropriate materials and how to cope with them is essential to be successful in using literature for educational purposes. In particular, the paper will review the current reading activities carried out in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom and how these can be superseded by more appealing activities related to authentic literary sources. Therefore, the project is based on an educational improvement. As an example, a didactic proposal to work on the language, the culture and personal values from the young adult post-apocalyptic dystopian science fiction novel The Maze Runner (2009) is included. The proposal attempts to exploit the linguistic, cultural and personal growth model in order to benefit from the power of Young Adult Literature (YAL) in teaching EFL to students of secondary education. The results obtained prove the advantages of working on YAL with adolescents.