This essay is focused on gender issues in the film The Kissing Booth directed by Vince Marcello and how it can be used in a Swedish EFL classroom to problematize the stereotypical portrayals of the main characters. Since film is readily available for people in the Western world, including young students, it is important to teach them to be mindful of how media content can influence people in different ways. Even though the movie challenges some gender norms at first glance, an application of the Bechdel test shows that The Kissing Booth actually strengthens the Western world's traditional representation of gender. Because gender was mostly viewed as a binary correlated to sex before, it is easy to stay within those restrictive ways when creating and depicting characters in film. However, theorists have found that gender is not innate but performative and if it is not depicted as such in mainstream media, it may uphold outdated notions of gender and prevent changes in attitudes needed for a more inclusive society. Modern events, such as the Me Too movement, also indicate that there is a need for more conversations about these issues.

Even though English should mainly be used in the EFL-classroom according to the Swedish national curriculum, some recent scholars have argued that a judicious use of the students’ L1 by the teachers in some particular situations may benefit the learning environment there. From this context, this thesis examines what research says about in what particular situations the L1 is used by teachers in upper secondary EFL-classrooms as well as the teachers’ and the students’ attitudes towards this practice. The method used was a systematic literature review, where seven articles from all across the globe were analyzed, compared and synthesized. The results show that the L1 was mainly used by the teachers when managing discipline, when explaining grammar and when teaching vocabulary. However, the articles did not conclude how the L1 could be used strategically by the teachers. Concerning the teachers’ and students’ attitudes, the majority of these were positive towards L1 use by the teacher in the above mentioned situations. However, the teachers were not aware of how the L1 could be used by them in a judicious and a strategic way. Lastly, it can be concluded that more research is needed on how the L1 can be used more strategically by the teachers as well as on the students’ perspective on this.

Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give is a young adult novel that covers controversial topics such as racism and police violence. In this essay, the concept of immersion is used to examine how the novel and its 2018 film counterpart adaptation differ in examining these topics. I claim that the film and novel versions operate through different methods of immersion. The novel mainly operates by immersion through characterization, while the film often prioritizes immersion through setting. In both cases, references are used to create immersion by grounding the novel within real historical eventhappenings and relevant contemporary discourse. Furthermore, this essay shows that highlighting factors of immersion, history, and contemporary discourse, while working with adaptation in practice, can lead to a more productive way of working with racially aware literature in the EFL classroom.

The aim of this master’s thesis was to study the portrayal of discrimination that occurs because of multiple factors in Maya Angelou’s book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The analysis has been conducted through the lens of Critical Race theory as the theory draws on the affiliation between race, racism and power. The main focal point of this essay was the intersectionality of race, gender and social class. The results of this study showed recurring events in which the characters in the book are marginalized. However, the study also showed the resilience and resistance the characters manifests in their exertion for an equal society. Additionally, this Master’s thesis addressed how the English as a Foreign Language classroom with the inclusion of Caged Bird and the usage of Critical Race pedagogy can start a development of fundamental values such as equality and gender roles whilst diminishing prejudice.

This essay applies a critical lens to Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf. The aim of this essay is to investigate if and how Mrs. Dalloway can be utilized for students to practice critical consciousness in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf criticizes her own contemporary society by deliberately writing about the obnoxious social class system in London during the inter-war period. This deliberate social critique is analyzed by both looking into the author’s background and the historical time period the novel was written. The Marxist literary critic, Terry Eagleton argues that in order to fully understand literature, you must compare both the author and the author’s contemporary society to the novel itself. By analyzing these aspects, it is possible to understand any piece of literature from any given historical time period. Moreover, this essay desires to ascertain if canonical literature is relevant when teaching students about social class and inclusiveness. Furthermore, this essay argues that having a Marxist perspective can help students become critically conscious of both their environment and society. Also, it examines if the combination of Marxist theory together with critical pedagogy can create an educational situation that is equally fair for all students, regarding their socioeconomic status. The results of this essay concluded that applying either Marxist theory or critical literacy pedagogy to literature, could make students become more critically conscious about their environment, which could help to replicate the teaching philosophies of critical pedagogy by Paulo Freire.

The aim of this study is to examine upper secondary teachers' selection processes, strategies and reasons for why literature is used to address ethical and existential issues in the EFL classroom. Additionally, it is also of interest to examine what advantages, challenges and learning outcomes are evident when addressing this specific issue. A qualitative approach was used for this study and the data was gathered through interviews with eight upper secondary English teachers. The results in the study showed the reasons for selecting literary works to address ethical or existential issues was adding new perspectives and the assets which literature offer. The results also accounted for various advantages and challenges, where pupils' development and the possibility of a free space were mentioned as advantages and language proficiency as a challenge. The learning outcomes were development of both critical thinking as well as the empathic ability.

This essay is a literary analysis of the childhood sexual abuse trauma in The Perks of Being a Wallflower and its possible usefulness in the EFL classroom. Previous scholarly work has lacked in discussing how abuser closeness and a female perpetrator have affected the main character Charlie’s trauma. Therefore, theories regarding female perpetrated sexual assault and betrayal trauma have been applied and it has been concluded that many of the harmful effects of these theories correspond with Charlie’s behaviours. By reading and working with the novel through critical pedagogy, which according to Antero Garcia concerns exploring what is beneath surface level, students are offered multiple ways in which they can deal with their emotions whilst improving their language skills (96). In addition, trauma-informed teaching can be used for students to understand trauma consequences, implied trauma and to prevent students being retraumatized. The epistolary format also shows students that reading and writing about one’s emotions, through bibliotherapy and scriptotherapy, can improve one’s mental health and help one feel less alone in experiencing difficult situations or emotions.

This thesis aims at analysing the novel History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera using a queer phenomenological lens in order to reveal to what extent it depicts aspects of sexuality, consent and relationships in a non-heteronormative way. Furthermore, the thesis discusses different ways of making visible the effects of normativity on student’s learning and development through the proposed queer phenomenological pedagogy.  The literary analysis is conducted by implementing queer theory, queer phenomenology and reader-response to reveal and convey the above-mentioned aspects in a way that enables critical thinking from a non-heteronormative perspective. The pedagogical implications show how the different aspects of sex/sexuality, consent and relationships can be put in juxtaposition and evaluated to broaden the pupils’ understanding and perception. The thesis concludes that the novel History Is All You Left Me contain several examples of sexuality, consent and relationships, amongst others, in a non-heteronormative way, which can be put in juxtaposition in the classroom to further enable critical thinking regarding the topics. Furthermore, the thesis concludes that a queer phenomenological pedagogy can work against normalisation and for pupils finding or expressing their identity and uniqueness.

The current study investigates what recent research tells us as to how creative writing can support language learning in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms at the primary and secondary levels. The results show that teachers must implement a variety of approaches when structuring creative writing lessons to help reach the knowledge requirements in the syllabus for English. Furthermore, the presented studies establish that creative writing is an excellent method to develop writing skills and encourage pupils to write. This investigation also shows that implementing creative writing into ESL classrooms helped develop vocabulary, grammar, and imagination. Finally, it appears that confident pupils are more likely to enjoy a creative writing class and advance faster in their language learning.

Out of the debate in Swedish media about homework, the idea for this study was born. The idea was to investigate the popular belief of many foreign language teachers which suggest that homework glossing is a necessity in the English classroom for pupils vocabulary acquisition, while other assumes this method doesn’t lead to knowledge that last. Therefore, the purpose for this study was to examine how learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) manage to learn new words when they received glossing as homework and when they studied the words in a context during class. Furthermore, out of the argument that homework stress pupils and lowers their interest and motivation for the subject, a secondary purpose was to find out pupils’ opinions about learning new words through glossing as English homework. The study was focused on two teaching methods for vocabulary acquisition: the traditional teaching method designed to teach vocabulary by giving glossing as homework, and teaching new words during class with a focus on teaching the new words in context. Through the survey of these two different methods for vocabulary learning and an empirical study with two primary school classes in which these two methods were put on test, contrary to the expectation that learning words through homework glossing wouldn’t lead to vocabulary knowledge that last, the results of the empirical study showed that the group which received glossing as homework, did better on both test than the group which studied the word in context. Similarly, the data results showed the average pupil had a positive attitude to vocabulary homework as for the most part they felt it benefited them to study this method because of the effects of learning.