Learning to Read at the Upper Secondary Level : A Mixed-Method Study of Teachers’ Use of Literature to Enhance Reading Comprehension in the Upper Secondary EFL Classroom in Sweden

This study aims to explore the use of literature to enhance students’ reading comprehension abilities in the upper secondary EFL classroom in Sweden. The study uses a mixed method of teacher survey and teacher interviews to answer the three research questions: (1) How often do teachers use literature to enhance students’ reading comprehension abilities? (2) What kinds of literature are used when the purpose is to enhance students’ reading comprehension abilities? And (3) How do EFL teachers teach literature when the purpose is to enhance students’ reading comprehension abilities? The study finds that upper secondary school teachers in Sweden use literature in various ways to enhance students’ reading comprehension abilities. To achieve this purpose, teachers mainly use short stories, novels, poetry, young adult novels, plays, and children’s books.  The study also finds that intensive reading approaches are more commonly used than extensive reading approaches in Swedish classrooms and teachers use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies to help their students comprehend the text. Additionally, teachers’ use of reading strategies varies according to the text at hand and the purpose of reading. Furthermore, upper secondary school teachers use both explicit strategy instruction and activities that allow the students opportunities to practice reading strategies, and they also teach the students how different reading strategies are used for different purposes.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hig-38623
Date January 2022
CreatorsHaidar, Maha
PublisherHögskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för humaniora
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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