MASTERS THESIS

When Holden left everland: Literature and Adolescence

Jose Alberto Arias Pereira Tutor: Gerardo Rodrguez Salas September 2011

Acknowledgements

En primer lugar, creo que lo ms justo sera agradecerle al Director de mi investigacin, Dr. Gerardo Rodrguez Salas, haber aceptado esta propuesta de Trabajo de Fin de Mster tan inusual. Sin duda, sin su constancia y correcciones, esta tesina nunca habra llegado a buen puerto. Dado que mi propuesta inicial difera de la tpica Programacin o conjunto de unidades didcticas, el hecho de aceptar una investigacin sobre literatura cambi las cosas. Gracias, Gerardo, por creer que un mundo donde la literatura est viva es posible. Asimismo, me gustara agradecer al Instituto de Educacin Secundaria Generalife y, en especial, a Nuria Snchez Ruiz, mentora de prcticas y sin la cual no habra tenido la ocasin de conocer a los alumnos en quienes bas esta investigacin. Gracias a todos, a Nuria y a los alumnos del instituto por sus ganas de vivir. A Clark Davies, Katie Stein y Eleanor Staniforth por su amistad, apoyo y valiosas correcciones de estilo. Gracias, cmo no, a la Residencia de Estudiantes de Madrid, que me ha dado el Tiempo y la opcin de acabar esta investigacin en el marco ms enriquecedor, lugar donde nace la magia que cambia a los hombres. Gracias a todos los escritores, seres plmbeos que andan entre dos mundos para que las personas seamos ms personas, para que esto sea ms que un paseo y nos convirtamos en hroes. Gracias a quienes escriben con miedo, sin prejuicios, con la ilusin del novel o la certeza del Nobel. And last but not least, a mi familia. Por su paciencia, por su permisividad conmigo, porque a veces creen en m.

Index

Title Acknowledgements Index Introduction Chapter 1: Purposes of Literature

Should literature serve another purpose? Study of literature in the classroom Learning a language with books Bibliotherapy

1 2 3 5 7 7 9 11 12 16 17 18 21 26 26 28 30 31 33 35 37

Chapter 2: Motivation-Adolescents do not read anymore

Motivation: factors Reading engagement and improvement Motivation strategies

Chapter 3: What to Read When you are Sixteen

Survey: Reading habits A definition of Young Adult Literature The catcher in the rye The Virgin Sucides To kill a mockingbird Harry Potter Lord of the Flies and The Giver

Chapter 4: Literature in ESL Teaching

Extensive Reading Implementation of literature in ESL classes

41 44 45 47 50 52 53

Bibliography
APPENDIX 1 APPENDIX 2 APPENDIX 3

Introduction

You figured most of them would probably marry dopey guys. Guys that always talk about how many miles they get to a gallon in their goddam cars. Guys that get sore and childish as hell if you beat them at golf, or even just some stupid game like ping-pong. Guys that are very mean. Guys that never read books. Guys that are very boring. Salinger, J.D., The catcher in the rye

Traditionally literature has been understood as a leisure activity without any further purpose. However, throughout history, this initial function has given way to several relevant objectives: from entertainment to language learning, there are multiple goals to achieve with the use of literature. In spite of this, lately literature is hardly taken as a priority and young students do not read at all. Reading during adolescence appears to be a significant challenge for both teachers and students. However, there exists a wide variety of studies on how important and useful literature can be for the development of teenagers as well as for the acquisition of a proficient level in a language1. This is especially significant for ESL learners, as literature provides the accurate tools to pick up a language at its different levels from mere syntax to complex idiomatic expressions and verbal tenses. In spite of this, the main problem still remaining is the more and more distant relation between literature and young adults no matter their language, sex or age. The aim of this study is to find ways to make reading an appealing experience through the use of strong teenage

For example, Alonso, Francisco (2005). Sobre la literatura en la adolescencia. Zona prxima No 6, pp. 130-145; Gajdusek, Linda (1988). Toward wider use of literature in ESL: Why and How. TESOL Quaterly, No.2, pp. 227-257.

characters in universal literature with the help of a battery of pre-selected books, which will be implemented in ESL classrooms. Numerous critics have tried to find out how to use literature in ESL as this material is an excellent departure point to improve the learning process, especially with such an apathetic group of learners as teenagers. The role of the teacher here is not only to provide material and lessons, but also to try to guess what might catch the interest of students. However, the problem that teachers will face is the difficulty to meld unlike disciplines as teaching grammar or vocabulary and to develop an interest in literature beyond the use given in the classroom. The concern that young adults may not develop their reading skills due to the irruption of new technologies seems to be wrong (Aunin, 2011: online2). Actually, teenagers spend more time reading than ever before, although perhaps their readings are not the most appropriate. There are many young readers that might find young authors interesting. Nowadays, it is reasonably easy to track down writers on the Internet and to keep a close relation with them as another incentive to enjoy the process of reading. Literature has proved to be an excellent instrument to grow as readers and speakers of a language. The main aspiration of this work is to determine how to succeed in getting young people to read by analyzing the causes that have led to the lack of motivation, as well as to implement literary texts as ESL teaching material. To do so and in order to find material, a survey about reading preferences has been taken in an actual classroom of tenth graders in a bilingual high school from Granada, IES Generalife.

< http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/internautas/leen/mejor/elpepisoc/20110103elpepisoc_1/Tesz

Chapter 1: Purposes of literature

Literature is passion. Literature is fiction. Literature is imagination. Given this, it seems clear that the ultimate purpose of literature is entertainment. People read because they want to escape from their daily routine. Literature, the finest form of a language, can serve multiple purposes if properly studied and understood. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to determine which uses literature can be given in an ESL situation.

Should literature serve another purpose? There are people who try to transform literature into a tool to reach other goals. Thus, books might lose a part of their magic. On the other hand, we should be able to discover literature from a different perspective. Literary authors write for no reason, just because they have this wonderful gift, the talent and the urge to do it. People think that they choose what to write about, but many times it is the story itself which draws the path. Indeed, there is an old maxim that says writers should write about what they know in full sway. The problem is that some people suggest that authors should write about social problems in order to expose injustice and make people aware of whatever is going on. However, I undoubtedly believe that this is a purpose for politics and religion. As Babbit (1989:151) points out, there are many coincidences of writers who tell stories in direct response to pressing social problems. That is the case of Uncle Toms Cabin, To kill a mockingbird or The Grapes of Wrath, among others. Probably some of these novels were written with the purpose in mind of bringing about social change, still what might happen is that once the problem has either been solved or has faded into unimportance, most of these books disappear (Babbit, 1989:151) .We can therefore deduce that books dealing with social issues will only persist if they are high literature:

they will become classics not only due to the topicality of the social issue, but because they rely on universal, timeless topics. The ages will decide what lasts, not the writer. That is the main purpose of literature: to create stories and characters that persist through the years because of their authenticity. But in spite of this, a good way to develop this empathy is through a deep connection between a reader and a character we can deduce from this maxim that not all books should make the same impression on everyone as there is one book for each reader, which once again means a secondary purpose of literature beyond mere entertainment. Babbit continues stating that books for children may make them realize that they are not alone, and this can only succeed if books are full of truth. Books for children cannot change the world, but they might make their lives happier:

The world in which we live, which produces the problems of children, cannot be changed by writers of childrens books because childrens books are not read by the general public (). Children have no power. (Babbit, 1989: 151)

Even more, the intention of trying to make a difference through literature may preclude the creation of good fiction as it would establish certain boundaries as regards themes and development: You cant write a decent book if the subject or theme is prescribed from the outside (Babbit, 1989:151). Focusing on childrens literature, apart from providing enjoyment, books might be able to do something as difficult as trying to enlarge a soul. To sum up, a book has to be a pleasure to read.

Study of literature in the classroom Methods for the study of literature have remained untouched for years, but we cannot forget that literature can be seen as a discipline or as a resource for language learning. Therefore literature can be either studied from a literary critical approach or focusing on the texts. Another factor to take into account is the needs of fast and slow readers. According to Zaro (1991: 164), literature is a subject which, for teaching purposes, may be divided into three options:

1. As a discipline, namely, the study of strictly literary elements such as the plot, characters or even the biography of the author. Lessons are teacher-centred and a good reader is seen as more than just a spontaneous, creative individual, as it requires linguistic sophistication and familiarity with cultural conventions. When developing this perspective with EFL learners, literary competence seems transferable between two languages. Picket (1986:271) writes: to be bilateral is much rarer than being bilingual. Anyhow, according to deconstructivists there is no objectivity in literary texts, since readers are ideologically situated.

2. As a source of materials (texts), also known as the stylistics option, students do literary research without the need to be trained except for a basis to develop an interest for literature. In addition, it requires very small participation of the students. Concerning the critical perception, it is wrong to expect linguistics to provide an objective, mechanical technique of analysis which can replace the readers intuition. There is a close relation between the understanding of language and understanding the work of literature. The aim of stylistics is not as much the interpretation but the explanation and appreciation of the literary work.

3. As a resource to develop linguistic competence given that literature is a medium for language acquisition. This approach has always been associated with some kind of literature analysis. In EFL situations the best alternative is the use of simplified readers, that is, books based on famous novels or stories with more accessible grammar and vocabulary in view of the fact that:

Their simplified register can be tuned to the basic English of the student so that the text becomes a source of comprehensible input, and if the stories are attractive enough, the act of reading becomes pleasurable and the student will consequently get much more input on his own, in a relaxed and anxiety-free situation very favourable for the acquisition of a foreign language. (Zaro, 1991: 169)

As we know, the interaction between language and literature is always present. Reading is generally a great source of input since it allows to learn new words and gain awareness of the language. That is why, properly implemented, reading input can lead to the improvement of the writing competence. However, a question still remains: why to use literary texts instead of other written materials? Thanks to literature students can learn the differences between language varieties and also such an important component as a foreign culture. What is more, it also provides authentic content material and brings along suggestions so that students start discussions and talk about different topics. Texts should be carefully selected by criteria of interest rather than literariness.

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Traditionally the dilemma language or literature has been misinterpreted as a debate academic versus non-academic, even though the study of language will be primarily intended to meet specific purposes. Option 3 above appears to be the most appropriate as it would promote not only language acquisition but also the habit of reading. In any case, all three options are valid to be implemented in two different ways: intensive reading, which promotes a solely linguistic exploitation of materials; extensive reading, which consists of the reading of many texts in order to improve reading skills. Thus, developing the literary competence of students should be the ultimate goal of mainstream literature courses, rather than trying to acquaint them with a loose, unrelated bunch of authors or works.

Learning a language with books To begin with, we should clarify how literature is seen as an object of study either of language or of culture. Some linguists firmly believe that literature should not be a tool for language acquisition, as it does not reflect the actual use of a language but an artificial form which has been deeply considered. However, there exist other experts who argue precisely the premeditated nature of literature as a complex and elevated sample of a language; so they also agree that literature allows the learning of a richer vocabulary and syntax, not to mention how it motivates learners and makes them eager to gain knowledge as well as self-awareness of the learning process.3 When literature is used to develop skills in a second language, there are several approaches to adopt. Hui-chun Lee (2003: 8) highlights three types of models previously used by Ronald Carter and Michael Long, each focusing on different aspects of pedagogy:

Norman Whitney, L G. Alexander, Peter Viney and others.

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1. The cultural model, which stresses the importance of input in the form of accumulated wisdom and transports learners into the realm of another culture.

2. The language model, according to which students should get in touch with the more subtle and varied creative uses of language in order to consolidate language skills; in addition, literature and language should complement each other.

3. The personal growth model, which tries to achieve an engagement with the reading of literary texts and through the process to make students able to understand culture and society while becoming important elements in their environment.

The hardest part, nevertheless, is the real implementation of theories in a middle or high school classroom. Teachers should be the key element when working with literature as they should portray the expert. Furthermore, the teacher is responsible for the choice of texts.

Bibliotherapy Bibliotherapy means, according to The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, (7th Edition) the use of books as therapy in the treatment of mental or psychological disorders. The process of intervention is simple: the formation of a relation with a book, with the reader changing in some significant way as a result of this engagement

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(Harvey, 2010: 29). There is no need to be ill to experience bibliotherapy; any reader may be benefiting from the reading habits without even knowing. There is, however, a sector of the population that will feel more connected to the process under certain circumstances. That is the case of adolescents, as they are experiencing many changes while trying to determine their own personality. Even more, contemporary adolescents experience greater rates of behavioural and mental disorders (Harvey, 2010:30). Anyhow, literature can also be used to generate discussion in the classroom no matter if learners suffer from a chronic illness, although literature is the ideal material to help students to recover from their chronic illness. A study was carried out in a high school in Australia with alarming discoveries. One out of four people experience a mental health issue such as depression and eating disorders, some of them especially visible in young students. This is the evidence that proves that schools should get involved in the health of their students. During the study focused on facilitators (both welfare team members and librarians) they discussed the student presentation, several intervention strategies which included bibliotherapy practice. (Harvey, 2010: 31) Although bibliotherapy is not yet a formal process within schools, the relation established by readers and their books is a fact that should be taken into account. Under a therapeutic implementation, the aim of bibliotherapy practice is to elicit change in the attitude or behaviour of the reader, to enhance their problem-solving skills and therefore increase their resourcefulness (Harvey, 2010: 29). In other words, literature helps ill students realize that they are not alone and that other people have problems; it has a positive influence on their mood and makes recovery easier. Adolescents with chronic illness can experience great complexities in managing their health concerns along with the journey of transition to adulthood, not to mention that their health issues can manifest mentally in adulthood.

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In order to avoid these situations, psychologists have suggested the use of books as a procedure to deal with health issues. To begin with, schools should be well equipped providing access to a range of literature for children and young adults. The practical use of reading and books in general has already been demonstrated. Welfare teams manage themselves not only with books, but also with existing programs and websites that allow self-intervention. It is necessary to explain that bibliotherapy can be either guided or unguided. Professionals who work with bibliotherapy are known as facilitators or helpers and can be experts on this type of therapy or educators (teachers and/or librarians). So how is the experience? Good readers describe reading as a very personal experience based on the enjoyment provided by many genres: fiction, non-fiction, comics, magazines, etc., although facilitators often use fictional books so that they can understand particular issues and generate discussion. It is important to determine when books are recommended to students as the reading of the book itself is the bibliotherapeutic practice. Participants who believed that books have a therapeutic benefit agreed that books should be selected and given in an informal way. Nevertheless, there are some limitations as bibliotherapy is restricted to students who have more time put the strategy into practice, that is, not everyone can follow the planning of helpers. With regard to the choice of books, going back to a topic already mentioned, good books are universal and so books written decades ago may still be relevant for some students (Harvey, 2010:36) and quoting C.A. Corr, bibliotherapy may [b]ring... a child or adolescent indirectly to the edge of sensitive issues, possibly too threatening and painful to face directly (2010:36). As important as the choice of the books should be to know the reader well so that the helper can match a particular person with an appropriate text even if expert advice is required to do so: a good match should

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contemplate the engagement factor, age-appropriateness and to be a collaborative strategy. Probably bibliotherapy will not last in the future as we know it nowadays as it may not be suitable for all students or their needs. However, it means an important step forward towards the future of literature as it shows once again that Alice, Peter Pan or Holden Cauldfield might keep on saving lives.

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Chapter 2: Motivation Adolescents do not read anymore

Do adolescents read? Few adolescents admit to read regularly. So why do not adolescents read? This is the main question to consider before even trying to motivate them. Social changes have probably brought a variation on the way people spend their free time. According to an article on The ew York Times (Solomon, 2004: online), a

likely explanation might be the fact that reading is not an active expression. Furthermore, it is indeed an unnatural act (Gough, P.B., & Hillinger, M.L., 1980: 179) and therefore people might just leave it out of consideration. This might seem irrelevant, but there is evidence relating the decline of reading and the crisis in national education, as happens in the United States. Despite people knowing how to read, they are lacking motivation. Reading motivation should be taken into account since, if people do not read, they will be illiterate and consequently society will worsen in every single aspect. There is evidence that proves this idea: The United States has one of the highest unemployment rates and the lowest educational skills. There is a correlation between the two and until the educational system raises the bar back to where it was before the 21st century stepped in, we are going to continue graduating children who cannot read, write or do simple math. It is up to parents to instil the importance of education and to play a major role once again in its participation. (Piotrowski, 2009: online article)

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Motivation: factors Motivation is the reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 7th Edition). According to Guthrie and Wigfield, motivation is defined in terms of beliefs, values, needs and goals that individuals have (2007: 378). As to reading, motivation can also be regarded as why to read, that is, as making people want to read more. Can motivation be induced? Absolutely, but not all kinds of motivation can. There are two main types of motivation:

1. Intrinsic motivation: readers are self-determining, which means that they elect a wide range of literacy activities for aesthetic enjoyment, gaining knowledge and interacting with friends. They are motivated to read for its own sake (Guthrie et al., 1996: 309). Therefore, this kind of motivation cannot be induced as it is inherent.

2. Extrinsic motivation: motivation comes from outside the learner. For example, students read because they want to make a good impression on the teacher or in exchange for good marks. According to Guthrie et al., extrinsic learners depend on the guidance of others (1996: 310). It has to do more with volition than with the need to do something.

Depending on the kind of motivation, different strategies can be used in order to make students read as an enjoyable experience. Intrinsic and extrinsic readers might both follow the same strategy in a successful way. As a matter of fact, it is important to highlight the fact that students may possess multiple motivational goals simultaneously some of which are intrinsic and some extrinsic. We believe students have multiple

17

goals for reading (Guthrie et al., 1996: 309). Even more, motivations are domainspecific. This implies that someone may be intrinsically motivated to read but not to learn physics and vice versa. The relevance of a proper research on adolescent motivation depends on the strands followed by the researchers. According to Guthrie et al., these strands include adolescents as meaning-makers out of school with other competency needs and adolescents as victims of an educational system that devaluates literary activities where teenagers are literate e.g. electronic games, visual productions, media-text, etc. and enhances contents that students do not comprehend. In both cases, school is a disincentive as it does not promote what motivates adolescents to read. Reading out of school includes a variety of multimedia instead of traditional, standard forms of the national language as a proof that languages are alive and changeable. If a language is constantly changing, learning methods should evolve as well in accordance with such changes: An expanded concept of text must transcend print-based texts to also include various electronic media and adolescents own cultural and social understandings (Phelps, 2006: 4). Therefore, one might assume that motivation influences readers choices of reading material, their eagerness to engage in reading and their subsequent competence. Moreover, there are several factors concerning motivation for every reader geography, ethnicity, school type, and gender and it is important to know them in order to come up with some conclusions on motivation.

Reading engagement and improvement The concept of reading engagement refers to the joint functioning of motivation and strategies during the reading. To begin with, engaged readers are self-determining as

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they elect certain literacy activities for aesthetic enjoyment while interacting with friends. From the engagement perspective, motivations are seen as internalized goals that lead to literacy choices and comprehension strategies (Guthrie et al, 1996: 309). Those motivations can be of two kinds: intrinsic curiosity, aesthetic involvement, importance of reading, challenge, or social interaction and extrinsic recognition, grades, competition, compliance, work-avoidance. To understand the importance of different motivations, it is paramount to mention how volitional strategies are contingent on different kinds of motivation. Intrinsic motivation should follow higher level strategies as extrinsic motivation does not necessarily imply the proper implementation of an activity. For example, if a student who is extrinsically motivated is asked to read a book, he/she might read it without even trying to understand the content, as the only goal is to read a book in order to get recognition or good grades. On the other hand, motivations such as fear or failure may lead to strategies of low goal setting so that students do not fail to attempt certain activities. Obviously, the risk and expectative with students are lower, and so will be the results. According to the study carried out by the authors of the article titled Growth of literacy engagement: Changes in motivations and strategies during concept-oriented reading instruction, intrinsic value and self-efficacy predict students grades on how well they do, along with their use of cognitive strategy in science classroom (Guthrie et al., 1996: 310). The engagement perspective draws attention to the relevance of motivation in learning to read in relation to the strategy instruction, according to which classroom activities should be designed to motivate students for reading and writing, as well as using oral language. In other words, it should motivate them by fulfilling communicative purposes. The first step involves creating the proper classroom

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environment where communication and collaboration are well regarded and there is an ample supply of books. In addition, the use of new technologies is useful to improve the effectiveness of the learning process. This is why teachers should be well-trained in ICT so that they can bring in original activities and tools such as the use of DVDs, online resources, blogs, etc. As a matter of fact, there is evidence proving this idea (EFE, ABC, 2011). Within the classroom, social exchange is as important as the involvement of the teacher. This is especially relevant for poor readers because their attitudes improve and they can learn with cooperative and collaborative learning activities. However, certain competences need special attention and a different approach according to the needs of students: What they learn from each other and the teacher is dependent upon and interacts with motivation, strategy use, existing knowledge, and the context and quality of the interaction (Guthrie & Anderson, 1999: 56). A reading should be followed by a discussion on the main topics and characters of the book, as well as the life and work of the author, where everyone could express their ideas so that the experience gets richer. Nevertheless, such activity can be either annoying or fascinating depending on the perspective adopted by the teacher. As a last resort, motivation and engagement depend exclusively on the teacher.

As a conclusion, a good teacher should know well the types of motivation, how to develop them making learning appealing. In order to increase reading motivation, there are many ways to do so such as the use of new technologies or the proper text choice. A society which does not read is a society doomed to failure, as reading is the most basic expression of knowledge and comprehension, and that is why educational plans should take more into account concepts such as engagement, motivation and

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cooperation beyond budgets and constant changes in education. In order to understand how to stimulate motivation, the following chapter consists of a series of techniques based on practical cases.

Motivation strategies Teachers have always tried everything so that their students read or pay attention. I have decided to do some research on motivation strategies both for general and literacy contents. To begin with, Gambrell (1996: 14-25) described six classroom characteristics that motivate readers of all ages:

Teacher as an explicit reading model If during free time the teacher is reading his own books or he usually carries several novels or poem books, students might try to imitate such behaviour. Furthermore, teachers should find the precise time to discuss about literature and give some advice to good readers, as well as bringing the librarian in the classroom from time to time as a source of knowledge and as the professional advisor whom to turn to in search of recommendation in high school. Guidance is crucial to fully understand a text and the contents in it, especially during adolescence. Adolescents who struggle to read in subject area classrooms deserve instruction that is developmentally, culturally, and linguistically responsive to their needs (Alvermann, 2001: 12).

A book-rich environment The classroom should be a model environment where reading books is an important part of everyday routine. In order to achieve this, all classrooms should have a bookcase full of age-appropriate books in constant renewal or exchange with other classes. One

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interesting activity to bring literature closer to young people is a reading club. Once a month students from different classes might meet in a specific room and create debate around a particular book previously read by all of them. Therefore, school becomes a book-rich environment and reading grows to be a usual activity in their lives. However, if when they get home there is no evidence of such an activity, students might get confused and restrict reading to school. A possible solution is the provision and advice for parents so that they can purchase appropriate and enjoyable books for their children.

Use of appropriate reading incentives It has been already clarified that intrinsic motivation is the hardest one to stimulate if not impossible; however, extrinsic motivation can be easily induced through the creation of expectations regarding marks or other types of reward. Some teachers enhance students marks if they read books on their own beyond the compulsory readings. Another option is to take advantage of the most admired series of books such as The hunger games, Harry Potter, Memorias de Idhn, His Dark Materials, etc. by giving students the chance to read the latest books of the series before the rest of the class as a reward for their active participation. Sometimes, a simple oral praise such as Great job should be enough as an incentive. Positive reinforcement has proved to be one of the most successful strategies with children and adolescents (Walker and Buckley, 1968: 247-248).

Choice of topics Students usually complain about the boring choice of topics carried by teachers. If a teacher gives them the possibility of choosing their interests, they would feel important and significant, and their self-awareness on the educational process would increase for

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being taken into account. This does not necessarily means that teachers should always allow them to choose the contents, but perhaps provide several alternatives. Once the topics are chosen by students, the teacher is free to propose reading material concerning those particular concerns.

Opportunities for social interaction Students pay more attention to their partners than to teachers; hence group work should be the best way to spread reading engagement. Even more, given that literature is a very private activity, several people working on the same book might bring up interesting discussion and debate with more points of view, what improves the ability to critically analyze pieces of work. Social interaction is inevitably linked to school literacy. Good evidence is that oral-written language relationships are enriched when they talk informally with peers and more formally in student-dominated class discussions (Wilkinson, 2001: online). So, giving the chance to share the experience of reading a book with partners, teachers or even families will probably benefit readers and improve much more their skills.

Become familiar with many books This is, obviously, a consequence of the rest of points. Every person might respond in a different way to a book, and eventually they will be able to accumulate a complete battery of books which motivate them and which they may feel identified with. As a result, young readers will have the ability of choosing their favourite writers among the large amount of literature works. Furthermore, being familiar with books means being familiar with different fields of knowledge and, as a result, readers will find easier to understand different subjects and the world they live in.

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Despite all the previous tips, the first step when developing reading skills should be emergent literacy, which is a sort of preparation or warm up unit of activities targeted to achieve better results in reading. Students with an appropriate background are expected to learn easily. Thus, emergent literacy seems to be inevitable during the first stages of readers development as children acquire knowledge about relationships among oral language, reading and writing before entering school (Wilkinson, 2001: online). It is not a matter of readiness, but it is naturally embedded in the social routine interactions. Even though this is not a proper technique of motivation, there is no doubt that emergent literacy helps children and makes them eager to read on their own. To improve this capacity, parents should read aloud to their children and show them different books so that they become familiar with letter shapes and names before entering school. As to other techniques found on other dissertations and papers, I have come up with the following methods. One technique that has proved to be effective in engaging young readers is communication to others (Guthrie et al., 1996: 313) as students can work in teams on a specific topic with a certain amount of freedom. At a later stage, they can share their findings and their own journals with other groups. A good example of this technique, individually performed, is Show and tell day, which is very popular in the United States mainly in elementary school. If properly implemented, this could be an effective way to approach literature to adolescents with the influence and contagious effect of their peers. Usually, thinking about reading motivation can make us forget other possibilities which do not consist of actual reading activities, but cultural alternatives that might approach literature from a tangential union. That is, for example, the case of parallel

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literacy activities. We documented the growth of literacy engagement related to (a) searching for information in multiple texts, (b) representing ideas through drawing and writing, and (c) transferring conceptual knowledge to new situations (Guthrie et al., 1996: 322). We can therefore deduce that reading engagement does not only depend on reading books provided by a counsellor, but also on multiple activities related to the use of texts and the development of imagination by, for instance, writing as a logical progression in language learning. In addition, these activities are adequate for both extrinsically and intrinsically motivated learners. So far the relevance of appealing topics and group work is evident, but there is another very significant factor as the use of age-appropriate novels (Hbert and Kent, 2000: 268) not only as a compulsory reading, but by providing students this type of publications written by respected authors in young adult literature. Doing so, students might feel identified with certain topics, characters and environments from novels to the point that their enthusiasm might become contagious, as Hbert and Kent state on their study on gifted teenagers. Moreover, as previously indicated, giving students the option of choosing how to work on the book they have read seems to be the more successful technique. In other words, the combination of young adult literature and freedom of choice has proved to achieve excellent results among teenagers.

In conclusion, there is not a magical formula for engaging young people to read literature, but there exist methods and tips that might make this task easier and enjoyable. Therefore, the following chapter of this paper consists of a selection of books and characters relevant for students in high school based on an actual questionnaire.

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Chapter 3: What to read when you are sixteen

Sometimes young people do not read for a very simple reason: they do not know what to read, and that is why the figure of a counsellor is so relevant: someone who is conveniently trained and knows what types of books might engage new readers and motivate them. Furthermore, it is equally important to consider the reading habits in teenagers so that we can understand their interests and hence foretell possible reading alternatives and motivation programs.

Survey: Reading habits I carried out a survey among 42 students of 3 de ESO from high school Generalife in Granada (Spain). On the questionnaire,4 students were asked about their reading habits, time employed on this activity and preferences regardless their gender and age. The aim of the survey was that of determining if teenagers read on their own will instead of investing their free time on other activities. In addition, the survey was conclusive when it came to creating a literary canon for teenagers and provided several ideas to be analyzed. However, I have to admit that the results of this survey are not representative of the Spanish young readers as a whole, since IES Generalife is one of the top-level Spanish public high schools: there is a multilingual programme, students do not represent the average high school figure they display academic excellence, attention and politeness during the lessons, intrinsic motivation, etc. They tend to read on their own as a satisfactory and enjoyable experience, but they are still young and may give us an idea of the actual situation regarding reading habits among adolescents.

See Appendix 2.

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To begin with, students were asked how often they read and were given five options (every day, once a week, sometimes, only compulsory readings, never). Most of them affirmed to read with certain constancy, from every day to sometimes. Only two of them declared to read only if compulsory, and one student claimed not to read at all. As to the genre, they all prefer novels to poetry, short stories, non-fiction or comics, although many of them also read comics instead of other formats. Another finding to highlight is the irrelevance of poetry among young readers. Only two students admitted to read poems as well as narrative. The third question focused on different topics (love, personal relationships, adventures, horror, fantasy, detective stories or social issues). They were also given the chance to add any other topic. There is not an agreement on the most interesting topic, although fantasy seems to keep on engaging young learners, probably because it is an easier way to get away from real life. Also, fantasy has the advantage to develop all kinds of conflicts and actual happenings through metaphors or comparisons between fantasy and the real world. As to the means employed to read, most students still use books instead of Internet or e-books, although not many of them frequent a library. Teenagers prefer to share their books with their peers or buy the books they really love. On the sixth question they are asked if they believe that literature should have more importance in their curriculum. Most of them agree that, properly implemented, literature could be a useful and appealing tool to develop different skills. What criteria do teenagers follow when choosing a book? It is remarkable how important the look of the cover is to make them decide what to read and buy. Otherwise, they follow suggestions by friends or professors and are even guided by the information collected on Internet. As a last request, students are asked to give the title of their favourite book or author. Many young readers seem to be quite loyal to an author, and

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fantasy appears as the most popular genre, especially the series The hunger games. Other popular series also have their position on this survey, such as His Dark Materials or Twilight. To sum up, teenagers usually read on their own as a satisfactory activity despite the expansion of videogames and social networks. They value having the chance to choose what to read instead of having compulsory readings. Moreover, they believe that literature is important in their formation and should have a bigger impact on their curriculum.

A definition of young-adult literature

Never say goodbye, because saying goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting. J.M. Barrie, Peter and Wendy

There is not a satisfactory definition of young-adult literature. Some specialist state that young-adult fiction is the one written for and marketed to young adults.5 However, that definition is incomplete given that many books, purposely written for an adult market, have aroused teenagers attention, such as The Lord of the Flies, The Virgin Suicides or The Lord of the Rings. Therefore, a more complex definition of young-adult literature is required. The Young Adult Service Division of the American Library Association6 defines the age range of an adolescent or young adult as ages 10-19 and makes a distinction between three groups based on grades: early adolescence, middle adolescence and later
5 6

< http://www.public.iastate.edu/~dniday/394syllabuss99.html> <http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/yalsa.cfm>.

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adolescence. Given that during the last decade the size of population has uncontrollably expanded, the definition of young adult and, subsequently, young-adult literature, has to adapt to those changes. However, the main characteristics seem to remain untouched, such as social concerns for teenagers, a young adult protagonist, current slang, a limited number of characters, few subplots and not excessive length. According to Seelinger (2001: 472-473), some undeniable characteristics of young adult books are to depict characters who grow and, from the point of view of the critic, to compare the genre to adult rather than childrens literature. For instance, in childrens literature, death represents childrens separation from their parents; in adolescent literature, death functions as the adolescents own awareness of herself as Being-toward-death (Seelinger, 2001:478). Within these boundaries we can find novels, short stories, comics, and poetry books, although novels are by far the most popular genre. Initially young-adult novels avoided controversial topics such as sexuality, substance abuse, divorce, and death (Herz and Gallo, 2005: 9). However, as time went by, these topics became more and more common in literature for young people. The elimination of such boundaries has had as a result a more explicit type of literature where adolescents are portrayed as people who consume drugs and alcohol, have sex, go through abusive relationships and have mental issues and eating disorders. Some critics have blamed these books for the behaviour of actual adolescents who suffer the same problems as in the novels. Some cases are very popular: for example, Stephen Kings Rage was taken away from book shops by the author himself because the book, depicting the story of an adolescent who carries out a killing in his high school, was accused of being a role for actual adolescent criminals.

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However, this kind of incidents has not damaged the reputation of the genre and young-adult fiction is commonly used in middle and high schools in order to engage teenagers. The variety of books has provided countless resources to create debate about every single topic and make the access to great literature easier. As a matter of fact, young-adult literature has eventually gained notorious reputation due to the effort of writers who do not judge their potential readership and write with the same standards of those who try to create serious literature with an exception: young-readers do live stories, they bring magic to novels and collections of short stories. They become the characters in the books, friends who might live forever within their hearts to make them stay young and unforgotten.

The catcher in the rye by J. D. Salinger at his best the modern American novelist of adolescence describes the problems of his protagonists so that they become also the problems of our adolescent civilization (Carpenter, 1957: 313). The catcher in the rye is the most noteworthy book starring a teenager as a main character. Holden Caulfield is seventeen; he is irresponsible, insufferable and he does not know what to do with his life as he is absolutely confused. Holden is nothing but a teenager. Like most teenagers, his ego has no limits, he is obsessed with girls and sex, and he feels like experimenting with alcohol and drugs since he is undergoing changes that go beyond his judgement. Furthermore, the story is appealing and challenging for young readers a teenager who leaves school and home for several days trying to find answers to vital questions such as death, love, family issues, suicide. Holden seems to be selfish, yet he is concerned about his younger sister: I am suggesting that the urgency of Holdens compulsions, his messianic desire to guard innocence against adult corruption, for

30

example, comes of a frantic need to save his sister from himself (Bryan, 1974: 1068). The urge of trying to keep innocence untouched reminds of another basic icon of an adolescent character, Barries Peter Pan. Holden is the new Peter Pan, as wild and innocent as him, as confused and afraid of grown-ups. However, Barrie is more condescending with his character and, unlike Salinger, he provides a brighter image of adolescence, although more cruel in the end. Adolescence appears to be a terrifying period of human life as it is unavoidable and finite. The catcher in the rye is an excellent example of a classic book that is one hundred per cent relevant nowadays thanks to the universality of its premise and unforgettable characters, but other classics should be mentioned here: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, The Jungle Book or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, all of them belonging to different genres, but focusing on young characters and interesting topics for new readers.

The virgin suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides Detroit, 1975. A model American family. The Lisbons are Christian, they are wellmannered, and they have five beautiful, blonde girls. One day, the younger one appears dead. The parents decide to keep their daughters locked in the house to hide from the problems of the real world. After one year of isolation, the rest of the sisters take the terrible decision to kill themselves. No one understands anything and the mystery hits the whole town while a group of young boys, former friends of the Lisbons, try to determine what happened to the beautiful sisters. It is evident that The virgin suicides has a high cultural component that might make difficult engagement to foreign readers: it genuinely deconstructs the American dream and American way of life. American dream just doesnt seem to be coming true

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anymore. It seems that Americas economic and technological progress has not succeeded in bringing about the good society, the notion of the happy, single-house neighborhood (Saucke, 2005:3). Nevertheless, Eugenides explores a variety of universal topics such as love, religion, sex and death in adolescents, which is the key point to explain why the novel turns out so appealing for young readers. Also, given the fact that the main characters of the novel are both boys and girls, it is easier to reach a wider audience. Boys try to understand through the speculations of the boys in the book how girls think, what their interests are, why they undertake such a fatal ending. Meanwhile, girls can observe how those young men fall in love with the sisters Lisbon. It is a romance story, a classic love story. However, every thought, every attempt to make contact with the girls hides another reason, a deeper emotion. That is what makes The virgin suicides not only a good novel, but an excellent one as it gets to successfully analyze the adolescent mind. In many ways, the book is insular and self-reflective, focusing on the Lisbon family and the boys reaction to them; however, at the same time, the novel is an interesting representation and problematization of American suburbia (Kirby, 2007). Jeffrey Eugenides triumphs at illustrating an oppressive atmosphere around wild characters, full of life, teenagers with lucid symbols and a remarkable structure of a good story. It is important, however, to clarify that The virgin suicides is not technically a young-adult book, but it has attracted a young audience due to its young main characters and the topics developed by the author. As a last resort, young-adult fiction is only determined by readers, not by critics or writers themselves, as it is the case of The Bell Jar, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings or To kill a mockingbird.

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To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee Harper Lee was best friends with Truman Capote, and she only published one book: To kill a mockingbird. When she was asked what she was writing, she used to answer with the title of the novel and people would believe it was childrens literature. However, it is not, although it has been frequently categorized in adult or young-adult literature. To kill a mockingbird is the story of two children who live in a village in the American Deep South during the Great Recession. Six-year-old Scout is, together with her older brother Jem, the one who witnesses the racial conflict between black and white communities. After all, the mockingbird symbol in the novel acquires a profound moral significance. For, unlike the world of tender love and longing of Walt Whitmans Alabama birds, Harper Lees Alabama presents a bleak picture of a narrow world torn by hatred, injustice, violence and cruelty, and we lament to see what man has made of man (Bloom, 2007: 37). The success of this book is without a doubt due to the innocent perspective of the narration, as if Lee herself told the reader the story of her life in the South and the real racial clashes. However, another main factor is the creation of an iconic character such as Atticus Finch, father and lawyer who fights against the injustice of a whole village. Even more, To kill a mockingbird is a story about all types of discrimination: age, race, social status, sex It is also a feminist book as Scout has to impose over her brother and other boys by engaging in fights and proving her worth and braveness. This is an exceptional chance to show a world lacking equality and to create a deep discussion in the class in order to practice arguments and critical vision of a different scenario. Anyhow, Scout is obliged to behave like a lady wearing dresses and learning good manners by the female characters in the book. Despite of this, the little girl

33

succeeds in growing up with freedom and getting to understand others emotional states, an evident sign of maturity. To kill a mockingbird is, above all, a story about innocence and its loss. That is why the main characters are children who are always in the middle of crucial situations where life and death, freedom and respect are present. Scout Finch concentrates on a single phase, a moment of crisis in which childhood innocence was shattered by the terrifying experiences of the adult world (Bloom, 2001: 38). A great, touching example of innocence and tension is a moment when the men from the village are willing to attack Atticus Finch so that they can reach an innocent black man. Scout interferes with an ingenuous speech to one of the men:

Hey, Mr. Cunningham. I said, "Hey, Mr. Cunningham." How's your entailment gettin' along? Don't you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I'm Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one morning. Remember? We had a talk. I went and got my daddy to come out and thank you. I go to school with your boy. I go to school with Walter. He's a nice boy. Tell him "hey" for me, won't you? You know somethin', Mr. Cunningham? Entailments are bad. Entailments... Atticus, I was just sayin' to Mr. Cunningham that entailments were bad, but not to worry. It takes a long time sometimes. What's the matter? I sure meant no harm, Mr. Cunningham. No harm taken, young lady. I'll tell Walter you said, "Hey." Let's clear outta here. Let's go, boys.

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To sum up, To kill a mockingbird is quite a unique book. Harper Lee won the Pulitzer Award and never published anything else. Moreover, it is a book narrated from the perspective of a little girl and the main characters are children, but it belongs to teenagers as the main themes of the novel are the loss of innocence and growing up, that is it, the long way from childhood to adulthood; in other words, adolescence. Keeping up with the tradition started by To kill a mockingbird, there exist many other great novels such as The great Gatsby, David Copperfield, Huckleberry Finn

Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling Harry Potter is the most successful series of book in History. The combination of fantasy and the issues of growing up give as a result a complex world of well-written characters and smart plots. Harry Potter started, according to J.K. Rowling, as young adult fiction, although she had to write the first two titles as childish, innocent books in order to engage younger readers. However, the wise move in Harry Potter is, apart from its extraordinary writing, a well-constructed plot encircling seven books where nothing is what seems to be at first sight. Given that, it seems unreasonable for someone to look down on these books just because they are books for children. As the characters in the series grow older, the books shift solidly onto the terrain of adolescent literature (Seelinger, 2001: 471). Its intelligent, witty writing and creativity help develop the reader's imagination and sensitivity. Moreover, the apparent simplicity of the story hides universal themes and topics such as racism, terrorism, war, love, guilt, forgiveness... behind a heros journey in the tradition of The Odyssey, The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, just to mention three different examples. By creating a whole universe based in ancient folklore and traditional legends from many cultures around the world, Rowling had the chance to

35

explore all kind of topics from irrelevant subjects (sports, personal relationships, work...) to other themes that explain how the world is run (politics, economics, social security, nationalism, racial and gender conflicts...). Therefore, this series is a very complex metaphor of real world and its problems. Moreover, the Potter books demonstrate another defining characteristic of adolescent literature: the characters begin to explore their sexuality (Seelinger, 2001: 472). This is, without a doubt, a consequence of Romanticism, where the first YA books appeared. As a matter of fact, love and death have traditionally been considered the major themes in adolescent literature par excellence. The second main point is the issue of power, which is mainly connected to the social structure, that is, the search of a vital niche in the world. In order to succeed, teenagers have to socialize and establish groups of friends and allies at school. Here, they share a huge castle with four different houses in constant competition. Young men and women compete against each other in unlike fields such as social recognition, academic achievements and sport contests. If the purpose of the School Story is to indoctrinate school-aged children into their place in the market economy, then the Harry Potter books certainly succeed (Seelinger, 2001: 474). But more important: is there an iconic character la Holden Caulfield in the Harry Potter series? As a matter of fact, there is not. Potter himself is rebellious and powerful, but he is not an unforgettable character. Neither are his friends and peers. While Harry may appear rebellious, he is not iconoclast. In fact, although many protagonists in young adult novels initially appear to be iconoclasts, few still are by the end of a YA novel. Indeed, most have found subversive ways to work within the system and still remain a part of it (Seelinger, 2001:477). What make these books special? When treating important themes, the author has the sensitiveness to use a veil not to

36

scare readers due to the dark implications of some actions from characters. Thus, the first book describes death as the next great adventure (Rowling, 1997: 212), what reminds of another iconic British young adult novel as J.M. Barries Peter and Wendy, where Peter Pan dares to admit: To die will be an awfully big adventure. Harry Potter provides the chance to dream, to enjoy good literature and to go a step beyond adult literature with such a restrained progress. Students should read about proper magicians and children who do not grow up instead of devouring the story of Twilights shiny vampires. Fantasy is an endless gold mine lets dig with them. It is our mission as teachers to provide the tools. Everything is possible with a little bit of magic.

Lord of the Flies, William Golding and The giver, Lois Lowry Many teachers choose as compulsory readings books such as Brave ew World, 1984, Fahrenheit 451 in order to analyze human relations and how the distribution of power determines our role in society. However, these books might be too dense for teenagers as dystopias show very complex and detailed worlds. For this reason, Lord of the Flies is a first good approach as it narrates the story of a group of boys who end up in an empty island due to a plane crash. The story becomes a political and social handbook as long as children form two clans and get into war against each other with the only purpose of obtaining fire, food and survival. The philosophical and sociological implications of this novel make it perfect as a source o debate about human nature and power, as well as an exciting adventure to be enjoyed. On the other hand, Lois Lowry is an American author who has specialised in children and YA literature. In fact, she has won multiple awards, most of them thanks to a magnificent dystopia as The giver. In a perfect world with no music, no colours, no war and no freedom of choice, a twelve-year-old boy is chosen as the new Receiver of

37

memory, a position where he can learn all the secrets behind such a perfect world. Thus, Jonas will have the option to wonder great metaphysic questions about life and death, the role of humankind in the world and he will have the option to run away to a full, real life. Lowry describes her fantastic universe in these terms: I tried to make Jonas's world seem familiar, comfortable, and safe, and I tried to seduce the reader. I seduced myself along the way. It did feel good, that world. I got rid of all the things I fear and dislike; all the violence, poverty, prejudice and injustice, and I even threw in good manners as a way of life because I liked the idea of it. One child has pointed out, in a letter, that the people in Jonas's world didn't even have to do dishes. It was very, very tempting to leave it at that 7. Unreal worlds, as I have already stated, give us the possibility to judge our decisions and behaviour with critical perception, and therefore understand a little bit more humankind and the world we are surrounded by. Also, they are incredibly entertaining.

I could keep on recommending great books for adolescents, but instead of that I will provide a short list with just a few titles and authors I consider adequate and necessary to grow as full, self-aware adults. Anyhow, there are plenty of recommendations and expert websites where to find reference such as All about Adolescent Literacy <http://www.adlit.org/> or ALA . Assembly on Literature for Adolescents <http://www.alan-ya.org/?option=com_magazine&Itemid=9999>.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

From Lowry's "Newberry Award" acceptance speech.

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The secret garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett Carrie, Stephen King Flowers in the attic, Virginia Andrews The Hunger Games Trilogy, Suzanne Collins Stardust, Neil Gaiman The Outsiders, S.E.Hinton His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman The Pigman, Paul Zindel The Great Book of Amber, Roger Zelazny The murders in the Rue Morgue, Edgar A. Poe Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson (comic stripes) Cornelia Funke C.S. Lewis Terry Prattchet

Teachers should not forget other formats such as comic books, which are gaining more and more supporters. Moreover, given that the content is more easy to use, comic books are exceptional material to use in class as they can be adjusted to the constraints of time. Also, despite their name the contents and genres vary as happens with the rest of literature: horror stories, non-fiction, personal relationships, science-fiction, drama, comedy, and so on. It is quite likely that students feel more motivated and engaged with books full of illustrations rather than with usual books. This does not mean that they read less, but that they read in a different format; teachers and parents should remain calm as many comic books and graphic novels are way more complex than most YA books. A very evident example is Spiegelmans Maus: a survivors tale, which is the

39

only comic book ever to have won a Pulitzer Prize; it tells the biography of a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor being Jews depicted as mice and Germans, as cats. To end up, teachers should also take into account their students needs and their actual level. In order to provide great stories to those students who have a lower English level, publishing houses have developed several collections of adapted readings. Usually textbooks are accompanied by some of these stories8 and they can be used in the class so that students get to know British and American classics.

In a few words, there is an endless universe of good stories and characters but teens do not know them. They read. They do read on their own decision. They enjoy reading and they should be encouraged to keep on reading. However, if young adult literature is, as that very vital stage, so decisive for the formation of peoples personality, they should read the best books, the ones that they will never forget, the ones that will make them consider their existence in this world, the ones that will change their lives. And that is the mission of teachers: to make the best out of them.

See Appendix 3: The Cantervilles Ghost adaptation for 1 Bachillerato.

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4. Use of literature in ESL teaching

Even though the ultimate purpose of literature is entertaining, we have already analyzed some of its many uses, one of them being ESL teaching. In order to apply literature in ESL, first of all I will provide several theories but also some examples of authentic use of literature during my Practicum in high school Generalife, Granada. Before getting into other considerations, it is important to make clear that all teaching processes follow a logical order. To begin with, teachers should carry out a field study or enquiry through the use of surveys and levels in the class so that the procedural is not too far away from reality. Once the situation is clear, there are other aspects to consider as Jimez (2003:206) indicates:

A. Tres aspectos que Lazar ve como ntimamente relacionados: -El tipo de programa, -El tipo de estudiantes, -El tipo de texto literario (su gnero y complejidad) B. Un principio pedaggico bsico: -El profesor ha de jugar el papel de agente motivador del aprendizaje. C. Tres objetivos de aprendizaje fundamentales en la asignatura de Ingls: -Mejorar la competencia lingstica global de los alumnos de forma progresiva; -Procurar un aprendizaje lo ms significativo y relevante posible; -Fomentar la responsabilidad y autonoma del alumno en el proceso del aprendizaje.

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As to the text itself, the main consideration is linguistic difficulty with regard to the level of students. However, if one of the objectives is to motivate them, the content is even more relevant. An interesting text will make students more eager to work and, perhaps, do some research on the original source of the text. After some time, when students are used to working with literature, they can be given the chance to choose what they want to read or work with. Anyhow, motivation depends as a last resort on the teacher. With regard to the criteria followed in the choice of literacy texts, some of them are relevance, interesting theme, appropriate length (due to timing), linguistic and cultural aspects, conceptual difficulty, diversity just to mention a few. Before working on texts, it is recommendable to develop learners skills with warm-up activities such as stimulating vocabulary, webbing, brainstorming so that they are at their best when they work on the text. Also, making them feel ready and qualified will enhance their results and make easier work for both students and the teacher. Students' ability to read or listen successfully is governed by a simple equation: text level of challenge + task level of support= student success (Bowler and Parminter, 2002:59). Teaching English through literature is not possible with current textbooks as publishers are not ready to work with such an approach. Given that, when designing units of work, the teacher has to select the texts and contents, although certain criteria should be followed, as theme. As a matter of fact, all types of texts are not adequate for beginners, especially canonical literature given the difficulty of them (Jimez, 2003:246). Thus, the best options are short stories, comic stripes, fragments, poems or even songs. As long as students level improves, texts should get more and more complex, as well as work with them to the point of considering extensive and intensive reading as a source of vocabulary, grammar and cultural references. With a long,

42

complex text, a simple task makes the reading or listening achievable for weaker students. With a shorter, simpler text, the task can be more demanding. Bearing these principles in mind, two ways of adapting reading or listening activities for mixed-level classes have been isolated. They are known as tiered tasks and bias tasks (Bowler and Parminter, 2002:60-63). Tiered tasks are ideated for students with different level working on the same content. For example, all students read a text and there are several questions. Advanced students answer on their own, intermediate students by choosing between three options and so on. They are adjustable tasks. This appears to be very interesting given that in Spain, English classes tend to be so slow due to the low level of some students. With activities available for all levels, they might be able to work together and progress proportionally to their knowledge. However, it also seems pretty utopian as a whole school year cannot be planned around tiered and bias tasks. Also, writing can be developed working on the same texts proposing, for instance, alternative endings to short stories, inclusion of new characters (description and dialogues) or even changing the perspective of the narrator. Possibilities are endless, rich and very creative. Learning English can become an interesting activity. As to the remaining skills, the use of audiobooks can be incorporated to work listening, and reading aloud in pairs can also be a good way to check the total comprehension and correction of the text. Speaking features such as pace and accent can be practised by reading plays as if students were actors. As a matter of fact, there are examples of teachers and professors who use literature with foreign students. That is the case of Rogelio Vallejo, from Bristol University9, who teaches English through the use of

< http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2006/1009.html>.

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stories and drama plays which are written by students and developed with total freedom with the purpose of getting used to English as a natural aspect of their cognitive skills.

Extensive reading (Renandya & Jacobs, 2002:295-303) Extensive Reading involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or longer readings for general understanding. But students usually choose what they want to read. The fact is that students learn in a more effective way when they are doing something that they like. Despite this fact, compulsory reading materials at schools are common and students have no choice to read what they like. If students were given the chance to read or not to read, most of them would not. However, there are some students who intrinsically enjoy reading books and they should have the freedom to choose what they want to read. As to textbooks and scientific material and researches, extensive reading can become tedious and boring to the point that readers will hate the content and the subject itself. That is why teachers should find alternatives to expand the knowledge on a topic. But, why arent most teachers doing extensive reading? A related reason goes back to the role of teachers. Many teachers are still uncomfortable with the idea of playing less central role in the classroom and in intensive reading the role of the teacher as a monitor is central. Other reason to support the lack of EXTENSIVE reading at the classroom is that teachers argue that they dont have enough time to get students to read extensively because they are obliged to cover other basic aspect of the syllabus. It is evident how timing is a very strong limitation.

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Implementation of literature in ESL classes During my Practicum, I tried to implement the use of literature in day-to-day classes. In order to do so, I just used exampled extracted from novels and short stories. For example, in order to explain vocabulary on a specific field, I just tried to locate stories set in a related background. Thus, when trying to study the different kinds of animla, a chapter of Animal Farm can be used so that students visualize better the new concepts and learn more successfully. Passive/Active voice At first mi intent was to use The Catcher in the Rye to provide examples of active and passive voice to my students. However, when analyzing the novel I found out that the passive voice is almost inexistent as the whole book is narrated from the perspective of Holden Caulfield and, therefore, grammar is pretty simple. Later I decided to use a ghost story as it is usually enjoyed by students, and that is why I chose The Canterville Ghost10 to provide example and exercises. During my explanation I wrote down several extracts from the book on the blackboard, and after I handed several texts written in passive voice so that learners turned them into active voice. Students admitted that the texts were more difficult than usual, but they succeeded at their attempt to do the exercises. That implies that a light increase in difficulty will result in an increase in learning.

Literature can be an exceptional tool for English as a second language teaching, but it needs total implication and knowledge about the subject. In any case, the use of literature is not only a way to achieve proficiency in English acquisition, but also a way to perpetuate culture and make students emotionally more mature as literature plays a

10

Appendix 1.

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fundamental role in the idiosyncrasy of cultures and civilisations. Well-trained teachers should be enough to follow a whole academic year with their own findings and exercises. However, the combination of traditional teaching and the use of literature might enrich the class dynamic. If necessary, teachers should ask for help to librarians or literature experts from high school as they have to be careful with the choice of adequate texts. Anyhow, teachers have to be, above all, inventive and ready to solve situations and improvise with contents. An advantage of using literature texts is that no many resources are necessary. With the same text teachers can develop all four skills while teaching developing cultural knowledge. Furthermore, nowadays it is very easy to find contents on Internet and promote the use of new technologies with the use of blogs and specialized websites, therefore achieving all educational objectives.

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Bibliography

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 Gough, P.B., and Hillinger, M.L. (1980). Learning to read: An unnatural act. Bulletin Of the Orton Society 20: 179-196. Guthrie et al. (1996). Growth of literacy engagement: Changes in motivations and strategies during concept-oriented reading instruction. Reading Research Quarterly 31: 306-325. Harvey, Pam (2010) Bibliotherapy Use By Welfare Teams In Secondary College. Australian Journal of Teacher Education 35.5: 29-39. Herz, Sarah K and Gallo, Donald R. (2005). From Hinton to Hamlet: building bridges between young adult literature and the Classics. Greenwood Press. Jimez Muz, Sacramento. (2003). Tesis doctoral: El uso de textos literarios en la enseanza de ingls en la educacin secundaria. Universidad de Granada. Kirby, Lisa A. (2007) Interrogating Suburbia in The Virgin Suicides. Academic Exchange Quaterly 11 Issue I. Lee, Hui-Chun. (2003). Using Poetry to Develop Teenagers Speaking Competence at Han-Mei Language Institute in Taiwan. University of Edinburgh. The College of Humanities & Social Science. Pickett, G. D. (1986) Reading Speed and Literature Teaching. Literature and Language, 262-283. Piotrowski, Nanette (2009). Education (or lack thereof): America is getting dumber. Helium. [online resource. Viewed on 14 July 2011]. Renandya, Willy A. and Jacobs, George M. (2002). Extensive Reading: Why Arent We All Doing It? Methodology in Language Teaching: 295-302 Rowling, J.K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. New Yorks Scholastics.

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Saucke, Alena. (2005). The Display and Function of Suburban Images in Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. [online: http://www.grin.com/en/e-

book/40311/the-display-and-function-of-suburban-images-in-jeffrey-eugenidesthe#inside] Solomon, Andrew (2004). The Closing of the American Book. The ew

York Times [online resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/10/opinion/the-closingof-the-american-book.html] Walker, Hill M. and Buckley, Nancy K. (1968). The use of positive reinforcement in conditioning attending behavior. Journal of applied behavior analysis 3: 245-250. Wilkinson, L.C., & Silliman, E.R. (2001, February). Classroom language and literacy learning . Reading Online, 4.7. Available:

http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=/articles/handbook/wilkinso n/index.html Zaro, Juan Jess (1991). Literature as Study and Resource: The Purposes of English Literature Teaching at University Level. Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 4: 163-175.

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APPE DIX 1

The Canterville Ghost

highlight verbs in Passive Voice

Chapter I
When the American, Mr Otis, bought Canterville Castle, everyone told him that this was very foolish, as the place was haunted. But Mr Otis answered, I come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy. And if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we would have it at home in one of our museums. A few weeks later, on a lovely July evening, Mr Otis, his wife and their children, Washington, Virginia and the twins, went down to their new home. When they entered the avenue of Canterville Castle, the sky suddenly became dark and a spooky stillness was in the air. Mrs Umney, the housekeeper, led them into the library of the castle, where they sat down and began to look around. Suddenly, Mrs Otis saw a red stain on the floor just by the fireplace and said to Mrs Umney, I am afraid something has been spilt there. Yes, madam, said the old housekeeper in a low voice, blood has been spilt on that spot. How terrible, said Mrs Otis; I don't want any blood-stains in my sittingroom. It must be removed at once. The old woman smiled and answered, It is the blood of Lady Eleanore de Canterville, who was murdered on that spot by her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville, in 1575. Sir Simon disappeared seven years later. His body has never been found, but his ghost still haunts the Castle. The blood-stain is a tourist attraction now and it cannot be removed.
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That is all nonsense, said Washington, the eldest son of the Otis family, stain remover will clean it up in no time, and he took a bottle of stain remover out of his pocket and cleaned the spot. But as soon as the bloodstain had disappeared, a terrible flash of lightning lit up the room and a fearful peal of thunder made the whole building shake.

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APPE DIX 2
Dissertation: Literature and adolescence HBITOS DE LECTURA 1. Con qu frecuencia lees? a) A diario b) Una vez a la semana c) A veces d) Slo cuando me obligan e) Nunca 2. Qu prefieres leer? a) Novelas b) Poesa c) Cuentos o relatos d) Revistas y prensa e) Realidad ficcionada: biografas, ensayos f) Cmics, novelas grficas, tiras cmicas 3. En cuanto a temtica, tus preferidos son a) Amor, relaciones personales b) Aventuras c) Terror d) Fantasa e) Policacas f) Temtica social g) No ficcin h) Otros:______________________________________ 4. En qu medio prefieres leer? a) Libro impreso b) Internet c) Libro electrnico 5. Frecuentas alguna biblioteca? 6. Crees que la literatura debera ocupar ms espacio en el plan de estudios? 7. Qu criterio sigues al elegir un libro? a) Recomendacin de un conocido b) Medios especializados: blogs y revistas literarios c) Intuicin d) Portada e) Conozco el trabajo del autor 8. Cul es tu libro preferido? Indica el ttulo: ________________________________________________________

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