Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment Children and Teenagers in English Language Education

by Bland, Janice

• ISBN13: 9781441144416
• ISBN10: 1441144412
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2013-08-29
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Children's literature can be a powerful way to encourage and empower EFL students but is less commonly used in the classroom than adult literature. This text provides a comprehensive introduction to children's and young adult literature in EFL teaching. It demonstrates the complexity of children's literature and how it can encourage an active community of second language readers: with multilayered picturebooks, fairy tales, graphic novels and radical young adult fiction. It examines the opportunities of children's literature in EFL teacher education, including: the intertexuality of children's literature as a gate-opener for canonised adult literature; the rich patterning of children's literature supporting Creative Writing; the potential of interactive drama projects. Close readings of texts at the centre of contemporary literary scholarship, yet largely unknown in the EFL world, provide an invaluable guide for teacher educators and student teachers, including works by David Almond, Anthony Browne, Philip Pullman and J.K.Rowling. Introducing a range of genres and their significance for EFL teaching, this study makes an important new approach accessible for EFL teachers, student teachers and teacher educators.

Author Biography

Janice Bland is a teacher educator in the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Paderborn, Germany. She is co-editor of the peer-reviewed e-journal Children's Literature in English Language Education.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: The EFL Literature Classroom
Part I: Visual Literacy in the EFL Literature Classroom
2. Developing the ‘Mind’s Eye’ with Picturebooks
3. Bridging a Curricular Gap with Graphic Novels
Part II : Literary Literacy in the EFL Literature Classroom
4. Postmodern Fairy Tales: Co-constructing Meaning
5. The Poetry of Children’s Literature and Creative Writing
6. Children’s Plays: Beyond the Oracy/Literacy Dichotomy
Part III: Critical Literacy in the EFL Literature Classroom
7. Radical Children’s Literature and Engaged Reading
8. Harry Potter and Critical Cultural Literacy
Conclusion
References