Teaching Literature

Abstract

How literature studies are perceived varies depending on viewer, given prerequisites, and prevailing circumstances. Pre-service teachers approach literature studies from a theoretical understanding, with ideal conditions and rooted in curricular stipulations. The educational researcher’s perspective is rather rooted in conceptual constructions about how readers approach texts. It is between these two perspectives that Swedish L1 teachers combine curricular requisites with pedagogical ideas while considering factors beyond the teaching context. What from a researcher’s viewpoint seems appropriate and necessary may be difficult to operationalize. The comparison between the three perspectives shows a discrepancy in how literature studies may be perceived. These differences do not, however, need to be an impediment, but knowledge of the differences in possibilities and limitations may contribute to further understanding. Awareness about the discrepancy, thus, may be advantageous both to how literature studies are viewed and to the transition from theory to practice. By letting the different perspectives draw nearer to each other, research findings can be made more relevant to both pre-service and in-service teachers. By reducing the distance between the different entities, teachers could more easily relate to the reality that is described as theirs, and research about literature studies would appear more relevant.