This month’s column features James Taylor’s review of Reading Lessons: The Books We Read at School, the Conversations They Spark, and Why They Matter.
Reading Lessons: The Books We Read at School, the Conversations They Spark, and Why They Matter
[Carol Atherton. Fig Tree (Penguin Random House), 2024. pp. viii + 392. ISBN: 978-0-241-62948-2.]
Reviewed by James Taylor, International College of Technology, Kanazawa
Reading Lessons: The Books We Read at School, the Conversations They Spark, and Why They Matter is an exploration of the importance of English literature. Although Reading Lessons is aimed at a general readership rather than only teachers, English as a foreign or second language (L2) teachers can nevertheless gain ideas for the classroom. The texts and activities in the book would be most suitable for L2 learners of at least an intermediate level. The premise of Reading Lessons is that English literature as a school subject may be undervalued. Although Teranishi et al. (2015) note that the use of literature in English language teaching has increased in recent years, Takahashi (2015) shows that in Japan the use of literary texts in L2 classrooms has declined significantly in recent decades.
Reading Lessons is organised thematically, with one or two texts forming the basis of each chapter. Various genres are covered in the book: novels (both classic and modern), plays, poetry, and autobiographical fiction. There are also references to graphic novels and wordless picture books. Most chapters begin with an autobiographical vignette, a summary of the selected text, and then analysis of the text itself. The analysis also details the text’s relevance to modern society and includes practical examples of activities and discussions. Each chapter generally concludes by reiterating the importance of the text and its themes to students. Within the analysis of the texts, there are examples of how teachers of English literature can extend the analysis and teaching to encompass wider social issues. There are also suggestions for introducing students not just to the literature itself, but to the social issues surrounding it and to the parallels in the world around them and their own lives. For example, Chapter 1 uses Robert Browning’s poem, My Last Duchess, to lead into a discussion of topics, such as domestic violence, toxic masculinity, and sexual harassment. In Chapter 2, analysis of An Inspector Calls refers to income inequality and the poverty line. Chapters 2 and 10 contain mention of the stigma of single motherhood and unmarried parents. Chapters 5 and 14 deal with not fitting in and feeling like a failure, respectively. All of these issues are present in modern Japanese society and likely to be relevant to students in Japan. Arizpe et al. (2014) believe that literature, especially fiction, “helps navigate real-world experiences as well as the emotions of other human beings” (p. 2). By sensitively approaching these topics through literature in class, teachers can potentially help students with their lives outside the classroom.
For novice or inexperienced teachers of English literature, there are abundant approaches to teaching various texts that can be easily implemented in many educational contexts. Approaches include discussion topics, writing tasks, reading activities, creative writing, drama, and doing research. There are ideas for individual and collaborative activities. At the end of the book, there is a section on further reading for each chapter. This section contains recommendations for other media and texts on similar topics. These are helpful for deeper exploration of the texts and accompanying issues.
I used some ideas from the poetry section of the book with my students and incorporated the spirit of discussions and lines of questioning from various chapters into discussions of other genres. For the third unit of an English literature course for first-year technical college students, which focused on wordless picturebooks, I used discussion ideas for The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2014). The discussion concerned the metaphorical idea represented by a creature that casts shadows over the images in the book. The lack of words in wordless picturebooks increases their value to language learners and teachers, as readers must become more active to interpret the images and make meaning (Arizpe et al., 2014). I found this to be the case, and my students appreciated the opportunity to encounter different genres of literature, to discuss issues, to consider perspectives they had not previously, and to try a variety of activities. However, they also commented on the difficulty of English literature as a subject in general. As this is not a textbook, it does not contain detailed lesson plans or activity instructions for teachers.
There are many useful classroom activities in Reading Lessons. By introducing the reader to the author’s students’ lives and the ways they engage with the texts covered, it encourages us to consider our students’ classroom interactions. As such, this book will surely be of interest to English teachers in Japan.
References
Arizpe, E., Colomer, T., & Martínez-Roldán, C. (2014). Visual journeys through wordless narratives: An international inquiry with immigrant children and the Arrival. Bloomsbury.
Takahashi, K. (2015). Literary texts as authentic materials for language learning: The current situation in Japan. In M. Teranishi, Y. Saito, & K. Wales (Eds.), Literature and language learning in the EFL classroom (pp. 26–40). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137443663
Tan, S. (2014). The arrival. Lothian Children’s Books.
Teranishi, M., Saito, Y. & Wales, K. (2015). Introduction. In Teranishi, M., Saito, Y. & Wales, K. (Eds.), Literature and language learning in the EFL classroom (pp. 1–10). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137443663
