Shakespeare in the EFL Classroom

Abstract

There are three reasons why this collection is a must-read for EFL educators. The first is that, although focusing on Shakespeare (and published in 2014 to celebrate the 450th anniversary of his birth), this volume is an important addition to our understanding of how and why literary works should be used in the language classroom. Its scope goes far beyond Shakespeare, confronting the theoretical and practical issues that arise from using literary texts in all EFL classrooms. This is not only because it discusses using a huge variety of literary texts such as manga, graphic novels, and rap in ELT, but particularly because of its focus on teaching more than language. The second reason is that it provides an informative and insightful overview of the teaching ethos and teaching practice in a country that has a unique and vibrant ELT scene—Germany—and is a good representative of best practice in approaches and theory, with a focus on the arena in which most EFL teaching takes place worldwide: secondary classrooms in compulsory education. And finally, this volume is a must-read because the approaches it details—combining resistant readings, media literacy, and experiential learning—illustrate how, through literature, educators can deal with some of the important issues that so many textbooks shy away from (see, for example, Gray 2002 ). It is a testimony to a teaching tradition that focuses on language education rather than language for instrumental purposes. It is an engaging, erudite volume, strong on Culture and culture, ranging from the Latin and Renaissance sources of Shakespeare’s plays to graphic novels, manga, Sting, the BBC’s Shakespeare Retold , and Kate Tempest, and everything in between: where else would you find Heath Ledger and Henry James mentioned in the same chapter?