The Voice of Learners on English Literary Texts: Passing on the Mantle

Abstract

This study examines how pre-service teachers assess the appropriateness of literary texts used by high school students in terms of learners’ age, linguistic needs, and language proficiency. It also aims to determine the relevance of the texts used to learners’ cultural understanding. The participants in this study were five pre-service teachers who participated in a content analysis study of five literary texts. They analyzed the content of the texts using the four categories of textbook evaluation criteria proposed by Tomlinson (2001), namely, media-specific criteria, content-specific criteria, learner-specific criteria, and language criteria. The evaluation results were positive. All participants agreed that all five texts were appropriate for high school learners, with average levels of compliance ranging from moderate to appropriate. In addition to selecting texts that are appropriate for the learners’ language level, the topics and issues addressed in the texts should also be appropriate for the learners’ interest, so the selection of literary texts is crucial. Finally, more local texts should be selected for the English literature curriculum to highlight local cultures and practices. It is expected that this study will contribute to English language teaching as the findings of this study will provide necessary information to those who are concerned with the selection of appropriate literary texts for schools. In addition, this study will raise awareness among teachers and curriculum designers of the need to consider learners’ level of competence when evaluating and selecting from the many literary texts available.