What are the Goals of Teaching Literature in L1? Examining European Models of Essays in the Upper Secondary School-leaving Exam

Abstract

The comparative analysis of ten different European models of essays in the upper secondary school-leaving external examination in a mother tongue shows that different models of essays anticipate different types of goals and show different approaches to literature teaching. We show that students in some countries can avoid educational and emotional goals of literature teaching in the upper secondary school-leaving essays and that for the models of essays in other countries the functional goals (writing and reading skills) seem to be more important. We argue that the model which would effectively check the achievement of the educational goals of teaching literature, should include both literary-theoretical and literary-historical knowledge and the emotional goals of teaching literature that are often neglected or oversimplified in essay assignments. Keywords: didactics of literature, L1 language, literature teaching, upper secondary school-leaving exam, essay