Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment - by Janice Bland (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Children's literature can be a powerful way to encourage and empower EFL students but is less commonly used in the classroom than adult literature. This text provides a comprehensive introduction to children's and young adult literature in EFL teaching. It demonstrates the complexity of children's literature and how it can encourage an active community of second language readers: with multilayered picturebooks, fairy tales, graphic novels and radical young adult fiction. It examines the opportunities of children's literature in EFL teacher education, including: the intertexuality of children's literature as a gate-opener for canonised adult literature; the rich patterning of children's literature supporting Creative Writing; the potential of interactive drama projects. Close readings of texts at the centre of contemporary literary scholarship, yet largely unknown in the EFL world, provide an invaluable guide for teacher educators and student teachers, including works by David Almond, Anthony Browne, Philip Pullman and J.K.Rowling. Introducing a range of genres and their significance for EFL teaching, this study makes an important new approach accessible for EFL teachers, student teachers and teacher educators.

Review Quotes

"This is an important publication for all working in English language education, not only for those working and researching young learner and teenage learning, but for those involved in reading and in the reading of literature ... Bland writes clearly and intelligently and has productively absorbed and applied a wealth of relevant and recent research ... I am convinced [this book] will become widely cited and known as more relevant readers find it, read it and see the need to recommend the author and the title ... and I would be pleased if this review can contribute to a speedier uptake of the ideas found therein" --CLELE Journal

"Relevant and accessible ... For me undoubtedly [this book's] strongest point is that every approach advocated is exemplified with engaging texts and tasks. The book is very persuasive in that all its major points are supported by relevant references to credible research ... [A] very impressive and valuable book which I really enjoyed reading." --ELT Journal

"This is a comprehensive, innovative and thematically coherent book which provides powerful arguments for engaging with a wide variety of genres within children's and young adult literature ... A worthwhile contribution to modern EFL teaching methodology" --Maria Eisenmann, Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies

"With confident writing on children's literature as a 'highly expressive carrier of cultural meaning', the book contains excellent close readings of many picturebooks and graphic novels ... Packed with good ideas for using selected books as positive resources for literary language learning" --Victoria de Rijke, Middlesex University, UK, IRSCL

"Bland's volume does indeed fulfil her aim of generating a rationale for selecting works of children's literature for use in EFL classrooms and identifying how certain kinds of literature might empower learners ... I have already added it to my own student teachers' reading lists." --Lydia Kokkola, Head of English and Education, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, International Research Society for Children's Literature (IRSCL)

"[An] impressive feature of the book is the close segmental reading of diverse examples of children's literature and graphic novels ... Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment provides a theoretical and practical approach to providing ELL primary and secondary school learners with the use of authentic and engaging materials." --IATEFL Voices

"It is quite natural to expect a book like this from Janice Bland ... Bland communicates her ideas fluently ... and she offers abundant references that are often interwoven with her own thoughts. She manages to construct a clear message that certainly finds its way to the reader ... In this way, student teachers are led in a valuable direction" --Silvija Hanzic Deda, Libri et Liberi journal

"Put tersely, Bland's Children's Literature and Learner Empowerment is a spirited argument for using original, unabridged children's and YA literature in the EFL classroom in place of truncated, artificial texts ... [Bland's book] offer[s] insights and arguments that will be valid long after academic capitalism has passed from the scene. No matter where your specific interest in children's literature lies, these are important books to read." --Marek Oziewicz, Marguerite Henry Professor of Children's and Young Adult Fiction, University of Minnesota, The Lion and the Unicorn

"This is a comprehensive, innovative, thought-provoking and topical book on children's literature which is equally relevant to scholars working in the field plus to teachers and students of languages and literature." --Werner Delanoy, Professor in the Department of English and American Studies, University of Klagenfurt, Austria

"At a time when there is an increasing demand for the effective teaching of EFL and ESL/EAL, this book provides powerful arguments for engaging with a wide variety of genres within children's and young adult literature and shows how constructing meaning from 'well-crafted' texts - including visual and radical texts - can help develop 'literary literacy' for children of all ages. Teacher educators will benefit most from the interdisciplinary nature of the book as the author shows how children's literature scholarship is linked to TEFL theory and practice. However, the result of bringing these two fields together provides exciting new perspectives for all those interested in critical reading and creative writing with children and teenagers." --Evelyn Arizpe, Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Glasgow, UK

"Janice Bland's new book is careful, precise and very fully referenced. She makes a compelling case for the need for teachers and other educators to pay more serious attention to the potential offered by children's picturebooks. Literary and visual experience is shown to lead to engagement and creative thinking in the classroom which graded readers, extracts or non-fictional materials are unlikely to stimulate. Teachers of the ever-growing numbers of young learners of English in particular should pay close attention to this book. It should be on teacher training booklists and on the shelves of all good Education libraries." --Geoff Hall, Professor of English, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China

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