Exploring beginner teachers’ sources of knowledge for teaching literature in ESL classrooms

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify beginner teachers’ sources of knowledge for teaching literature in the English Second Language (ESL) classroom. A review of the literature on ESL teachers’ knowledge indicated a paucity of studies that focus specifically on teaching knowledge for Literature as a stand-alone subject in ESL. In addition, ESL teacher training in most countries seemingly focuses on preparing pre-service teachers for language teaching rather than literature. To identify the sources of teaching knowledge for Literature teachers, this study adopted an interpretivist epistemological worldview and used a qualitative single case study design. Data were collected using non-participant observations and semi-structured interviews from four purposively selected Literature in English beginner teachers. Quality and ethical considerations were upheld in this study using a number of strategies. Inductive thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The analysis resulted in three sources of ESL Literature teaching, namely, theory of language education, the nature of the subject and problematic areas in Literature teaching. The findings may be of benefit to ESL teacher preparation programmes which could use them to provide pre-service teachers with multiple contexts as sources of teaching knowledge.