Reading Fiction in a Second-Language Classroom

This article considers the role of reading fiction within the school subject of Swedish as a second language. It examines how a group of advanced second-language learners in a Swedish upper secondary school read and discuss a contemporary Swedish novel, how they interact with the text and with each other in relation to the text. Further, it analyses which forms of reading the students use. It reports on a qualitative, empirical study based on field studies, transcriptions of tape-recorded interaction as well as written texts. The results indicate that second-language learners in this context have a positive attitude to reading and discussing what they read using different forms of reading. They often compare the content of the text to their own lives. One conclusion drawn is that literature teaching could be integrated into a single Swedish subject in order to create even more meaningful interactions between students from different backgrounds and that literature can be a means leading to language development as well as personal development.