Compelling Stories for English Language Learners: Creativity, Interculturality and Critical Literacy
Book Description

This book is a comprehensive and thorough introduction to children’s and young adult literature in English language education. Reading is promoted as central to language education in order to experience perspectives from around the world, and the book demonstrates the many opportunities for teaching with compelling story, encouraging an active and engaged community of second language readers through challenging picturebooks, motivating graphic novels, dynamic plays, enchanting verse novels and compelling young adult fiction. Using many examples of literary texts that are well suited to the primary or secondary classroom, the book focuses on the advantages of deep reading and the vital importance of in-depth learning. In-depth learning is an approach that involves the students as motivated participants, working collaboratively and with empathy while preparing for and confronting the challenges of the 21st century. Illustrating the approach with a Deep Reading Framework based in research and theory, Janice Bland guides the reader to discover and learn how to make use of literary texts in a way that challenges students to become involved in interculturality, creativity and critical literacy. Throughout the book the emphasis is on an approach that puts the reader and language learner in the centre – not a study of literature but a study of how readers learn through compelling story.

John Stephens
Macquarie University
Moving smoothly amongst concepts, a comprehensive range of genres and issues, and practical applications, this clearly written and well-researched book will prove invaluable to teachers in language classrooms. Compelling Stories eloquently demonstrates why and how the learning of English through deep reading nourishes a love of both literature and language.
Marek Oziewicz
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Written with passion and informed by expertise in English language education, this book brings together insights about the affordances of specific genres and formats with practical tips about engaging compelling literary narratives in the classroom. Eminently readable and theoretically informed, it shows how stories make the difference that matters.
Mike Fleming
Durham University
This book is full of theoretical insights, practical ideas for teaching, and suggestions for exciting and varied resources. It is a must-read for all teachers of English as an Additional Language.
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