I nöd och lust En forskningsöversikt om värdet av läsupplevelser i en splittrad litteraturundervisning

Abstract

There is a tendency in modern education to favour the measurable above abstract knowledge. This also applies to the teaching of literature, which is complicated as the aesthetic value of reading is not blatantly visible in tests or exams. As literature teaching becomes more instrumental and fragmented, there is a risk that the pleasure of reading gets squandered in the process. In this literature review, the possibilities of literature teaching in modern research are examined in relation to two key aspects: the pleasure or desire to read and the reading experience. This is defined as the state of being immersed in a text via thoughts, feelings, and reactions experienced by the reader. The research material consisting of dissertations, articles, and books was selected through an explorative literature study. Two research questions examine: 1) What aspects of reading experiences can be found in modern research. 2) What aspects of the value of literature can be found in modern research. First, the different perspectives of the reading experience are examined. Themes such as the use of pleasure, reader identification, the framework set by the curriculum and syllabus, and the reading experience as the solution to a teaching caught in the middle of dichotomies are discussed. Secondly, we examine how the value of literature is presented in research, both implicitly and explicitly, and how students and teachers legitimize reading literature. The results exhibit the reading experience as both the solution to a literature teaching torn between dichotomies and the value of literature. We concluded that by allowing the more pleasurable sides of reading to enter the classroom, students are encouraged and motivated to experience literature in new ways. This could transform the teaching of literature and prove to be a solution to the challenge of balancing measurable knowledge and the inclusion of the unmeasurable that may be even more critical in its complexity.