“It doesn’t usually turn out well when you’re stuck with a book you don’t like.” A Study on Swedish Upper Secondary School Students’ Experiences of Reading English Fiction

Abstract: This research project investigates Swedish upper secondary school students’ experiences of engaging with English fiction, both within and outside of the context of their English language classroom. Three focus group interviews were conducted with 18 upper secondary school students from the southern parts of Sweden. Based on the collected data, five themes were identified. The themes were 1) the perceived superiority of English over Swedish, 2) including more classic works of fiction in English literature instruction, 3) finding reading inspiration from friends, family, and social media channels, 4) the structure of English literature instruction, and 5) reading English fiction, understanding its benefits, and whether that leads to developing a continuous reading habit. Further, through lifeworld phenomenology, specifically the fraction of sociality, an analysis based on the themes was conducted and the pedagogical implications of the findings were discussed. It was found that reading English fiction has social aspects to it as discussing fiction was common amongst friends, family, and strangers through social media channels. Finally, the research project concludes with a call for future research to explore whether experiences with English fiction differs between students in different Swedish upper secondary schools, geographical regions, and/or educational programs.