“Oh no not that boring old dead English guy with all his stupid

Abstract: This dissertation seeks to explore the approaches used by teachers of English in upper secondary schools when teaching literature. According to the national syllabus for English literature is an element that must be included in the English courses B and C. More specifically, covering literature from different time periods is a requirement. Further requirements connected to the teaching of literature involve dealing with the cultural- and historical aspects of English speaking countries. For the purpose of this dissertation we chose Shakespeare as an example of one of many eligible authors. Shakespeare’s works embody this category by providing all three aforementioned elements stipulated in the syllabus in connection with teaching literature. The focus of this paper was the approaches utilized by the teachers who have chosen to cover the topic of Shakespeare. Suitable candidates were,therefore, selected to provide us with our findings through the qualitative method of interview. Our findings include all informants making reference to the same passage in the syllabus when justifying their choice of teaching Shakespeare. It was also ascertained that all interviewees consider establishing relevance of a topic essential in order to motivate their students to learn. Our conclusion is that most of the teachers involved in this study prefer a learner-centred, activity-based approach. When teaching Shakespeare the key according to our informants is variation.