Teachers' Perspectives on the Use of Short Stories in the English Classroom : A qualitative study of English teachers' work with short stories in the multicultural classroom in Sweden

Abstract: The purpose of this study aims to examine teachers' perspectives on the use of short stories in the English classroom at the upper secondary level in one municipality in Stockholm, Sweden. The study is a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 6 English teachers. The theoretical framework underscores different implications and advantages of teaching literature in the classroom. These implications regard the use of authentic literary texts and their advantages. The theoretical framework also gives a definition of the terms multiculturalism and interculturality. The results suggest that teachers use short stories in order to motivate students to read more because they are shorter than longer texts. Teachers reported advantages in student motivation, a sense of accomplishment, and enhancement of language skills when teaching short stories. Moreover, short stories are seen by teachers as versatile tools that cater to different students' learning abilities. The short stories that the teachers select to work with come from their own interests. When selecting short stories, the teachers always have in mind to be sensitive in order not to offend anyone or for it to be culturally sensitive. Some teachers vary their literature by choosing works from around the world to present different perspectives. The short stories that the teachers select contain authentic language that presents different views that the students can discuss in order to understand. The results indicate that teachers find that cultural aspects are embedded within the stories and could be discussed from different perspectives in the multicultural classroom.