Attitudes of Teenagers to Fantasy Literature

Sušjan, Staša (author), Blake, Jason Frederick (mentor), Rot Gabrovec, Veronika (co-mentor)

This master’s thesis explores the value of the fantasy genre through the eyes of teenage readers. Although fantasy is a popular literary genre, it remains stigmatised among many readers and literary theorists due to the notion of it being trivial literature. Its popularity among teenagers is often all the more reason to write the fantasy genre off as detached from reality, and suitable for entertainment only. Since Slovenian high school English teachers can, apart from the obligatory Matura readings, choose literary works to discuss in class themselves, it cannot be estimated how often fantasy literature is given space in their lessons; its use, however, holds the potential to diversify their lessons and introduce students to different literary genres, making it possible for them to compare and critically evaluate different literary texts. The theoretical part of the thesis presents the role of imagination for teenagers, the definition of the fantasy genre, historical development, and diverse opinions on its literary merit. Teenagers are dealt with in light of their developmental characteristics and needs, while the relevance of fantasy literature is discussed together with its positive or negative influence on teenagers’ mental health. The possibilities of the implementation of fantasy literature in an English-language classroom are finally explored. The empirical part of the thesis presents the results of the research on contemporary teenagers’ attitudes to the fantasy genre and its use for teaching purposes. The research explores whether teenagers perceive the fantasy genre’s value beyond entertainment only and reveals some of its benefits and risks according to teenage readers. The results also suggest how often the fantasy genre is used in Slovenian English-language classrooms according to the surveyed teenagers’ experience and their views of its potential for educational purposes. Two surveys were conducted among high school teenagers to collect data, and the findings were complemented by an interview with two high school English teachers.

• Language: English
• Keywords: teenage literature, fantasy genre, EFL, teenagers, research
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Year: 2023
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-148081
• COBISS.SI-ID: 160905731
• Publication date in RUL: 27.07.2023

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Odnos mladih to fantazijske literature

Abstract

Magistrsko delo preučuje poglede najstnikov na fantazijsko literaturo in njeno obravnavo pri pouku angleščine kot tujega jezika. Kljub temu, da je fantazijska literatura med številnimi bralkami in bralci priljubljena literarna zvrst, so mnogi mnenja, da jim ne približa resničnosti. Splošno prepričanje, da so fantazijske vsebine še posebej priljubljene med mladimi, ki cenijo zabavno in sproščujočo tematiko, še dodatno prispeva k njenemu statusu manj pomembne literature. Dejstvo, da gimnazijski in srednješolski učitelji angleščine v slovenskih šolah lahko deloma samostojno izbirajo literarna dela, katera sami ocenjujejo kot ustrezna za navajanje mladih na branje leposlovja, onemogoča uvid v pogostnost njene obravnave pri pouku tujega jezika. Ta je lahko smiselna, saj mladim približa raznolikost literarnih zvrsti ter soustvarja zanimivo učno vsebino, prav tako pa jim omogoča, da primerjajo in kritično presojajo različna literarna besedila. V teoretičnem delu magistrske naloge so sprva predstavljeni pomen domišljije za mlade, definicija fantazijskega žanra, mnenja o njegovi literarni vrednosti, kot tudi domišljijski elementi, prisotni v literaturi skozi čas. Zatem so predstavljene razvojne značilnosti najstnikov, pomen fantazijske literature za mlade in njihovo počutje. V zaključnem delu teoretičnih poglavij so navedene še nekatere morebitne prednosti uporabe fantazijskega žanra pri pouku angleščine. Empirični del tvorijo rezultati anket, izvedenih med slovenskimi srednješolskimi, zlasti gimnazijskimi najstniki ter intervjuja z gimnazijskima učiteljema angleščine, ki razkrivajo odnose mladih do fantazijske literature in do njene obravnave pri pouku angleščine.

• Keywords: mladinska književnost, fantazijski žanr, pouk angleščine kot tujega jezika, najstniki, raziskava