This paper addresses issues arising from the use of extracts in the teaching of literature. Through a qualitative experiment I ascertained whether the reception of extracts and short stories by 3rd year gimnazija students showed that these lacked effect, that students learned nothing from them and felt nothing when reading, or that they did not appreciate the development of the text, as opponents of such texts claim. The results from the experimental and control groups were as follows: the failure to appreciate the main similarities and differences between Kleč’s short story and an extract from Tomšič’s novel was not influenced by the fact that one text was an extract, while the other was a full text; the extract prompted appropriate comprehension of literary elements (the difference between plot and subject matter was actually more clearly perceived in the reading of the extract than of the full text, while on the whole readers of the extract formed appropriate perceptions of the protagonists, perspectives, location, etc.); in general, a majority of those taking part expressed satisfaction with the extract; the extract provided some motivation to most of the students to read the whole text; the acceptability of the extract depends on its content and the pedagogical uses to which it is put; the use of extracts facilitates the avoidance of lengthy discussion of (over)long texts. This research, which supplements some studies already made, shows that the use of extracts in the teaching of literaturehas a specific pedagogic function, that a considered combination with full texts is necessary, that extracts should be carefully made and used in the light of the structure of the whole, and that the level of reading skills should be taken into account.
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