Since its conception, the "Harry Potter" franchise has become a cultural phenomenon which transgresses national borders. As many "Potter" fans struggle with how to manage their fandom in the face of author J.K. Rowling's transphobic stance, the book series may ironically and more specifically be used to improve attitudes toward…

The benefits of using literature in second or foreign language teaching have been re-gaining attention and recognition in recent years. With the aim of exploring possible pedagogical approaches and teacher perceptions, this study investigates four reading programmes implemented by experienced teachers in Chinse secondary schools. Different young…

Despite the difficulty of defining young adult literature (YAL), the benefits of it have been well recognised for adolescent learners. With the aim of exploring pedagogical approaches to L2 literature, this study reports on a YAL reading programme carried out in a secondary EFL classroom in China. To gain both teacher and student perspectives,…

The rapid increase in communicative and technological integration through the late 1990s and early 2000s has reanimated the discussion surrounding the need to prepare young people to be global citizens. While the exact definition of global citizenship is difficult to pinpoint, the global community has identified several competencies that comprise…

This article presents the results from an international collaboration between undergraduate students in the United Kingdom and Norway. Using Literature Circles and "Google Documents" in groups, the students liaised digitally over three young adult novels that are prominent within the UK school curriculum. This study explored the ways in…

'Asia literacy' can be loosely defined as having 'some understanding of Asia and its languages in order to engage with it and communicate with its people' (Erebus Consulting Partners, 2002). The Australian Curriculum has prioritised children's development of Asia literacy, specifically through articulating the cross-curriculum priority defined as…

How can student-teachers learn efficient ways to encourage sustainability thinking in their pupils and fulfil the competence aims on sustainability outlined in national subject curriculums as a response to UNESCO's programme on Education for Sustainable Development, ESD? The core hypothesis of this project was that tailored literature circles,…

The authors drew on empirical data from a blogging project that brought English teachers from the United States and Lithuania together online to discuss the young adult novel "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys. The novel tells the story of a 15-year-old girl, Lina, and her family, who are forcibly separated and deported to a…

This paper notes the ways in which conventional texts often construct limited reading positions and/or points of view. It argues that through the use of postmodern picturebooks and an understanding of metafictive strategies (as one aspect of a more complex methodological approach to the analysis of postmodern picturebooks) students are provided…

Environmental protection is a sensitive issue in the world today. Erratic weather changes have been witnessed in many parts world including Kenya. Indeed, scholars and critics have argued that human beings are a major contributing factor to destruction of nature through industrialization, farming activities, transport, deforestation, wildlife…

This article examines drama in relation to girls' education, and considers some of the ways in which drama might be applied in schools to challenge limiting hegemonic narratives about gender and support the emerging understandings and performances of femininities of adolescent girls. It reports on case study research conducted with a Year 9 Drama…

State and national education initiatives provide American students with opportunities to engage in close readings of complex texts from diverse perspectives as they actively construct complicated understandings as they explore complex texts. Opportunities for interdisciplinary units emerge as the role of non-fiction in English/language arts and…

This article presents the results of a study on the experience of the Malaysian secondary school student with Young Adult Literature in the English language classroom. The study aimed to determine the extent to which the Malaysian secondary school student identified with the young adult protagonists and issues in the novels which have been…

Christine Garbe, a professor at the Institute for German Language and Literature Education at Leuphana University in Lueneburg, Germany, initially focused her research on youth's socialization as readers. Her professional textbooks in this area are innovative. International comparisons of youth's reading achievement drew her attention to…

This article reports the findings of a study that investigated the role of graphic novels in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to International Baccalaureate students (aged 15-16) in TED Ankara College Foundation Private High School. Two intact 10th grade classes were randomly assigned to the control and experimental groups who studied…