Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

A postcolonial reading of John Marsden’s Tomorrow, When the War Began - an interdisciplinary study of teaching social justice through a young adult novel in the Swedish upper secondary EFL classroom

Wahldén, Johanna LU (2016) ÄENC51 20161
Educational Sciences
English Studies
Abstract
The aim of this interdisciplinary study is to examine if John Marsden’s young adult novel, Tomorrow, when the war began (1993), can be used in the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom, when teaching social justice. In order to fully examine the aim, a postcolonial reading of the novel has been made. The novel has been analyzed in accordance with postcolonial literary theory and then contrasted with the idea of teaching social justice within the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom. The literary analysis concerns a rhetorical flip which Marsden includes in his novel, and how he has managed to comment on the historic events in Australia, concerning the settlement of Englishmen and the dominance of the indigenous Australians. Furthermore,... (More)
The aim of this interdisciplinary study is to examine if John Marsden’s young adult novel, Tomorrow, when the war began (1993), can be used in the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom, when teaching social justice. In order to fully examine the aim, a postcolonial reading of the novel has been made. The novel has been analyzed in accordance with postcolonial literary theory and then contrasted with the idea of teaching social justice within the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom. The literary analysis concerns a rhetorical flip which Marsden includes in his novel, and how he has managed to comment on the historic events in Australia, concerning the settlement of Englishmen and the dominance of the indigenous Australians. Furthermore, the analysis examines if it is possible to teach social justice through the novel, and if the novel is in fact, appropriate as an EFL classroom material. The analysis is concluded by advice for educators when teaching social justice through Marsden’s novel.
The results showed that Marsden’s novel is an appropriate means of teaching social justice in the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom, as it allows the students to evolve a sense of empathy and an awareness of others. By applying a critical theory on a novel, and then bringing it into the classroom, the teacher manages to cover several of the aims expressed in both the Swedish Curriculum and the Swedish syllabus for the English teaching subject. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wahldén, Johanna LU
supervisor
organization
course
ÄENC51 20161
year
type
L3 - Miscellaneous, Projetcs etc.
subject
keywords
postcolonial criticism, war, teaching social justice, Marsden
language
English
id
8887528
date added to LUP
2016-09-28 13:22:41
date last changed
2016-09-28 13:22:41
@misc{8887528,
  abstract     = {{The aim of this interdisciplinary study is to examine if John Marsden’s young adult novel, Tomorrow, when the war began (1993), can be used in the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom, when teaching social justice. In order to fully examine the aim, a postcolonial reading of the novel has been made. The novel has been analyzed in accordance with postcolonial literary theory and then contrasted with the idea of teaching social justice within the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom. The literary analysis concerns a rhetorical flip which Marsden includes in his novel, and how he has managed to comment on the historic events in Australia, concerning the settlement of Englishmen and the dominance of the indigenous Australians. Furthermore, the analysis examines if it is possible to teach social justice through the novel, and if the novel is in fact, appropriate as an EFL classroom material. The analysis is concluded by advice for educators when teaching social justice through Marsden’s novel. 
The results showed that Marsden’s novel is an appropriate means of teaching social justice in the Swedish Upper Secondary EFL classroom, as it allows the students to evolve a sense of empathy and an awareness of others. By applying a critical theory on a novel, and then bringing it into the classroom, the teacher manages to cover several of the aims expressed in both the Swedish Curriculum and the Swedish syllabus for the English teaching subject.}},
  author       = {{Wahldén, Johanna}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{A postcolonial reading of John Marsden’s Tomorrow, When the War Began - an interdisciplinary study of teaching social justice through a young adult novel in the Swedish upper secondary EFL classroom}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}