The main aim of this study
is to improve and enrich the core material of Turkish high school English
coursebooks with authentic literary texts, to help the students to be aware of
literature and to provide them a gateway to the real world around themselves
through literature. In order to serve this aim, reading texts of the Ministry
of Education MoNE High School English Language coursebooks will be analyzed
and evaluated. In the light of these results, authentic literary reading texts
and their lesson plans will be prepared and will be applied to the students in
the selected high school for one term. At the end of the application of the
suggested lesson plans; the effectiveness of the literary texts will be compared
to the MoNE’s coursebook materials.

In this study, it
is mainly intended to answer these questions:

1. What is the importance of using literature in foreign
language classes?

2. What is the importance of using literature with
adolescents (high school students at the age of 14-18)?

3. Are there any literary texts in the Ministry of
Education High School English coursebooks? If so;

   i. What kind of literary texts
are selected in these books?

   ii. How are these literary
texts adopted for the levels of students?

   iii. What is the
proportion of literary texts in the total number of reading texts in the book?

   iv. Are there any
extra information about literary works such as author, plot, setting,
characterization, theme, symbols, etc…

4. What kind of literary texts should be chosen for
adolescent Turkish high school students?

   i. What are the
appropriate genres for the students?

   ii. What are the appropriate
topics for the students?

   iii. Is it important
to use examples of multicultural literature? If so, how could be the selection
of literary works?                       

5. Should the authentic texts be adopted? If so, how
should these authentic literary texts be adopted appropriately for the level of
students?

6. Should only the literary texts which are appropriate
for the level be used? Which parts of these literary works should be selected?

7. What kind of extra information should be added to
coursebooks? Should there be a literary analysis of the selected literary work?

8. What are the suggested ways of teaching literature in
the foreign language classroom to the adolescent high school students?

9. Are these suggested literary texts beneficial for
high school students?