Criteria for Selecting Authentic Literary Texts for Adult ESL Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify a reasonable selection of authentic English literary texts that includes poems, short stories, and novels that will interest intermediate adult ESL learners and progressively challenge them. A list of commonly used literary works for each genre -novels, short story and poems-- was compiled from introductory literary courses used in five US colleges and universities. The usefulness of the texts was assessed using criteria proposed by various researchers. The selection was ranked from the shortest and easiest to the longest and the most difficult. This study has positive implications for the field of adult ESL education because the results offer potential suggestions of literary texts to ESL instructors, and provides a guide for selecting authentic texts.