장애를 다룬 아동/청소년 영문학을 이용한 영어 교육에 대한 고찰

Children’s literature is widely used in English language education in Korea. The main purpose of this paper is to call for a disability-studies-informed approach to selecting literary works that present characters with disabilities. For the purpose, the paper first examines backgrounds to the rapid expansion of employment of children’s literature in teaching English language in Korea. As two important factors, it refers to the overmuch concern with early English education and the need for much more authentic input in Korea. The paper then discusses reasons why attention should be paid to pedagogical issues related to using in English classes literary works that include characters with disabilities. This discussion centers on the powerful influence that literary representation has on the readers. The discussion is followed by a suggestion of criteria for selecting appropriate works with characters with disabilities and an application of the criteria to several popular works. Reliable reference resources are also presented. The paper concludes with an emphasis that studying literary works with characters with disabilities should be opportunities to promote students’ understanding and acceptance of disabilities just as difference.