Sports Literature in the Secondary Classroom

Author

Hannah Thompson, Utah State University

Date of Award

Fall 2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

English

Abstract

When I first began thinking about focusing my thesis on sports literature, my initial research was not promising-many of the studies that have been done in the past focused on using sports literature to encourage reluctant readers. Reluctant male readers in particular were encouraged to try sports literature as a ploy to get them to read. Professor Linda Purdy Carter examines the reasons why reluctant readers tend to connect with sports literature. Overall, Carter concludes that sports literature can be a viable and valuable part of a classroom, but continues to emphasize the use of sports literature for students who are not up to reading typical classroom literature. Saul Bachner gives examples of stimulating and inspiring discussions that came from sports literature, and again demonstrates that students who are struggling tend to connect with sports literature better than with the typical classroom literary staples. Although Bachner does acknowledge that sports literature can lead to interesting discussions and do have literary merit, he also emphasizes its use for struggling readers. In these studies, sports literature is treated as a "lesser form" of literature because of the topic, and is relegated to being used for struggling students only.

Recommended Citation

Thompson, Hannah, "Sports Literature in the Secondary Classroom" (2013). Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects. 172.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/honors/172