Journal of Mother Tongue Education

Abstract

As known, literature is a product of the society that makes it and, at the same time, it has the power to influence the society.  In this way, it reflects national values; however, when it comes to the concept of the world literature, there are views that are still controversial today. Hence, it is not easy to fit the concept of world literature, the boundaries of which cannot be established with precision, into a framework. In general, the combination of the literature of many societies is considered as world literature. Although many literatures from the Italian to the Lebanese literature, from the French to the Irish Literature show national literary features, all of these literatures are also considered within the context of world literature. This case provides rich material opportunities for text use in education, especially in language teaching. In addition, in order to use this material and gain a richer perspective, it is necessary to follow world literature. In this study, the aim was to determine the levels of Turkish teacher candidates’ following of world literature. Survey model was used in the study and the data obtained were presented in the Findings section. The findings showed that the participants followed world literature predominantly through translated works, the American literature was in the first place among the most recent and continually pursued works, Turkish teacher candidates were inadequate in terms of the knowing literary work translators and international literary awards, and that world literature was followed mostly via novels and that watching movies followed novels.