This study aims to explore teachers’ perspectives on working with controversial issues within literary works in the English language teaching classroom. This is investigated through semi-structured interviews with nine teachers who teach English at the upper secondary school level in Sweden.The results of the study are discussed along with the previous research and are grounded in the principles of Chantal Mouffe’s description of agonism. The results show that teachers find working with controversial topics in literary works in the ELT classroom to be both positive and negative. It often depends on the pupils and the class they are working with. Furthermore, the participants state that it also heavily depends on the pupils’ previous experiences with sensitive topics, as well as the dynamics in the classroom.

This research paper is important since there is not a lot of research about how teachers view their work with controversial issues in the classroom. Although the curriculum does not necessarily state that teachers have a responsibility to work with controversial topics with their pupils, there are loopholes that lead to such work, such as the statement that teachers should foster democratic citizens, which could be a question of controversy.