EFL and the fight against the Mafia: text matters

The texts that we use in our EFL lessons are relevant and, we try to find texts that are of interest and that serve our pedagogical concerns. The contexts are also important. However, some text topics can be sensitive in specific contexts. One solution to this is to self-censor and avoid difficult subjects. The south of Italy is the homeland to many of the most important groups of organised crime, togeth-er labelled as the mafia. Would texts concerning the mafia be considered off-limits by students in such a context or could they be useful tools? How much should a teacher push a particular ideology? The aim of this project was to investigate to see how local undergraduate students reacted to various types of text concerning the mafia and whether such texts could be used in a beneficial manner. Two groups of Social Work undergraduate students were given three texts concerning the mafia during their English course. One text put the mafia in a favourable light, one was neutral, and the other was negative. The texts were presented in different orders. Once the students had completed the exercises connected to the texts, they were given a questionnaire to elicit their responses to them. Finally, they were given a second questionnaire to see if they felt an instrumental use of texts appropriate in an English language classroom.