<p><em>The necessity of promoting reading interests in connection with the problems that have to be solved today and in near future in school, university and the society on the whole puts forward the task for the prospective teachers of literature to master not only theoretical knowledge in their study process but also to acquire skills necessary for their future pedagogical work so that they are able to choose the most suitable methodological approach for the interpretation of a literary work in each teaching/learning situation.</em></p>

The language policy in Latvia is not only a linguistic but also a broader social and economical problem. About a hundred languages are represented in this country, though the main functional accent is on Latvian and Russian as well as on English. The language policy follows the ultimate goal to integrate the society, preserve and develop this language. The article provides an insight into the history and current development of minority schools, reveals trends in bilingual education, and introduces problems of minorities' children in schools with Latvian as the language of instruction.

Integration in the global world that has rapidly been happening during the independence years in Latvia has brought about many benefits in the field of education but has also created numerous problems. It has aggravated the postmodern situation which in the context of literature teaching/learning has manifested itself as decrease of learners’ reading interests and skills. In didactics of the Latvian literature, the approach to interpretation of a literary work designed in the 19th and 20th has enriched with various theoretical and methodological sources from the West. It raised the necessity to develop awareness of these theories in the cultural and historical context and draw the conclusions in connection with the actual situation at schools. To solve these problems, curriculum development requires change of focus as well as varied methodological approaches should be applied to increase learners’ motivation to read literature and raise awareness of themselves and the environment with the help of works of art.