Literature in language teaching: What, why and how (original) (raw)

LITERATURE AS A USEFUL TOOL IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

For many years, literature has been an important part of the culture of a country which, in a way, has served as an artistic instrument where readers can delight themselves with enriching stories, plays, novels, poems, etc. On the other hand, literature is a key piece in language teaching. However, many questions have arisen regarding why literature is taught, and why it is necessary for students to read and analyze works as part of the curriculum. To answer this, it is necessary to review more in-depth about the benefits and importance of literature, which goes beyond reading and learning a Shakespearean drama or sonnet, and to just simply discuss that Romeo and Juliet died due to forbidden affairs. To become aware of literature relevance, we must understand that when an author expresses his or her feelings, experiences, point of view, etc. he or she is broadening our possibility of experiencing through his or her perspective. So in the end it is not just understanding what the work is about, but also understanding what the author wants to convey by forging a connection with him or her and with the context. Hence, this paper aims to deeply analyze the benefits, problems, and possible solutions that have been raised by several authors regarding this matter.

Teaching language through Literature: An innovative approach

Literature can be regarded as a rich source of 'authentic material' because it conveys two features in its written text: one is 'language in use,'i.e the employment of linguistics by those who have mastered it into a fashion intended for native speakers; the second is an aesthetic representation of the spoken language which is meant to recover or represent language within a certain cultural context. Teaching language through literature help teachers first to acquaint themselves with language use to develop their own competence and understand language as a social phenomenon, and not as an exclusive branch of learning. And another thing is that it transforms the classrooms as the stage in which there is real practice of communicative language. It also helps teachers to consider language as entailing social acceptability in other words; they can look to classroom language as carrying resemblance with the outside language. And As a result, this would raise communication ...

Value of Literature in Language Teaching

World Journal of English Language, 2012

In view of the conflicting views about the traditional literature based vs. authentic materials in teaching English as a second and foreign language as well as English for academic and specific purposes, a brief survey about the benefits of the materials reveals that the literature based materials can capture the attention of the learners by connecting the content to the real time situations more impressively and artistically than authentic materials and can make the learning more meaningful. The information required has been collected in the form of questionnaires and oral interviews and an analysis of the data has been presented in the narrative form in combination with the accounts of analyses of the review of similar literature.

Importance of Incorporating Literature in the Language Classroom

Nepal Journal of Multidisciplinary Research

Literature is a prolific expression of human feelings, emotions, thoughts, opinions, and so on. Language is a system of communication that consists of a set of sounds, words, and grammar rules that are used by a particular group of people. The relationship between language and literature is complex and multifaceted, with each influencing and enriching the other in a variety of ways. Literature can be an effective tool for improving language skills and deepening cultural understanding. The substantial objective of this article is to highlight the importance of incorporating literature in the language classroom. This article is based on the secondary qualitative data taken via books and journal articles regarding literature, language and the significance of literature for teaching language skills. Both teachers and students will be benefitted from this article as they will be encouraged and ignited to teach language in an innovative way through using literary texts. It will reflect ho...

Teaching literature in the language classroom: an introduction

2012

5 Within this first of three planned short overview articles, I offer a brief introduction to literature use in the language classroom. This should be useful for teachers considering using literature in the language classroom, while for those already doing so, it may refresh or challenge their thoughts on the matter by offering some differing perspectives. The article first considers the nature of literature and seeks to define the elusive. Secondly, three differing models of literature usage are presented, with an extra fourth model added, that is specifically relevant for EFL teaching. Finally, the article presents criteria teachers may consider in deciding upon choosing appropriate literature for their own classroom use.

The Advantages of using Literary Texts in the Language Classroom

International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 2018

The use of literature was the ultimate goal in the language classroom when the grammartranslation method was popular in language teaching. In the 1960s and 1970s the use of literature in the language classroom lost its prestige because the grammar-translation method fell into disuse. The widespread assumption was that literature was complex hence only linguistically competent learners were able to understand it. However, in the 1970s and 1980s literature emerged as a contributing force in language teaching and since then it has been used in the language classroom to promote language proficiency development. Although its incorporation in language teaching is still a matter of debate today, literature has the potential to foster language learning. Literature is a potentially worthwhile source to help learners with language development, cultural improvement and personal growth. This article explores the benefits of using literature in the language classroom. More specifically, the article focuses on the contributions of literature to language acquisition.

Why should literature be used in the language classroom

Communicative methodologies that emerged in the 1970s stress the importance of using authentic materials and activities in th e classroom in order to help students achieve communicative competence that will enable them to use the language for communicative purposes in the real world. However, the materials and classroom activities focus on the referential function of the language and do not offer opportunities for imaginative involvement. Therefore, students do not acquire the ability to understand the creative uses of the language or to function in situations in which they have to make interpretations and evaluations, and give their personal response and reaction. This paper argues that inclusion of literature in language teaching materials will provide students with the opportunities to experience and use the language more creatively and to develop grea ter awareness of the language they are learning.