Criteria and creation: Literary texts and a literature textbook (original) (raw)
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The paper is concern with teaching literature in English. It is described as literary work in real life situation or imaginary situation expressed in the four genres: prose, poetry and drama. Since literature is language in action, teachers of English at the secondary school are expected to expose students to various literary components such as the theme, setting, plot, characters, dialogues and monologues. A well- coordinated integrative language teaching of literature in English at the secondary school should clearly bring out the vital roles of literature as a laboratory where students go to practice their ideas of English language. That is literature should be used to facilitate the learning of English language. Therefore, it is against this backdrop that this paper aims at discussing simplified teaching methodologies, strategies and techniques for effective and productive teaching and learning literature in particular and by extension English language generally in secondary schools.
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APPROACHES TO TEACHING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
APPROACHES TO TEACHING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM, 2007
Instructors and theoreticians have always searched for new ways of teaching language to students better. One of them is to benefit from literature in the language classroom. The literature of the target language is regarded as a contributing factor to the target language learning and remained in the English curricula of non-English speaking countries (Stern, 1991). There are several arguments about the use of literature in the language classroom and what it can offer to foreign language learners. These arguments primarily comprise the linguistic, the cultural and the educational value of the literature. Literature is mostly regarded as the richest source of a language. What Lee (1970) says about the value of studying literature in terms of language learning is remarkable: It is in literature that the resources of the language are most fully and skillfully used. It seems to follow that literature should enter into the language study of those who are to use the language with the greatest possible skill and effect (Cited in Sage, 1987, p.6). Collie and Slater (1987) argue that students enrich their language, studying literary works. For instance, functions of the written language can be exposed to students by means of literature. Rahim (1989) mentions that literary works use language lavishly and teach additional language. Carter and Walker (1989) assert similar things saying that because literature, itself, is language; it can serve well to the language learning purposes. Rich metaphorical usages of the language not only teach additional language, but also engage students with critical concepts. Furthermore, literature can offer authentic language to the language classroom. Collie and Slater (1987) explains the authenticity of literary texts saying that literary works are authentic because they are not arranged specifically to a language teaching situation. A great deal of authentic language is available in recent course books such as city plans, advertisements, and newspaper articles. By means of these materials, students are exposed to real life situations in classroom setting. Collie and Slater continues their arguments mentioning that nothing can be more complementary than literature to the course books. Once the students achieve some basic language level, they can start studying literature with the works close to their language proficiency level. Moreover, learners will more or less start to cope with language intended for native speakers, and thus they gain additional familiarity with many different linguistic uses, forms and conventions of the written mode: with irony, metaphorical language, argument and so forth. York (1990) similarly states that especially in narrative literature such as the novel, learners can always find something of human beings,
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English Language and Literature Studies, 2020
This exploratory study investigates the use of literary texts in English as a foreign language (EFL) coursebooks and examines the extent to which literature is used within the coursebooks, the types of texts used as regards authenticity and recency, the criteria for selecting and adapting the texts and the ways of improving the selection and adaptation process. Multiple articles written on this subject show that the evaluation of EFL coursebooks is a relevant and important research area in the study of language and linguistics. This study gives a survey of the extent to which literary texts are used in EFL coursebooks within institutions of higher learning in Kuwait and worldwide. In this study, 44 popular EFL coursebooks (between 2015 and 2019) within higher education institutes, including those in Kuwait, were analysed. The findings demonstrated that literary texts are not included in many of the coursebooks used nowadays and that the literary texts selected were primarily from an...
Teaching language through literature
Tuttitalia, 2003
In the following contribution I discuss some uses of literary texts in the language classroom, emphasizing the value of literature in the study of language and culture from beginner's level. The focus is predominantly on practical approaches to literature in language teaching, although I have tried to provide some theoretical background, too. I have selected texts according to the traditional broad genre subdivision of narrative, verse and drama but I will not deal with each group separately, the reasons being that, for instance, different genres can be exploited for the same learning task or one single text that contains features of various genres, can be used for a variety of tasks. These 'overlaps' allow creative activities between and within texts, which can be dissected and pieced together in language exercises, group work, home assignments etc. The potential represented by TV or film adaptations of literary works would complement some of the activities suggested or prompt variations and extensions. Although I mention the cross-fertilization of traditional artistic fields, like literature, with the mass media, I do not explore this field; I only draw a few examples from advertising as cases in point. I have chosen extracts from both canonical and contemporary literary production providing details of publications or, when appropriate, Internet sites where the full text can be found.
The aim of this study is to assess the suitability of the literature textbooks assigned to the Sudanese secondary school students. The data were collected through content analysis of the literature books: Things Fall A Part, Treasure Island, Jane Eyre, The Prisoner of Zenda, Oliver Twist, Anna and the Fighter. The researcher has adopted the descriptive, analytical research method adopting mainly the content analysis technique in analyzing the six literary textbooks. The linguistic input and the cultural aspects of these literary texts are compared with the students’ linguistic level and their cultural background. The findings show that the selection of the textbooks do not meet the students' needs, L2 language competence, age, culture, and literary background. This means that these literature books have been haphazardly selected, without consideration to the students’ actual needs. Thus, it is recommended that all these factors, students’ needs and requirements must be considered when selecting reading texts to be taught to secondary school students in Sudan. KEYWORDS: Criteria For Selecting Textbooks, Students’ Needs, Using Literature In EFL
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.