Literature in English Language Teaching

To think about Why do we use literature in English classes? How can we use literature in English classes? Is the integration of language and literature in English classes is useful and helpful?

To know about you Do you like your literary courses? Why or why not? Which one is your favorite? Do you think they help you to develop your skills? Who is your favorite writer?

Who is this?

Geoffrey Chaucer ( ), known as the Father of English litearture, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages.

Who is this?

William Shakespeare (26 April April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

Who is this?

John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and a scholarly man of letters, best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost

Literature Broadly speaking, literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. The term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.

Teaching literature What? Why? How?

What sort of literature is suitable for use with language learners? It depends much on particular groups of students, their needs, interests, cultural background and language level. However, the primary factor to consider is whether a particular work is able to stimulate personel involvement.

In addition to this, a literary work to be used in English classes should arouse the learners’ interest provoke strong and positive reaction be meaningful and enjoyable have a lasting and beneficial effect on the learner’s linguistic and cultural knowledge be relevant to the life experiences, emotions, or dreams of the learners.

Why should a language teacher use literary texts in classes? Literature offers a bountiful and extremely varied body of valuable authentic material which includes fundamental human issues. Literature is a good way to enhance the foreign learner’s cultural enrichment and insight into the country whose language is being learnt as it offers a full and vivid context in which characters from many social backgrounds can be depicted.

Literature enhances the language enrichment of the learner by providing a rich context in which individual lexical or syntactical items are made memorable. Literature is helpful in the language learning process because of the personal involvement it fosters in readers. Engaging imaginatively with literature enables learners to shift the focus of their attention beyond the more mechanical aspects of the foreign language system.

How best can the teacher and students work with a literary text? In order to stimulate students’ desire to read literary texts, and to encourage their involvement and response, the following should be considered as aims: Maintaining interest and involvement by using a variety of student-centered activities Supplementing the printed page

Tapping the resources of knowledge and experience within the group Helping students explore their own responses to literature Using the target language with the range of activities chosen Deriving the benefits of communicative and other activities for language improvement within the context of suitable works of literature

The advantages of integration of language and literature in English classes Providing a resource/authentic context for the teaching of grammar and vocabulary Providing motivation for language learning because of its appeal to the learner’s imagination and emotions Providing stimuli for meaningful debates, discussions, and other language tasks

Providing learners with authentic models for the norms of language use Assisting learners in developing their overall language awareness and knowledge about language Helping the learner to develop interpretive and analytical skills Providing an ideal model for language learning as it represents language at its best

Providing learners with insights into the norms and cultural values embodied in the language Encouraging the learners for creative writing and critical thinking Developing the learner’s sensivity to how language is used in a literary text Providing the learner with a starting point for the process of comprehension and appreciation

Short Stories Short stories are often an ideal way of introducing students to literature in the foreign language classroom. They offer many immediate and striking advantages for both the teachers and the students:

Their practical length means they can usually be read entirely within one or two class lessons. They are less daunting for a foreign reader to tackle or to reread on his/her own, and are more suitable when set as home tasks. Students get that feeling of achievement at having come to the end of a whole work, much sooner.

They give chance to the teachers to integrate different language skills in a related activity. They offer greater variety than longer texts. A teacher can choose very different short stories, so that there is a greater chance of finding something to appeal to each individual’s tastes and interests.

Poems Poems offer rich, varied repertoire and are a source of much enjoyment for teacher and learner alike. Some of the advantages of using poems in English classes are listed below:

As they have the advantage of length, many poems are well suited to a single classroom lesson. They often explore themes of universal concern and embody life experiences, observations and the feelings evoked by them. Their brilliant concision and strong imagery combine to powerful overall effect.

They are sensitively tuned to what are vital areas of stress, rhythm and similarities of sound. They lead naturally on to freer, creative written expression. They are capable of producing strong response from the reader, and this memorable intensity motivates further reading of poetry in the foreign language.

How to Write a 5W Poem Objective A 5W poem is a good way to teach children to identify and focus on the five W's of a story or an event. Method Line 1: Who Line 2: What Line 3: Where Line 4: When Line 5: Why

Example Samantha, rode her bicycle, to the store, after dinner, because she wanted to buy some candy.

How to Write a Bio Poem Objective An Bio poem can be used to teach students to focus on the characteristics of a person or an animal, anything or anyone really. It requires the student to put themselves in the subject's shoes.

Method Line 1: First Name Line 2: Four descriptive traits Line 3: Sibling of... Line 4: Lover of Line 5: Who fears... Line 6: Who needs... Line 7: Who gives... Line 8: Who would like to see... Line 9: Resident of... Line 10: Last Name

Example Tom Tall, tasty, feathery, vicious, Sibling of Clucky Chicken and Big Bird, Lover of vegetarians and ham eaters, Fears Mr. Butterball and pilgrims, Needs to run around, Gives nourishment and left overs, Would like to see birds unite and revolt, Resident of Old MacDonald's Farm, Turkey.

Novels Using a novel with the English language learner can provide teachers with unique opportunities for educational and linguistic development. If a novel has been carefully selected so as to link in with students’ interests, it may provide a more involving source for pedagogic activities than some of the narratives that one sometimes finds in course books.

A good novel addresses itself to complex situations and adult dilemmas. It engages our students intellectually, emotionally, and linguistically. It can provide the basis for a motivating variety of classroom activities, ranging from extensive reading tasks to close textual analysis.

Plays The dramatic quality of the plays is what mainly differentiates them from other literary texts. As an activity, putting on one scene, or a short play in the classroom (roleplay), can be both enjoyable and rewarding. Plays also offer ways to help students deepen their understanding of the text and the dramatic situation.