#50, Research Paper: ‘Language Based Approaches to Using Literature in Teaching English’ by Dr.N.V.Bose

Language Based Approaches to Using Literature in Teaching English

by Dr.N.V.Bose, Institute of Language Teaching, Jamnagar.

Introduction

Literature itself has been greatly enriched by recent developments in the field of critical theory. Structuralism, Deconstructionism, Reader-response theory, Feminist and Marxist criticism are just some of the branches of critical theory which have been challenging the ways in which we read and understand literature. The sole aim of this paper is a practical one; it is to find ways of using literature which will help learners to achieve their main purpose for being in the classroom, that is, to improve their English. For most teachers this is the compelling goal when selecting and designing materials, and there is not really sufficient time to think about critical theory as well.

Literary text as resource

Literary texts are seen as resource-one among many different types of texts-which provide stimulating language activities. The advantage of using literary texts for language activities are that they offer a wide range of styles and registers; they are open to multiple interpretations and hence provide excellent opportunities for classroom  discussion; and they focus on genuinely interesting and motivating topics to explore in the classroom (Duff and Maley,1990). Studying the language of the literary text will help to integrate the language and literature syllabuses more closely. Detailed analysis of the language of the literary text will help students to make meaningful interpretations or informed evaluation of it. At the same time, students will increase their general awareness and understanding of English. Students are encouraged to draw on their knowledge of familiar grammatical, lexical, or discourse categories to make aesthetic judgements of the text.

Literary Texts: Valuable Authentic Materials

Literature is ‘authentic’ material. By authentic we mean that most works of literature are not fashioned for the specific purpose of teaching language. In reading literary texts, students have also 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, exposition, argument, narration, and so on. Literature is perhaps best seen as a complement to other materials used to increase the foreign learner’s insight into the country whose language is being learnt.

Another positive aspect of literature is that it provides a rich context in which individual lexical or syntactical items are made more memorable. Reading a substantial and contextualised body of text, students gain familiarity with many features of the written language-the formation and function of sentences, the variety of possible structures, the different way of connecting ideas-which broaden and enrich their own writing skills. The extensive reading required in tackling a novel or long play develops the students’ ability to make inferences from linguistic  clues, and to deduce meaning from context, both useful tools in reading other sorts of materials as well (Collie ad Slater 1987).

Traditional Approaches to Teaching Literature

In recent years the approaches to teaching language mainly aim at promoting the learner’s communicative competence. However when it comes to teaching literature, this communicative ideal often vanishes. The way literature is presented often has a number of typical features. Sometimes the teacher falls back upon more traditional classroom role in which he or she sees him or herself as imparting information about the author, the background of the work, the particular literary conventions that inform the text and so on. Learners are somehow expected to have the ability to take all this in and make it their own. Besides, the sheer difficulties of detailed comprehension posed by the intricacy or linguistic subtlety of the language turn the teaching of literature into a massive process of explanation by the teacher or even of translation, with greater proportion of available classroom time devoted to a step by step exegetical exercise led by the teacher.

At more advanced levels of work with literature, the teacher may resort to the metalanguage of criticism and this may both distance learners from their own response and cause them to undervalue it, whatever the gain in analytical terms (Collie and Slater 1987). The time-honoured technique of question-and-answer can provide some help. But unless questions are genuinely open-ended, there is often a feeling on the part of the students that the teacher is slowly but surely edging them to particular answers that he or she has in mind. There is little room for either their own responses or their involvement during such sessions. In short, personal investment is minimal.

Language based Approach

A language-based approach is quite a broad approach which covers a range of different goals and procedures. Generally speaking, this approach focuses on a closer integration of language and literature in the classroom, since this will help the students in achieving their main aim which is to improve their knowledge of, and proficiency in, English.

Techniques and procedures

A language based approach to using literature includes techniques and procedures which are concerned more directly with the study of the literary text itself. The aim is to provide the students with the tools they need to interpret a text and to make competent critical judgements of it. Stylistics analysis is one of them. Stylistics involves the close study of the linguistic features of a text in order to arrive at an understanding of how the meanings of the text are transmitted.

Stylistics in the classroom

Stylistics has two main objectives: firstly, to enable students to make meaningful interpretation of the text itself; secondly, to expand students’ knowledge and awareness of the language in general. Thus, although the aim of using stylistics is to help students to read and study literature more competently, it also provides them with excellent language practice.

For the language learner, stylistics has the advantage of illustrating how particular linguistic forms function to convey specific messages. Stylistic analysis can also provide a way of comparing different types of texts (literary or non-literary) in order to ascertain how they fulfil different social functions. For example, students may be asked to compare the description of a character in a novel with information about someone given in a letter of reference or a medical form (Widdowson,1975).

The students will then be able to examine how these texts differ and the reasons for this difference. The teaching of literature can thus be integrated more fully into the classroom, since literary texts can be studied alongside other kinds of texts.

Activities

A number of language-based activities for exploiting literature with the language learner can be conducted in the classroom. A few examples could be:

Activity 1.

Different section of a dialogue from a play are given to groups of students, and each group has to rewrite the dialogue in reported speech using a range of verbs (e.g. suggest, mumble, wonder etc.) when they are finished, they give their reported versions to members of another group to transform into dialogues, which are then compared with the originals from the paly.

Activity 2.

After they have read it, students are given three different summaries of a short story. They have to decide which summary is the most accurate.

Activity 3.

Students are given three different critical opinions of a play or novel they have read. They have to decide which they find the most convincing or accurate.

Literature and self-access

A literature self-access centre could be a small collection of texts for students to read on their own with minimal supervision. The self-access centre could consist of: literary texts such as novels, plays, short stories, anthologies of poetry and a collection of video recordings of plays or films based on novels, and audio recordings of literary texts which students are encouraged to work through on their own perhaps after reading the original literary text.

A self-access centre would provide students with a choice of literary texts to listen to or to read, foster the students’ enjoyment of literature, promote language acquisition, develop reading and listening skills and to enable students to become more self-confident and independent as learners. A sample self-access worksheet could be:

Self-access Worksheet

PLAYS

Facts about the play

Title:

Author (playwright):

When published

Type of the play/genre

CONTENT

1. 1. Setting (where the action takes place)
2. 2. When is it set
3. 3. The plot: The play is about…………….
4. 4. Characters: Write down the names of the main characters, the role of each one on the story, and 2 or 3 adjectives to describe them.
5. 5. Message : Has the pay got a message?

If so what do you think it is?

LANGUAGE

Write down 3 or 4 words, phrases or expressions you have learnt from this play.

OPINION

1. 1. Choose from the following adjectives to describe the play:

Hilarious      gripping    moving    powerful    tedious    tragic   amusing

What other adjectives could you use to describe the play?

1. 2. The play is going to be performed and you are the director. Describe the costumes, scenery, lighting, etc. you want for each act.
2. 3. Would you recommend this play to anyone else? Why?

Does this play remind you of any plays in your own language? If so, what?

Conclusion

The overall aim of language-based approach to using literature is to let the students derive the benefits of communicative and other activities for language improvement within the context of suitable works of literature. All that the teacher needs to do is to keep a balance between literature and language and select the activities and tasks and presents them confidence.

Reference:

1. Brumfit,C.,Carter,R.(ed) (1986) Literature and Language Teaching, Oxford University Press.
2. Carter,R (ed)( 1982). Language and Literature: An Introductory Reader in Stylistics, Allen and Unwin.
3. Collie. J, and Slater, S.(1987). Literature in the Language Classroom, Cambridge University.
4. Duff, T.(ed).(1988). Explorations in Teacher Training- problems and issues. Longman.
5. Lazar,G.(1993). Literature and Language Teaching.

Widdowson,H.G.(1975). Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature. Longman.