8. 2. Methodology Teaching Literature

8/6/2019 8. 2. Methodology Teaching Literature

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Catedra de Limba si Literatura englezaEFL Methodology IIIB

TEACHING LITERATURE

In the last few years we have witnessed an upsurge of interest in

the teaching of literature in the EFL classroom. In this unit we willexplore how the teaching of literature could be incorporated into theEnglish classroom in a way which is both accessible to pupils andmethodologically principled.

By literature we mean authentic examples of poems, plays, shortstories, novels, whether these are studied in their entirety or as extracts.

By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

explain what factors you need to consider when usingliterature

anticipate possible problems and find ways of overcomingthem

explain the difference between successful andunsuccessful literature readers

justify the use of literature in your classes

design specific tasks and activities for teaching literature.

1 Why Teach Literature?

Think first!

Before you read this section, think of a few reasons for usingliterature in the English classroom, and write them in the spacebelow.

Check your answers as you read this unit.


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1.1 Authentic Literary MaterialIn Romania, as in many other countries around the world,

literature has a high status. Consequently, many pupils may experiencea sense of achievement at using material which is highly valued,particularly by native speakers of English. When the pupils have someknowledge about the Romanian literature, then studying some Englishliterature can provide an interesting and thought-provoking point of

comparison. This may be also true of those of the pupils who do notread much literature, but enjoy telling stories.

Many textbooks in use offer a wide variety of authentic texts inEnglish. They contain authentic newspaper articles, advertisements,timetables, menus, cartoons, labels, etc. Some of them also includesome examples of authentic literature, too, whether poetry, fiction ordrama.

Literary materials expose pupils to fresh and unexpected uses oflanguage as well as complex emotional responses. Literature can beparticularly gripping in that it involves children and teenagers in adultdilemmas, problems or in a plot.

1.2 Cultural BackgroundEnglish literature can provide our pupils with access to the Anglo-

Saxon culture. However, the relationship between a culture and itsliterature is debatable, since literature cannot be seen as factual or as arealistic documentation of society. And yet, pupils do acquire culturalknowledge from reading literature. Reading literature in English raisesthe pupils awareness of the social, political and historical events whichform the background to a particular literary text.

Moreover, literature provides a way of contextualising how nativespeakers might behave or react in a particular situation. The descriptionof a wedding or of a funeral might familiarise the pupils with typicalrituals. Such descriptions may also provide insights into the way theparticipants to these events express their feelings and emotions. Inother words, using literature enables the pupils to gain usefulperceptions about how native speakers describe and evaluate theexperiences of their society.

1.3 Language Awareness

Some teachers express concern that in reading literature, pupilsare exposed to uncommon vocabulary and unusual uses of languageand wonder whether literary language illustrates the usual rules ofsyntax, collocation and cohesion. It is true that in literary texts, the usualrules and patterns that we are trying to teach may be broken or bent bysome authors. Here are two examples in which the authors (IsaacRosenberg and Dylan Thomas, respectively) reverse syntacticalpatterns:

Sombre the night is

or, replace a noun denoting a time period by an abstract noun:A grief ago

The question then is: are such original and unconventional uses of


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language going to confuse our pupils?

1.4 Language AcquisitionIn Romania, pupils have fairly limited access to spoken English,

and much of their language acquisition is stimulated by the writtenword. In this respect, literature provides meaningful contexts for

processing and interpreting new language. While reading a literary text,the pupils encounter unfamiliar vocabulary. As they are listening to thetext either read aloud by the teacher or recorded on cassette, they maybe able to formulate guesses as to the meaning of new words. Theirguesses are facilitated by their understanding of the relationshipbetween the speakers (if there are several) or the intonation used.Then, if you ask them to act out the extract themselves, usingappropriate intonation, they will be more likely to internalise the newwords.

Also, by encouraging the pupils to read extensively on their own,you will be helping them to increase their exposure to English and thus

facilitate their acquisition process.

1.5 Interpretative SkillsLiterary texts are often unclear or ambiguous, and demand the

readers active involvement in discovering hidden implications andassumptions. That is why literature may be seen as a source of materialused for developing pupils abilities to infer meaning and to makeinterpretations. By encouraging your pupils to actively engage indrawing inferences and testing out their hypotheses about what

something means in a literary text, you are helping them to developtheir capacity of interpretation. This skill can then be transferred to othersituations where the pupils need to make an interpretation based onimplicit or unstated evidence.

1.6 General Educational ValueBesides the linguistic benefits of using literature, we may also

think of its wider educational function. Literature stimulates the pupilsimagination; it helps to develop their critical faculties and increases theiremotional awareness. If you ask your pupils to respond personally to

the texts you give them, then they will become more and more confidentabout expressing their own opinions and feelings in English.

1.7 Source of Classroom ActivitiesLiterature is also a valuable source of material, since it provides

useful opportunities for helping your pupils to develop their readingskills, both intensive and extensive. Literary materials can also be usedto encourage the pupils to increase their vocabulary and to stimulatetheir writing.

As many literary texts are rich in meanings, language andmessage, they can be effectively used in promoting activities where thepupils need to share their feelings and opinions, such as discussions,role-plays, group and pair work.


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2 Teaching ContextBefore deciding whether it is appropriate to teach literature to your

pupils, you need now to look more closely at your teaching context.Your decision about teaching literature will depend on the needs of yourpupils and the type of syllabus you have to follow. If you decide that it isappropriate to use literature, then you need to choose your material by

analysing in detail the criteria for selection.

2.1 Pupils NeedsFirst you need to identify your pupils needs closely so as to

assess whether using literature will help them to meet their needs.

Think first!

Before you read on, write down the needs that you think yourpupils may have, in order to decide whether to use literary texts

with your pupils.

Check your answers as you continue reading this section.

In order to identify your pupils needs, ask yourself the followingquestions:

What are my pupils overall goals or reasons for learningEnglish? Will using literature help them to reach these goals?

When you teach in a primary or lower-secondary school, the goalsof your pupils may be not easy to define. However, using literature maybe a welcome addition, as it is a motivating and enjoyable way ofincreasing the pupils general sensitivity to the English language.However, you need to make sure that the pupils are aware of your

reasons for including literature; otherwise they may consider itirrelevant.

What areas of weakness do my pupils have? Reading skills?Limited vocabulary? Poor pronunciation? Will the use of literaturehelp them to overcome these weaknesses?

After you have identified specific areas of weakness in your pupils,either through testing or by day-to-day assessment, you may decidethat using literature can become a novel and useful way of helping yourpupils to overcome some of their problems. If, for instance, some of

them are having problems with pronunciation, getting them to listen torecordings of simple poems in which difficult sounds appear, beforeasking them to read those poems aloud, may provide effectivepronunciation practice.


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What are my pupils intellectual and emotional needs? Canliterature help in meeting some of these needs?

Try to be sensitive to your pupils general educational andaffective needs. Such needs can be very difficult to identify since thepupils themselves may be uncertain as to what they are. Throughintuition and honest discussion with your pupils you can begin to arrive

at an understanding of these needs. The use of literature can help yourpupils to overcome their frustrations as learners of English and ashuman beings. Even elementary-level pupils, who are educated andliterate in Romanian, may feel frustration at their very limited resourcesin English. Asking them to do activities based on an authentic, butsimple poem in English, may help to challenge them emotionally andintellectually, while still working within their restricted knowledge ofEnglish. They may also feel a sense of achievement at reading anauthentic English text.

2.2 The SyllabusYou may also need to have another look at the syllabus and your

timetable. How flexible is the syllabus? Can you add to it? Do you haveenough time to add to the syllabus? Does the syllabus already includeliterature? If it does, do you have any choice as to what literature toteach? Do your pupils have to pass an exam at the end of the year orstudy cycle? Is there a literature component in that exam?

If you think of giving literature as extensive reading to be done athome, ask yourself how much available time the pupils have to study ontheir own. They may have very little time available to do any extra

studying or reading. It may be more practical to confine any literatureteaching to classroom study and to short poems or literary extracts.

2.3 The Selection of Literary MaterialAfter you have clarified what the needs of your pupils are and

what the syllabus allows you to do, you may wish to consider theselection of material. There are two categories of criteria used inexamining closely the materials for classroom use: (a) those referring tothe pupils and, (b) those related to the material itself.

a) pupil-related criteriaAfter considering the needs of your pupils (their overall goals in

learning English, their linguistic weaknesses, their linguistic andaffective needs), you need to look at some more detailed criteria forchoosing materials:

pupils age: is the material chosen appropriate to the age ofyour pupils?

pupils interests: are the themes or the topic of the text likely tofit in with the interests of your pupils?

pupils intellectual maturity: are your pupils intellectually

mature enough to cope with the issues and dilemmas raised ina particular text?

pupils emotional maturity: how far will your pupils be able torespond to the feelings or emotional complexities expressed in


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a particular text? Is the text likely to stimulate your pupilsinvolvement?

pupils linguistic ability: how advanced are your pupils? Istheir language ability sufficient to cope with the text?

pupils literary competence: to what extent are the pupilsalready familiar with certain literary conventions? How much ofthis kind of knowledge do they need to cope with the text you

have chosen? pupils cultural background: how far will the pupils cultural

background and their social expectations help or hinder theirunderstanding of a text? How much of this background will youhave to supply?

pupils motivation: to what extent are your pupils likely to bemotivated by studying a particular text?

b) text-related criteriaWhen examining a text for its suitability, bear in mind the following

questions:

length: How long is the text? Do you have enough time to workon it with the pupils? Will they be discouraged if the text is toolong or too demanding? Can you use only sections of the text?How much background information is needed to make thechosen text comprehensible to your pupils?

language: how difficult is the language in the text? Will yourpupils be able to cope with it? To what extent is the language ofthe text deviant from the usual rules of English? Are your pupilsfamiliar with these rules so as to be able to analyse the effectthe deviances produce?

exploitability: what kinds of activities or tasks can you deviseto exploit a text? Are these likely to be interesting and useful toyour pupils? Can you devise activities similar to those yourpupils are familiar with? Are there other resources (e.g. videofilm) from which the pupils can view selected episodes orlibrary materials providing information about the author?

syllabus fit: is the text likely to fit in with the rest of yoursyllabus?

genre: what kind of genre will work best with your pupils poetry, fairy tales, drama, stories?

Your choice will be determined by the amount of time availableand the level of the pupils. Pupils at lower levels can be encouraged toborrow graded readers from the library. At higher levels you could useauthentic texts.

3 Success in Reading LiteratureResearch on reading strategies has tried to define the strategies

used by successful and unsuccessful readers. Here is a list ofsuccessful reader strategies.

Successful readers

decide on a reading purpose for example, they follow thedevelopment of a specific character in a story;

choose a reading approach (e.g. skimming, scanning, reading


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for detail) which is appropriate to the given text and theirpurpose in reading it;

read the title, look at illustrations, etc. and make hypothesesabout the meaning of the text;

predict how a story will develop;

check their predictions against what they read, modify orreformulate their hypotheses;

use their knowledge of the world; tolerate vague meaning until they can clarify it by skipping

unknown words and taking chances to guess at meaning;

use context clues (e.g. preceding and succeeding sentencesand paragraphs) to guess at unknown words and expressions;

use dictionaries sparingly;

summarise as they read along;

organise the information by taking notes, drawing diagrams,semantic maps, etc.

The strategies of the successful and the less successful readers

offer us insights for the teaching of literature because they identifythose strategies that can be explicitly taught. Thus, when teachingliterature we should:

be explicit about the reason for an exercise so as toencourage the pupils to read with a purpose and to assistthem in gaining control over the reading strategy that theexercise requires them to use;

include instructions that offer useful hints and good workingprocedures;

include exercises that build comprehension skills, from simple

ones such as true/false to more complex ones such as thosethat require them to make inferences about the text;

help pupils make explicit the inferences that are implicit in thetext and to which the writer has assumed the readers will haveaccess. We also need to draw their attention to the hierarchyof actions, states, events, and help them to differentiatebetween main and secondary points, summarise andparaphrase.

Also, we need to encourage our pupils to summarise as they goalong or to draw diagrams, flow charts, or tables. These can help the

pupils to organise the events in a story in a visual form that shows therelation of the events (chronological, cause and effect, etc.)

4 Teaching LiteratureDuring the reading of literature, like during the reading of any kind

of text, the readers make sense of what they read by decoding thelinguistic items (lexical and grammatical) and relating this information towhat they already know the background information, acquired throughones experience of the world. If the readers linguistic knowledge isweak at any point, they will compensate by drawing on background

knowledge, and vice versa. During the reading process the readers tryto give the text a coherent interpretation, making predictions andsearching for confirmations or rejections. What they bring to the text isas important as what they find in it. The following principles of teaching


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literature attempt to capture these insights into reading:

activate existing background knowledge.Relate the content of the text to the pupils own cultural

experiences. This can be done as a pre-reading activity, when pupilsreflect on and discuss what they already know about the topic of theliterary text. This helps them to relate what they read to what is already

familiar and known to them. encourage predictionAllow the pupils to formulate hypotheses about the text before

reading begins. This helps them utilise the background information theypossess and arouses their interest in the text. It does not matter if thepredictions are incorrect as long as they are alert to what follows in thetext to see whether it matches their expectations.

fill in the background knowledge where it is missingMake explicit presentations of the cultural, historical, and/or social

context of the text.

explain the genre of the textExplain what genre the text belongs to and the discourse structure

of the text, if necessary. This may be a novel, a play, a poem, etc., andit may be organised as a description or as an argument, etc.

assist word and sentence-level comprehensionYou can do this using vocabulary exercises, glossaries, etc.

put the text together againAfter you have discussed or analysed bits of it return to the text as

a whole.Below are a few ideas of activities used for teaching literature.

When choosing such activities do not forget that some of them workbetter with some kinds of texts, others work better with certain kinds ofpupils. Like any other reading activities, the activities used for teachingliterature can be classified into pre-, while- and post-reading ones.

4.1 Pre-reading ActivitiesThe aims of the pre-reading activities are to provide the pupils with

any necessary background information to understand the text betterand to stimulate their interest. Here are a few ideas for pre-readingactivities:

ask the pupils to write or tell their own stories from the title andthen compare these with the actual story in the text;

ask the pupils to recall the main points of a text previously readso that they can compare it with a new text as they read it;

let the pupils build free associations around an important wordin a text, and write down as many words connected with it thatthey can think of. As they read the text, they can tick off the

words that appear; organise a discussion of controversial (true / false) statements

about the theme or topic of the text, etc.


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4.2 While-reading ActivitiesThis type of activities increases the pupils confidence and interest

while they read the text. Such activities may consist of:

listening to an accompanying recording of the same text;

providing notes about difficult vocabulary or unexplained

cultural information to which pupils can refer while reading, etc.

While-reading activities can also assist pupils with basicunderstanding of the text. These can take various forms:

comprehension questions about the contents of the text. Thesecould be also true / false questions, multiple choice questionsor wh- questions;

the text can be divided into sections and the pupils are asked toanswer comprehension questions about each section beforethey move on to the next section;

pupils are provided with two or three brief summaries of a text,and have to decide which one is the most appropriate;

pupils complete a map or diagram showing the events in thetext, etc.

4.3 Post-reading ActivitiesThese activities are meant to encourage pupils to express their

own opinions and personal responses to what they have read. Theymay also provide fluency practice.

simulations or role-plays in which the pupils take the part ofcharacters in the text they have read, and interview each otheror improvise scenes from the book;

pupils discuss statements arising from the issues or themes inthe text, etc.

Other post-reading activities may exploit the literary text tostimulate the pupils creative writing abilities:

pupils write a few paragraphs about what happens after apoem or short story has ended;

pupils rewrite the story or poem in a different style e.g. as if itwere a paragraph from an autobiography, etc.

Other post-reading activities have as goal to familiarise pupils withnew or difficult vocabulary in the text:

pupils match words or phrases in the text with their dictionarydefinitions;

pupils match words in a text with a list of their opposites;

pupils are divided into groups. Each group has a different list ofwords from the text, for which they have to find the meaning byusing dictionaries. The groups then explain these words toeach other, etc.


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5 Sample Lesson PlanThis lesson plan is based on material taken from Chilrescu, M.,

Andriescu I., and Paidos, C., 1998, All Right, Manual de limbaenglezpentru clasa a VII-a, Iai, Polirom. Some of the activities are based onideas in Lesson Two, Unit 4, pp. 52 53. The focus of the lesson hasbeen changed, a few activities have been remodelled and new oneshave been introduced.

Aims:

To provide intermediate pupils, who are highly literate inRomanian, with the opportunity to read some authentic Englishliterature;

To reinforce pupils knowledge of English sentence structure bymeans of a sentence-completion exercise and a gap-fillexercise;

To encourage pupils to focus on different relationships betweenwords, such as antonyms and collocation.

Level: lower intermediate and intermediate pupils

Time: 30 35 minutes

Aids: a few pictures of various trees in spring and autumn and thetextbook (Chilrescu, M., Andriescu, I., Paidos, C. 1998, All Right,Manual de limba englez pentru clasa a VII-a, Iai, Polirom).

Assumptions:

pupils are familiar with the structures and vocabulary in thepoem, e.g. past tense of regular and irregular verbs, basiccolour adjectives

pupils are motivated to read a poem

pupils are familiar with grammatical terminology like verb,adjective, noun.

Anticipated problems:

Some of the vocabulary is a little difficult, e.g. scarlet, crimson.The new colours will be taught using the palette on page 52.

Also difficult to explain: rustic hollowand jolly hands around.

Procedure:Warmer (10 minutes)a) Organise the class for pair work. One pair partner is given some

pictures of trees in spring, while the other has pictures of trees inautumn. Each pupil has to write three sentences based on theirpictures, beginning with cues like:

1. Chestnuts, oaks and maples2. Last spring, trees3. Blossoms new fallen from the trees spread a

1. Weather2. Last autumn, the weather3. Leaves new fallen from the trees flew

Pupils can use the pictures to help them, or can simply invent theirown sentences.

Partners exchange sentences, and mark each others sentences.


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While-reading (10 minutes)Ask the pupils to look at the (gapped) poem and explain to them

that they have to decide which words fit in the gaps. Give the words thathave been removed from the text on the board, in random order.Encourage the pupils to work in pairs on this activity, too.

When the pupils have completed the gap-filling exercise, ask onepair to read out their version, and see whether the others all agree.

Explain any difficult words like crimson, scarlet, flutter, rustichollow, jolly hand around. Encourage the pupils to use dictionaries tocheck the word meaning if necessary.

Go through the poem again, reading out the answers and askingthe pupils to justify their choices.

Post-reading (5 minutes)This is the discussion part of the lesson. Pupils discuss in pairs:

Who came to the party? What does partymean here?

How were the guests dressed?

What did the guests do at the party? What do the pupils think of the poem? Do they like it or not?

Why?

Vocabulary Follow-up (10 minutes)a) Remind the pupils of the set of colours, and of the party

associations and collocations: to give a party, to lead the dancing, tolead the band, to balance to ones partner, a party ends / closes.

b) Ask the pupils to do exercise IX in the book, page 53:Colourful language.

c) Give the pupils this list either on the board, or as individualcut up words to find out collocations:

light scarlet violetyellow sheep turquoiseindigo see bloodblack olive purplewhite green liered look in the bluecrimson pink orange

d) Feedback. The solutions are: black sheep, green light, look inthe pink, white lie, see red, blue blood.

HomeworkExplain to the pupils what a garden party is. Ask them to write a

short story about an imaginary garden party, including as many colourwords as they can, and the following collocations in what they write:gave a party, led the dancing, led the band, played, and closed.

SummaryIn spite of the little attention given to the teaching of literature in

the textbooks on the international market, literature has always been

recognised as an effective tool in learning English in this country.Literature represents valuable authentic material which provides

for the more subtle and meaningful learning in depth of a foreignlanguage. Literary texts, on the other hand, represent a valuable source


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of civilisation knowledge. The very nature of literature with its ambiguitycan provide a stimulus for expressing different opinions. In literaturethere is no correct solution to how you experience a text, and a classdiscussion will be genuine communication.

Reading literature, as well as talking and writing about it, is bothan affective and cognitive process. Meeting a literary text can give ourpupils an emotional and personal experience and give room for

reflection. This emotional appeal can involve the pupils in the learningprocess.

Key Concepts text authenticity

cultural background

language awareness

interpretive skills

teaching context

pupil-related criteria of text selection text-related criteria of selection

successful and unsuccessful literature readers

principles of teaching literature

pre-, while- and post-reading activities

Further Reading

1. Brumfit, C. and Carter, R.A. (eds.), 1986, Literature and LanguageTeaching, Oxford University Press

2. Collie, J. and Slater, S., 1987, Literature in the LanguageClassroom, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-16 (Part B of thebook contains a resource bank of activities)

Documents

8. 2. Methodology Teaching Literature