Models in Teaching Lit
Models in Teaching Lit
LITERATURE IN ENGLISH
EngEd2/ELE127 – Teaching of
Literature
LITERATURE
• Etymologically: Latin “literatura”
derived from “littera” – a letter
or handwriting
• In broadest sense, is any single
body of written works
• Restrictively, it is writing
considered to be an art form, or
any single writing deemed to
have artistic or intellectual
value, often due to the use of
language in ways that differ
from ordinary usage
LITERATURE defined
• literature / noun
1. stories, poems, and plays,
especially those that are
considered to have value as art
and not just entertainment
(c) Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 2003
• Literary texts are products that
reflect different aspects of
society. They are cultural
documents which offer a deeper
understanding of a country or
countries (Basnet & Mounfold
1993).
• There is no inherent quality
to a literary text that makes
a literary text, rather it is the
interpretation that the
reader gives to the text
(Eagleton 1983).
Brandes (1986:12)
claims that: “Learning
what is meaningful
and relevant depends
partly on what is
taught and partly on
how it is taught.”
Why use literature?
• Literature is authentic material –
exposure for unmodified language
• Literature encourages interaction.
Literary texts are often rich has multiple
layers of meaning, and can be
effectively mined for discussions and
sharing feelings or opinions.
• Literature expands language awareness.
Asking learners to examine sophisticated
or non standard examples of language
(which can occur in literary texts) makes
them more aware of the norms of
language use (Widdowson, 1975 quoted
by Lazar 1993).
• Literature educates the whole person. By
examining values in literary texts,
teachers encourage learners to develop
attitudes towards them.
• Literature is motivating. Literature holds
high status in many cultures and
countries. For this reason, students can
feel a real sense of achievement at
understanding a piece of highly
respected literature. Also, literature is
often more interesting than the texts
found in course books.
Principles in Teaching
Literature
1. Help learners understand the
character’s world
2. Encourage learners to see the
world through the character’s
perspectives
3. Identify values underlying the
character’s conflict resolution
strategies
4. Relate self to the text and
critique the portrayal of
characters in the text and in
popular media
Principles in Teaching
Literature
6. Use variants of the same story or
collection of stories to help students
to build schema
7. Encourage students to talk, write,
and respond throughout reading
the (multicultural) texts.
8. The main purpose in the early
work in literary training is to arouse in
the learners the sincere love for the
best in our literature – elements that
arouse in them that rich and deep
emotional response; not the best
judged by standards of mature
criticism.
Grammatical competence
Communicative competence
LITERARY COMPETENCE
Major forms:
Novel, Short story and
Drama
Different models
• different models suggested
on the teaching of
literature to ESL/EFL
students (Carter & Long,
Lazar).
• How teacher uses a literary
text depends on the model
chosen
• differ in terms of focus on
the text
Cultural model
• views a literary text as a
product
• treated as a source of
information about target
culture.
• most traditional approach
• often used in university
courses on literature.
Cultural Model
• examine the social,
political, historical
background to a text,
• tend to be teacher-
centred
• little opportunity for
extended language work.
Cultural Model
• Carter (1988) considers the
information-based
approach
• as a way of teaching
knowledge about literature
• literature is seen to offer a
source of information to
the students.
Cultural Model