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���������LITERATURE AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING�

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HATİCE OKYAR, PhD

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Asst. Prof. of ELT

Necmettin Erbakan University, School of Foreign Languages

Konya, Turkey

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Outline

  • Definition of literature
  • Reasons to use literature in ESL classes
  • Some literary genres
  • Pre-, while-, and post-reading stages
  • Selection of literary texts

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What is literature?

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‘Pieces of writing that are valued as works of art, especially novels, plays and poems (in contrast to technical books and newspapers, magazines, etc.)’

(Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries online)

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  • Effective resource

(Collie & Slater, 1987; Ghosn, 2002; Hall, 2015; Lazar, 1993; McKay, 2014; Naji et al., 2019; Sage,1987)

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Why use literature in ESL/EFL classes?

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�����Why use literature in ESL/EFL classes?

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Authentic material

(Ghosn, 2002; Lazar, 1993; Richards & Schmidt, 2002)

Motivating and engaging

(Ghosn, 2002; Lazar, 1993; Naji et al., 2019)

Increasing cultural awareness

(Collie & Slater, 1987; Hall, 2015, Lazar, 1993, McKay, 2014)

Improving higher-order thinking skills (e.g. critical, creative)

(Sage, 1987; Naji et al., 2019)

Fostering personal development

(Collie & Slater, 1987; Ghosn, 2002; Lazar, 1993)

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���������Why use literature in ESL/EFL classes?

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Improving language skills

(Hall, 2015; Lazar, 1993; McKay, 2014; Naji et al., 2019)

Writing skill

    • changing the setting, the time, and the ending, rewriting stories

(McKay, 2014; Naji et al. 2019; Sage, 1987)

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Speaking skill

  • Encouraging interaction

(Sage, 1987; Saito, 2015)

  • Pragmatic competence

(McKay, 2014)

Listening skill

- Audio recorded files

(McKay, 2014)

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Reading skill

-“predicting, connecting, questioning, clarifying, and evaluating”

(Naji et al., 2019, p. 46)

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Literary genres

  • Short stories
  • Novels
  • Poems
  • Drama

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Some Famous Short Story Writers

O. Henry

Oscar Wilde

Charles Dickens

Kate Chopin

Roald Dahl

Edgar Allan Poe

Shirley Jackson

James Joyce

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  • Single/simple plot, few characters
  • Practical to use

(Sage ,1987)

Short Stories

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https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-short-stories.html

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Children’s Tales

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• “Goldilocks and the Three Bears" by Robert Southey

• "Little Red Riding Hood" by Charles Perrault

• "Hansel and Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm

• "Peter Pan" by James Matthew Barrie

• "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" by Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)

• "The Tortoise and the Hare" by Aesop (from Aesop’s Fables)

• "The Little Match Girl" by Hans Christian Andersen

• "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen

• "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen

• "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen

• "The Gingerbread Man" by Jim Aylesworth

• "The Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clarke Moore

• "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen

• "Rapunzel" by the Brothers Grimm

• "Beauty and the Beast" by Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve

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• "Cinderella" by Charles Perrault • "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving

• "The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain

• "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown

• "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" by the Brothers Grimm

• "Three Little Pigs" by James Halliwell-Phillipps

• "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak

• "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss

• "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss

• "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch

• "Corduroy" by Don Freeman

• "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter

• "The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper

• "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister

• "Stone Soup" by Ann McGovern

 

Adult short stories

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• "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe

• "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst

• "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens

• “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

• "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry

• "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

• "The Lady with the Little Dog" by Anton Chekhov

• "Souls Belated" by Edith Wharton

• "About Barbers" by Mark Twain

• "The Garden of Paradise" by Hans Christian Andersen

• "Leave It to Jeeves" by P.G. Wodehouse

• "Out of Nazareth" by O. Henry

• "Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell

• "Portrait of King William III" by Mark Twain

• "Two Boys at Grinders' Brothers" by Henry Lawson

• "What Christmas Is As We Grow Older" by Charles Dickens

• “The Dead” by James Joyce

• “To Build a Fire” by Jack London

• “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury

• “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka

• “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe

  • yourdictionary.com

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British Council

https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short-stories/little-red-riding-hood

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https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/short-stories/the-lion-and-the-mouse

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Novels

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“a long written story about imaginary or partly imaginary characters and events”

(Macmillan Dictionary online)

From: Penguin Books

From: Bloomsbury

From: Scribner

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Recommended reading list

https://www.luc.edu/esl/resourcesforcurrentstudents/recommendedreadinglist/

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EnglishClub (Suggested reading list for English Learners by Tara Benwell)�

https://www.englishclub.com/reading/recommended/

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Poetry

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Poems:

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  • Aesthetic value
  • Figurative expressions

(Sage, 1987)

  • Rhytmic

(Tibbetts, 1997).

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Song performed by Pete Lashley

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

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https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poems/

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https://poetryzone.co.uk/all-poems/

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/drama

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/shakespeare/unit-1

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Teaching Process: Pre-, while-, post-reading stages

Pre-reading stage and activities

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  • “Helping students with cultural background”
  • “Stimulating student interest in the story”
  • “Pre-teaching vocabulary”

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(Lazar, 1993, pp.83-84)

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While-reading stage and activities �

“Helping students

to understand the plot”

to understand the characters”

with difficult vocabulary”

with style and language”

(Lazar, 1993, pp.83-84)

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Post-reading stage and activities

  • “Helping students to make interpretations of the text”
  • “Understanding narrative point of view”
  • “Follow-up writing activities”
  • “Follow-up fluency practice”

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(Lazar, 1993, pp.83-84)

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https://englishpost.org/examples-of-pre-reading-activities/

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How to choose literary texts?

  • Interests/needs of learners

(Collie & Slater, 1987, Lazar, 1993)

  • Length of the text

(Lazar, 1993)

  • Language level of the text

(Collie & Slater, 1987; McKay, 2014; Sage,1987)

  • Age of learners

(Ghosn, 2002; Lazar,1993)

  • Cultural issues

(Collie & Slater, 1987)

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References

  • Collie, J., and Slater, S. (1987). Literature in the language classroom. A resource book of ideas and activities. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Ghosn, I. K. (2002). Four good reasons to use literature in primary school ELT. ELT Journal, 56(2), 172-179.
  • Hall, G. (2015). Recent developments in uses of literature in language teaching. In M. Teranishi, Y. Saito and K. Wales (Eds.), Literature and language learning in the EFL classroom (pp 13-25). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Lazar, G. (1993). Literature and language teaching: A guide for teachers and trainers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kao, S.-M., and O'Neill, C. (1998). Words into worlds: Learning a second language through process drama. Stamford, Conn: Ablex.
  • McKay, S. (2014). Literature as content for language teaching. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. M. Brinton, and M. A. Snow (Eds.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (4th ed.) (pp. 488-500). Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning/Heinle Cengage Learning.
  • Mahoney, D. (1997). Drama in the classroom. In P. Falvey, and P. Kennedy (Eds.), Learning language through literature: A sourcebook for teachers of English in Hong Kong (pp. 117- 133). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
  • Macmillan Dictionary. (n.d.) Novel. In Macmillan Dictionary. Retrieved 27.11. 2021, from https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/novel_1.
  • Naji, J., Subramaniam, G., and White, G. (2019). New approaches to literature for language learning. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Okyar, H. (2021). Contribution of literature to language teaching and learning. Cumhuriyet International Journal of Education, 10(1), 330-343.
  • Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. (n.d.). Literature. In Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Retrieved 27.11. 2021, from https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/literature?q=literature.
  • Richards, J. C., and Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (3rd ed.). London, UK: Longman, Pearson Education.
  • Sage, H. (1987). Incorporating literature in ESL instruction. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
  • Saito, A. (2015). Bridging the gap between L1 education and L2 education. In M. Teranishi, Y. Saito, and K. Wales (Eds.), Literature and language learning in the EFL classroom (pp. 41-60). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Tibbetts, D. (1997). Poetry writing and language learning. In P. Falvey, and P. Kennedy (Eds.), Learning language through literature: A sourcebook for teachers of English in Hong Kong (pp. 93-106). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

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Online Resources

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Song

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Book Covers

  • Ernest Hemingway. The old man and the sea. Scribner. 1952. Front cover.
  • John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. Penguin Books. Front Cover.
  • J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 1997. Bloomsbury. Front Cover.

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