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1/30/2013 1
Ubaidullah Khan
Department of English language & Applied Linguistics
Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad
A linguistics professor was lecturing to her class one day. "In English," she said, “a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language wherein a double positive can form a negative." A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."
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What is Literature?
An umbrella term giving information on every business. (Moody: 1971).
Eg. Literature for medicine, science, agriculture etc.
Literature is the use of language effectively in suitable conditions (Baird: 1969).
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1. Literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotions. (Iris Murdoch, The Listener, 1978) Taken in that way, using literature in the classroom: provides wonderful source material for eliciting strong emotional responses from our students is a fruitful way of involving the learner as a whole person provides excellent opportunities for the learners to express their personal opinions, reactions and feelings.
2. Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree. (Ezra Pound, How to Read, Part II)
Taken in that way, it:
helps the students unravel many meanings in a text with the guidance of the instructor.
helps the students explore multiple levels of meaning in a literary text
3. Literature is the question minus answer. (Roland Barthes, New York Times, 1978)
Thus, it: helps the students to generate discussion,
controversy and critical thinking in the classroom (rather than reaching any definitive interpretation of a literary text)
Whatever your definition of literature is, the
point is that literature helps students to explore
the:
language,
culture of the target language
by three main genres (types of writing):
1. novels/short stories,
2. poetry,
3. plays/drama.
Because: it is very motivating, it is authentic material, it has general educational value, it is found in many syllabuses, it helps sts to understand another culture,
Why use literature in the language classroom?
it is a stimulus for language acquisition,
it develops sts’ interpretative abilities,
sts enjoy it,
it is highly valued and has a high status,
it expands sts’ language awareness,
it encourages sts to talk about their opinions and
feelings.
Traditional Method of teaching Literature
Literary terms and difficult words introduced
Analysis of literary text without actually understanding it
Outcome is Memorising / rephrasing practice
Students only learn difficult words or patterns of texts
Language learning efficiency reduces and boredom increases.
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Rationale for literature:
Literary texts can be used in language teaching because the language used in these texts is suitable for the contexts of the events.
Containing real examples of grammatical structures and vocabulary items, the literary texts raise learners’ awareness of the range of the target language and advance their competence in all language skills (Povey, 1967)
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Why Literature in EFL Classroom?
1. Cultural enrichment and awareness.
Helps understand a culture & its ideologies
Selection of works of best wisdom of that culture.
2. Mental training: trains mind and sensibility.
3. Memorability: Easy to remember linguistic usage (Maley & Moulding, 1985).
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Why Literature in EFL Classroom? 2
4. Rhythmic resource. Poems assist the
learner in assimilating the rhythms of a language.
5. Motivating material. May be based on interesting material and motivational themes.
6. Convenience. Literature is a handy (photocopiable) resource.
7. Open to interpretation/ Promotes interaction.
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Why Literature in EFL Classroom? 3
8. Linguistic model: Best demonstration of language use and style by established writers
9.Extension of linguistic competence:
Students’ linguistic competence increases
10.Authenticity: A source of genuine
&undistorted language input Parkinson & Thomas (2000: 9-11)
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Literature vs Conventional Discourse
Conventional discourse: use guess work to get to information and skip lines/ passages and still interpret.
Literature: look for evidence of the new reality,
and adopt a procedure for interpretation to make sense of the discourse.
Literature provides wider room for ‘inference’
which guarantees employment of more discoursal strategies.
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Some Questions 1. What to teach when we use literary texts?
(select material appropriate to level of the class)
2. What kind of text to work with? (select according to the need of students/course
objectives)
3. What can literary text be used for? (to teach language, not only history or themes)
4. How to make students enjoy literature? (motivate by teaching literature of their interest)
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What is Appropriate
Readability (length and cultural apropriacy)
Lexis: Easy (day to day) to difficult (pompous or robust)
Grammar: Different levels of syntactic complexity
Style: Do not start of with Francis Bacon if it is elementary level
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Using Short Story for Language Teaching
Teaching Grammar
Teaching pronunciation
Teaching Narration
Teaching Description
Teaching Punctuation
Comprehension questions
Vocabulary quizzes (multiple options)
Guessing contextual meanings
Prediction (what next)
Making sentences reflecting multiple meanings of a word
Using Short Story for Language ;;;;;;;;contd.
Writing story (based on given words/ storyline)
Comments on last line of the story
Create a new story based on ending of story
Creative writing as home task (response to the story they have read)
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Speaking skills The student are asked to read a story as a chain
activity. It will enhance fluency and improve pronunciation. (primary)
The students recall and read the story as a chain activity using the given connectors and discourse markers such as “however”, “then”, “consequently”, “regarding”, “as far as”. (Intermediate)
The students play different roles based on characters in the story (Advanced)
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Listening Skills Read the story out loud so students have the
opportunity to listen to a native speaker of English (if at all possible); or
Play the story if a recording is available.
Who is the main character of the story?
Where/when does the story take place?
What is the problem (conflict) in the story?
How is the conflict resolved?
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Using Plays in EFL Class
They are short, compact and involving
Can be used for promoting speaking and reading skills
Students may be asked to enact and feel a
sense of participation
They may be asked to write a short play on an imaginative / experienced situation
In selecting texts, three points should be considered:
The type of course you are teaching,
The type of students,
Certain factors connected with the text (cultural
acceptability etc).
Criteria for selecting texts:
The students’ cultural background,
The students’ linguistic proficiency,
The students’ literary background / literary
compotence.
Content
• Ideas, thoughts, subject matter
• Information, data, knowledge &
values
Style
• Use of language and the manner
of use of language
• (manner of each individual varies)
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Definition:
Halliday defines a stylistician as someone who can comprehend literary texts through comprehension of their language structures.
Someone who can comprehend literary texts through a comprehension of their language structures.
Basically, this means that Halliday defines stylistics as:
“The linguistic analysis of literary texts.”
In doing stylistics:
- a literary text is looked at as made of language
- a literary text is seen to consist of patterns and properties which are part of language
Those patterns of language can be at the level of:
A. The arrangement of graphic and phonic symbols
B. The lexico-grammatical patterns
C. The semantic and pragmatic patterns
Two phases:
A. The analytic phase
B. The interpretive phase
The Analytic phase
The task of stylistician is to select from the thousands of linguistic features in the literary text those which are worthy of studying in a particular literary text.
The Interpretive phase
The stylistician:
1. brings together various features to show how they form a coherent, integrated patterns
2. makes judgments about the significance of such patterns in relation to the context of the work as a whole.
To show why and how the text means what it means (linguistically). (This is shared between D.A. and stylistics)
To show why the literary text is valued as it is.
In other words, it is interested in showing how the text is unique in itself. (Only stylistics)
Mode of the statement (indicative, imperative etc
Figures of speech (Alliteration, hyperbole, Euphemism, personification, onomatopoeia)
Punctuation
Kind of vocabulary used
Sentence Analysis (SVO etc)
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Phono-Stylistics
(verse, rhyme, alliteration,
onomatopoeia, rhythm
Lexical Stylistics
(word formation, synonymy,
use of foreign words, pun etc
Syntactical Stylistics
Sentence Structure,
interrelationship of phrases
& clauses
Psycho-stylistics
Distinguishing style through
analysis of author’s psyche
Socio-Stylistics
Studies varieties of language in a
single text/ registers
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Conclusion: ___________________________________ Literature is effective for teaching language since it
provides an authentic model of real life language use.
It not only teaches language, it also encourages one’s cultural and personal growth by means of moral and spiritual advancement.
Literature is not an end, it is a means to develop creative ability which helps students relate themselves to their socio-psychological context.
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