MODULE # 2

College/Department : College of Teacher Education

Course Code : ESC - 15
Course Title : Teaching English in
Elementary Grades Through
Literature
Place of the Course
In the Program : Major Course

Distinctive Sides of the Language of Literature

Introduction

The study of literature allows people to develop new ideas and ethical standpoints, and
can help individuals to present themselves as educated members of society. Today, Literature in
second language classes has a very important linguistic input for students and it is a valuable
source for learner’s motivation. When studying literature, students can learn not only language
aspects such as vocabulary items but also that language can be used for specific and aesthetic
purposes. Familiarity with the concepts of beat, metre and rhythm can improve their own writing
as students are able to appreciate and apply these ideas.

Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Explain the distinctive sides of the language of literature.

2. Discuss the role of literature in language teaching.
3. Cite the objectives of teaching – learning English and Literature.

Discussion

Distinctive Sides of the Language of Literature

Basically literature is defined as the collection of written work of language through

different periods and different cultures by authors and scholars. The advent of writing marked a
great step in human civilization for many reasons such as transmitting knowledge, ideas, events
and even feelings. It exposes students to the different vocabulary, sentence structure, imagery,
and narrative. This can give them a boost in creativity, and can encourage them to pursue new
lines of reasoning and a deeper thought process.
 Literature is generally used in English Language Teaching (ELT) for the development of
knowledge about the language. It helps the learners to get familiar with the socio-political
backgrounds of target language society and also makes them understand how communication
takes place in a particular community. Literature has had a major impact on the development of
society. It has shaped civilizations, changed political systems and exposed injustice. Literature
gives us a detailed preview of human experiences, allowing us to connect on basic levels of desire
and emotion.
A literary language is used in its literary writing. It can be either a non-standards dialect
or standardized variety of language. Style in literature is the literary element that describe the
ways that the author’s word choice, diction, sentence, structure, figurative language and sentence
arrangement all work together to establish mood, images and meaning in the text. Diction is the
choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing. It is similar to phraseology. Moreover,
it is the style of enunciation in speaking or singing called articulation. Syntax is the arrangement
of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language governed by a set of rules for
analysis of the language. Literature is produced by the creation of the works in a particular
language by the writer of the language. On the other hand, language is a mode of expression of
thoughts by means of articulate sound. There can be as many literature as there are languages.

Language includes both spoken and written aspects of communication, whereas literature
is limited to the written aspect of communication. Language is a method to express one’s
opinions, feelings, sentiments etc. It is mostly written and refers to a collection of written works.
Language in literature helps to expose students to samples of real-life settlings in various literary
works, so language in literature increases cultural enrichment for students.

Role of Literature in Language Teaching

Choosing appropriate texts is the first step to teaching English in the ESL/EFL classroom.
All Language teachers desire to provide their students with materials inspiring them to speak up,
to seek out answer to questions, to voice their questions, and to read widely as well as deeply. An
important goal of education is equipping learners with materials to improve their own futures and
become contributing members of their own society, rather than burdens on society and others.
English language teachers are absolutely aware of this goal. Therefore, they attempt to create
such situation for students of English language by selecting materials which leads to students’
and their societies’ improvement. A vast part of this material comes from literature.

Using literature in the ESL and EFL classrooms has benefits in several main areas.
Literature is beneficial to language development. It is a good resource of accurate diction, diverse
sentence patterns, and passionate narratives (Ghosn, 2002). Since literature is related to real-life
situations, it deals with accurate diction. The language employed in literature is the language of
its audience, so it cannot be inaccurate. Also, since literature deals with different moods as well
as situations, it is prevalent with diverse forms of sentences. Actually, different people talk and
write differently. As such, literature contains all these various forms of use of language. Besides,
passion has its own value in literature. When reading literature texts, the reader is engaged with
this passionate aspect of the text. Engagement is generally thought of as a key component of
learning environment, especially learning English language.

Reading literature enhances ESL students’ culture and society. This knowledge is not
gained easily through other sources; it is too complicated to be captured by any single piece of
expository writing. Language is associated with culture. That is, language is the carrier of cultural
messages. As such, literature is very significant when employed in teaching a language.
Literature is culture. Narrations are often built upon the perspective of one main character who is
experiencing the pains of growing up. This makes reading literary texts a drastically different
experience from that of reading explanatory articles. In this way, literature prepares good source
and context to contextualize these activities. A good story book not only informs ESL students
the situation and development of an event; it also connects readers to the event to gain an insight,
rather than an overview, of English culture and society. English teachers should acquaint
themselves with language use to develop their own competence and understand language as a
social phenomenon, and not just as an exclusive branch of learning.

Literature encourages more thoughtful and purposeful language learning. It exposes the
learners to the real use of language. Actually, literature helps in transition from teacher – centered
English classrooms to student – centered ones as learners have to work in groups. In fact,
literature enables students to work productively in teams and it is the learning goal of a great deal
of teaching programs. McGee (1996) believes that group conversations about literature give
students insights and understanding that they cannot create alone. In their group working, they
have to both share their perception and support and negotiate their opinions with each other, the
point which increases their level of reasoning and critical thinking.

In use of literature, it is not a matter of help, but a matter of force which signifies
students’ understanding. Literature forces them to read more and more as well deeply. In order to
understand the piece of the material in front of them, they have to read it again and again and to
think deeply about all its part s to find out the interrelation within each part. Literature helps in
incorporation of linguistic competence into communicative competence by putting language into
use in different social situations. Literary texts, especially short stories, provide teachers and
learners of English with a lot of pre-reading and post-reading activities, the ones which stimulate
the learners’ imagination and results in their creativity. Even after a long time, these activities
remain with the learners as they try to remember the incidents of the story and the way they
predicted them to happen. Use of literature in English classrooms makes the learners focus on the
meaning (Mourao, 2019).
 In this sense, language becomes a means for its own real function. It is not just means for
practice. In fact, literature helps students to improve their reading comprehension of English.
They give chance to the students as well as teachers to set various forms of questions based on
their contents. Through these questions, students become fluent speakers and writer. Literary
texts enable teacher to use different forms of questions to evaluate students’ comprehension, such
as completion, true or false, matching and discussion forms. Literature develops learners’
strategies; they listen and read for general meaning, predict and guess the meaning of unfamiliar
words. The subject matter or context is an important element in the process of language learning.
If the subject matter is uninteresting and stale, it will not inspire and stimulate learners. Literature
provides the kind of subject matter that has the power to motivate learners and help them in
exploring the possibilities of usages and meaning that enhances their language competence in a
great way. Since the literary texts explore the resources of language to its highest capacity, the
learner therefore, is inspired through the reading of the literary texts to learn language in real life
situations and communicate fluently. A main factor of learning process is the promotion of
reflective thinking in the learner.

A reflective process, or reflective thinking, is considered a critical component of

transformative learning for learners. Literary texts are good means to create suitable
environments for English students to go through reflective thinking to see why the things are the
way they see them, or why things are different from their expectations, or why they are different
from the others they encounter in literature. This way, learners reflect on their own experience
and compare how their experiences are similar to or different from their expectations.

When English is taught through literature, it creates the power of self-belief in students,
and hence, influences learner’s behaviors, motivation and attitudes towards English language
learning. Undoubtedly, learners’ self-beliefs from the psychological basis that connects together
and underlies learners’ interpretation of their experiences, their behaviors, motivation, affective
reactions and future goals. As such, it is recommended to teach English through literature to
create self-belief in the student.

Objectives of Teaching Literature

1. Students should be able to identify, analyze, interpret and describe the critical ideas,
values, and themes that appear in literary and cultural texts.
2. Understand the ways these ideas, values and themes inform and impact to culture and
society, both now and in the past.
3. Explore what it is to be human through communication with others having a range of
ideas and concerns.
4. Develop a critical vocabulary that includes and distinguishes among the elements and
criticism of literature.
5. Achieve a basic understanding of literary theory.
 6. Enhance students’ skills as readers and writers.
7. Home students’ oral skills to be able to discuss and to process literature properly.
Objectives of Learning English

1. Develop their intellectual, personal and professional abilities.

2. Acquire basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing and viewing) in order
to communicate effectively with speakers of English Language.
3. Possess the linguistic competence necessarily required in various life situation.

Goals for Every English Student

• to become a more sophisticated reader

• to become a better, more flexible writer
• to become a better listener and more effective speaker
• to become a more creative and critical thinker
• to develop moral imagination, ethical values and a sense of vocation
Suggested Readings

1. Relationship between Language and Literature

2. Features of Language and Literature

Resources/ Additional Resources

- Gbenedio, J.B. (Improving the Command of English through Literature, Nigerian Journal
Vol. 9 No 1 -2
- Bassnett, Susan and Peter Grundy. Language through Literature, Singapore Longman,
1993 Print
- Moody, H.L.B. (2001). The Teaching of Literature. Longman
- European Journal of Language and Literature Studies, Jan – Apr. 2016, Vol. 4, Nr. 1
- International Journal of Education and Evaluation, ISSN 2489 – 0073, Vol. 2 No. 5, 2016
www.iiardpub.org