LITERATURE TEACHING MODELS AND APPROACHES

The Cultural Model (Carter & Long, 1991) – This is Information-based Approach (Thunnithet, 2011)
a traditional approach wherein the teacher uses – It is teacher-centered so it requires teachers to
literature as a source to deliver facts and give inputs in various literary contents of a
information to students. The role of literature is to
literary text to students. It gives students
help students understand and appreciate cultures knowledge and information through reading from
and ideologies beyond their time and space. notes and lectures given by the teacher for
examination purposes. However, this kills
student’s interest in learning literature since
students would not be keen to read but learn
only to pass examination.
The Language Model (Carter & Long, 1991) – This Paraphrastic Approach (Thunnithet, 2011) – It is
approach integrates language and literature in a teacher-centered approach wherein teachers
improving students’ language proficiency and uses paraphrase and rewords the text into simple
literature to teach different language functions. words to make the original text less complex and
This helps achieve the aesthetics of literature by easier to understand. This approach can assist
expressing and communicating the quality of students in examinations to help them perform
literature. well, however, achieving higher-order thinking
skills would be difficult with this approach.

Stylistic Approach (Thunnithet, 2011) – This

The Personal Growth Model (Carter and Long,
1991) – this model allows students to develop their
language, character, and emotions into the
challenges and themes of their lives. Students
would be encouraged to love and enjoy reading
literature for personal development and relate
their life experiences with this model.
approach implies literary criticism and linguistic
analysis to help students appreciate and
comprehend in depth the literary text. However,
this kind of activity is unachievable if students
have low English proficiency since this prevents
them from expressing their ideas and opinions.
Language-Based Approach (Rashid, Vethamani &
Rahman, 2010) – this is a student-centered and
activity-based approach that helps students pay
attention to how the language is used in studying
literature. It makes use of engaging activities such
as role play, poetry recital, forum and debate,
dramatic activities, etc. However, teachers might
get apprehensive with this approach as they face
with the constraint of time and effort especially
in preparing drama-based activities.
Personal-Response Approach (Rashid,
Vethamani & Rahman, 2010) - This approach
encourages students to give meaning to their
experiences and lives with text topics. It also
encourages students in literary text reading as a
pleasure and at the same time develop their
language and literary competency by using group
or individual activities such as journal writing,
small group discussions, interpreting opinions,
etc. One factor that can prevent teachers from
using this approach is the time constraint. They
would also need to rush through syllabus in
preparing students for examinations.
Moral Philosophical Approach (Hwang & Embi,
2007) – This approach allows teachers to direct
students to achieve self-realization and self-
understanding through the interpretation of
literary works. It helps students become aware of
the values of moral and philosophical from the
particular literary text they are reading.