Name: Wiki Armando

SUMMARY

USING SHORT STORIES IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

In English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching, literature is instrumental in engaging students’ minds
and feelinggs in meaningful communication in English. In addition, literature will help increase language
skills because literature will extend linguistic knowledge by giving evidence of extensive and subtle
vocabulary usage and complex and exact syntax.

Role of literature

Literary language is helpful for learning a language since the important purpose of it is “the revelation of
creativity, of the knowledge of the self and of others manifested by that language used in literary
context. Literature can best depict people and places, situations and scenarios, including stimulation
that learners can understand since literature depicts universality.

Benefits of using literature: Universality; Non-triviality; Personal Relevance; Variety; Interest; and
Ambiguity.

How Literature Promotes Reading: Literary texts exert positive influence on learners’ attitudes and
perceptions on reading; reading literature can open “horizons of possibility, allowing students to
question, interpret, connect, and explore.

How Literature Enhances Listening: Listening is a dynamic activity but twice as hard as speaking.
Moreover, literature provides a perfect setting for enhancing listening skills as it familiarizes learners
with a variety of voice qualities and dialects. Using literature will help students develop an awareness of
the beauty in the rhythm and sound of language, and how to visualize characters, settings, moods and
situations while listening.

How Literature Inspires Writing: literature is a rich source of inspiration for writing in EFL/ESL – both as
a subject matter and as a model. Readers of literature are motivated to imitate the original writing, its
theme, content and style, and at the same time readers show original thinking when they analyse and
interpret texts.

How Literature Stimulates Speaking: In the literature class, question-answer, debate, and role play are
some of the effective activities to improve the students’ speaking skill. Harmer (1984) reported. “literary
texts serve as an excellent prompt for oral work, as they provide unexpected compactness of meaning
leading to a variety of interpretations through imagination and discussion.