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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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