A little while ago, a friend sent me an email with the subject line: Thought you’d like this. It contained a quote, probably taken from one of those quote-of-the-day websites. The quote was only six words long, and came from the poet Ezra Pound.
It read, ‘Literature is news that stays new.’
My friend was right, I did like it because it echoed some thoughts I’d been having as a writer over the past couple of years, namely about literature, language learning and the materials we teach with. Basically my thoughts boiled down to two main things.
- Literature can be very useful for all kinds of language work.
- Why don’t we have more of it in our published material?
Language learning and literature
The relationship between literature and learning a language has often been close. In the past, the main reason for learning a language was to be able to access great works of literature in that language. Indeed, the expression “read” was used to talk about studying a language; one “read French”, or “read Latin” at university. I remember my elementary school French teacher in Canada bringing in texts by Albert Camus, Beaudelaire, Emile Zola and others (all French, incidentally, no French Canadians but that was a different matter) as if they were little vials of precious elixir. We were to read, study and memorise these or parts of them to help our little matière grise grow and blossom.
I became a language teacher myself some twenty years later. During that time we saw the rise of a communicative approach to language learning. Its emphasis on functional language to meet the learner’s communicative needs and focus on real-world, useful English meant that there was little room for literary luxuries. Add to this the rise and recognition of English as an international language, and literature has all but been given the boot. In my training and subsequent early years teaching I used magazine articles, news stories, lists, tickets and other realia, songs (usually the latest pop song), film clips but hardly any literature. The exception was the graded reader which in some schools I had to assign. But that was for students working on their own, for homework not classwork.
A few years later I came across a book for teachers by Gillian Lazar on using literature. I also began to discover that there were other people in the profession who stubbornly stuck to their guns that literature had its place even in the modern classroom. I began to be reconverted myself.
Why use literature?
There are many good reasons for using literature in the classroom. Here are a few:
- Literature is authentic material. It is good to expose learners to this source of unmodified language in the classroom because they skills they acquire in dealing with difficult or unknown language can be used outside the class.
- Literature expands language awareness. Examples of standard language will be highly contextualised. Asking learners to examine sophisticated or non standard examples of language (which can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use (Widdowson, 1975 quoted by Lazar 1993).
- Literature educates the whole person. By examining values in literary texts, teachers encourage learners to develop attitudes towards them. These values and attitudes relate to the world outside the classroom.
- Literature is motivating. Literature holds high status in many cultures and countries. For this reason, students can feel a real sense of achievement at understanding a piece of highly respected literature.
Finally, literary pieces are often much more interesting than the texts that are often found in modern coursebooks. Especially over the past twenty years, coursebook texts have tended to focus on the light human interest story, pop psychology, strictly factual texts and celebrity content. What little literature there has been is often unassuming, with little or no information about the author (no photo either) or context of the piece (when it was written etc).
How to teach using literary texts
Faced with an apparent dearth of literary material in our mainstream texts, the teacher has often had to go it alone. There have been different models suggested on the teaching of literature to ESL/EFL students. How the teacher will use a literary text depends on the model they choose.
In a cultural model of literature and language teaching the literary text is viewed as a product and as a source of information about the target culture. It is the most traditional approach, often used in university courses. The cultural model will examine the social, political and historical background to a text, literary movements and genres. There is not necessarily any specific language work done on a text. This approach tends to be quite teacher-centred but can also have its rewards. I remember my mother coming back from an evening Spanish class quite excited that she had read a bit of Don Quixote and learned about it from an enthusiastic lecture given by the teacher.
A language model for dealing with literature aims to be more learner-centred. As learners proceed through a text, they pay attention to the way language is used. They come to grips with the meaning and increase their general awareness of English. Within this model of studying literature, the teacher can choose to focus on general grammar and vocabulary or use stylistic analysis. Stylistic analysis involves the close study of the linguistic features of the text to enable students to make meaningful interpretations of the text – it aims to help learners read and study literature more competently.
Finally, I think literature can be used as a springboard or a catalyst for work on critical thinking skills. Good literature encourages interaction. A well-selected literary text is often rich is multiple layers of meaning, and can be effectively mined for discussions and sharing feelings or opinions. This is especially true of classic literature. A piece of classic literature remains classic because it resonates with people through time and can be relevant in the present day. This is what Ezra Pound meant, I think, by “news that stays new”. Using literature in this way has sometimes been referred to as the personal growth modelof literary study. This model encourages learners to draw on their own opinions, feelings and personal experiences. It aims for interaction between the text and the reader in English, helping make the language more memorable. Learners are encouraged to “make the text their own”.
An example
You don’t need a long extract to do any one of these approaches in class. Let’s look at a very very short examples of classic literature that can be used according to the different models.
Sentence 1: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
Cultural model: Teacher goes over quote with students. She explains who Jane Austen is and the popularity of her books even in contemporary English-speaking world. This sentence in fact is often quoted or referred to in contemporary texts. Teacher goes on to explain how Austen’s work featured wealthy English families but also had an element of satirical comedy. Moreover, it was especially known for its critical social commentary of the time.
Language model: Teacher asks students to rewrite the quote beginning with the words Everybody knows that… After the different versions are compared the class agrees on the best one. Teacher then uses the original quote to do work on word formation (possession, fortune, universally…).
Personal growth/critical thinking model: Teacher asks students to discuss questions about the text. Is the quote is unkind about men, about women or both? This was written more than two hundred years ago. Could the same be said now? How important is marriage now? Is it important for you? What are the ingredients of a good marriage?
You can use a combination of any of the above and structure almost an entire lesson out of this. Of course I chose a classic quote here but the world is really your oyster when it comes to material, and the internet has made a lot of this much more accessible.
I am not suggesting a revolution in language teaching, or even suggesting a major change in the way we approach language. I’m not sayingall our lessons have to include extracts, stories or poems. But I think that literature has immense potential to move people. English is an international language, yes. People study English for many reasons and need useful language they can use in everyday situations, yes. But does this mean we have to use purely utilitarian texts, or superficial texts the likes of which are found in women’s magazines? The literary critic Edward Said witnessed a class of international English at a university in the Middle East in the 1990s and claimed that the language was becoming increasingly technical, “stripped of its aesthetic and expressive characteristics and denuded of any self-critical dimension.” Using literary texts can restore an aesthetic element to our teaching. It can add a self-critical dimension. Most importantly, it also has the potential of being incredibly motivating. It’s time to bring it back.
References
Carter, R & M Long, Teaching Literature, Longman 1991
Lazar, Gillian, Literature and Language Teaching, Cambridge 1993
Said, Edward, Culture and Imperialism, Vintage 1994
Widdowson, H. Stylistics and the Teaching of Literature, Longman 1975
