A pleading for Literature in the foreign language learner’s classroom

  Content  

1.  Introduction  2

2.  History of literature in the classroom  2

3.  Criteria for selection of literature a sketchy overview  3

4.  Literature in the classroom advantages  4

5.  Arguments against literature in the classroom a short analysis  6

6.  Conclusion  7

  Bibliography  9

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1. Introduction

This work will deal with the question why and how literature is a reasonable and supportive way for a student to learn a foreign language.

To make it clear from the beginning, all kind of reading is helpful in order to achieve improvement in the foreign language. However, this text will only deal with the so-called “real” literature, also known as “Literature with a capital-L”. This definition is mainly based on the language it contains. Therefore, when it is only written about “reading”, the meaning is always reading literature if not marked otherwise.

The role literature should play in the classroom today is highly disputed and contradictorily discussed.

To start with, a very short overview of the development of literature in language teaching will be given. Then the most common and important arguments for literature in the classroom will be stated and analyzed, mainly focusing on (inter-)cultural and communicative competence. In the following step some arguments against literature will be named and, after a detailed analysis, be confuted or at least modified.

At the end a conclusion will be drawn, including the future of literature in a foreign language learner’s classroom.

2. History of literature in the classroom

Reading literary texts has always been an aspect of foreign language teaching, however, the role of literature underwent some enourmous changes over the last decades.

In the late 19 th century, a canon of mostly white, male, dead British writers, dominated by Shakespeare used to be taught. A special emphasis was put on the language, but the actual

piece was discussed in German. 1 Today, this approach is labelled “upper-class” and “elite” and strongly disapproved.

This period was followed by an efferent and aesthetic reading in the 1940s and then the New Criticism in the 1960s with a special focus on linguistics and the idea of an objective view by eliminating all contextual influences. These paradigms will be of no further importance for this work and thus will not be analyzed in detail. A rather important approach followed, however, namely the learner-centered view in the 1970s, which for the first time put the

1 Compare to Müller-Hartmann, Andreas and Marita Socker- von Ditfurth (2007): Introduction to English

language teaching, p. 121

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reader, meaning the student, into the focus of attention. This view also implied a lot of creative writing tasks.

Then, in the 1990s, the intercultural potential literature was carrying became clear and is used

efficiently until today. 2 The methods applied are mostly the same as in the learner-centered paradigm. This work will focus on the latter approach and take a closer look at its meaning for a foreign language learner’s improvement.

But firstly, a short list of useful text selection criteria will be given.

3. Criteria for selection of literature – a sketchy overview

All arguments in the next section will only make sense if the texts chosen by the teacher are appropriate for the learners. This means, for example, the text languagewise must not be neither too difficult – to prevent the students from feeling pressured and demanded too much – nor to easy because the students should not be subchallenged or bored. Moreover, the material should have an interesting topic. Most students tend to have a negative attitude towards literature because it is labelled “old” or “boring”. And, to be honest, some of it clearly is. Therefore it is useful to choose literature that is as much authentic to the students’ environment and background as possible. Of course, probably no one will be able to completely identify with Shakespeare’s protagonists, still it should be the teacher’s aim to offer the students at least a little space for empathy. This can make literature more relevant for the students.

Another criteria for text selection is the simple question the teacher should ask himself or herself: Do I like the text? It is almost impossible to get students enthusiastic about literature if one does not enjoy it himself or herself. Furthermore, most teachers have not dealt with literary studies since their university days and hence sometimes feel insecure about it. A thorough preparation is needed and meaningful.

However, the teacher should never try to get his students to like the literature offered;

teaching literature is not “missionary” work. 3 This approach is bound to fail. Also, one should clearly distinguish here between a learner’s classroom and a literature course. “Heavy reading load, reading speed, emphasis on the classics and the canon, the

institutionalisation of literature [...]” 4 should not be the teacher’s aim.

2 compare Ibid, p.122-123

3 McRae, John, 1991, p. 8

4 Ibid, p. 9

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