Fichamento 2 - "Why should literature be used in the language classroom?"

Por Camila Dias da Silva e Jenny Yoshioka.

Identificação:

DASKALOVSKA, Nina; DIMOVA, Violeta. Why should literature be used in the language classroom? Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 46, 2012, p. 1182-1186. Available in http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812014000. Access in February, 21^st.

Resumo:

Communicative methodologies that emerged in the 1970 s stress the importance of using authentic materials and activities in the classroom in order to help students achieve communicative competence that will enable them to use the language for communicative purposes in the real world. However, the materials and classroom activities focus on the referential function of the language and do not offer opportunities for imaginative involvement. Therefore, students do not acquire the ability to understand the creative uses of the language or to function in situations in which they have to make interpretations and evaluations, and give their personal response and reaction. This paper argues that inclusion of literature in language teaching materials will provide students with the opportunities to experience and use the language more creatively and to develop greater awareness of the language they are learning.

Palavras-chave: literature; language acquisition; authentic materials; language awareness; communicative competence.

Citações:

1.      Introduction

“Since the 1970s the language-teaching trends have centered on communicative teaching methods and approaches which emphasize that since language is primarily used for communication, the best way to learn a foreign language is through communicative activities in the classroom.” (p. 1182);

“Communicative competence, as generally accepted goal in ELT, consists of grammatical, sociolinguistic and strategic competence which enable the learners to cope with the most common situations they are likely to face (Canale and Swain, 1980: 29-31). (…). The tendency to use authentic materials has brought into the classroom such teaching materials as maps, letters, recipes, newspaper articles, advertisements, postcards, brochures and the like, but this has resulted in students achieving ‘only a competence limited to the referential function of language and hardly any ability to handle the expressive function’ (Donnerstag, 1996 :1). If learners are to be encouraged to participate in a conversation in the classroom, they should be given a meaningful content that will provoke their interest, (…).” (p. 1182).

2.      Referential versus representational materials

“The language normally used in the language classroom is referential, which means ‘language which communicates on only one level, usually in terms of information being sought or given, or of a social situation being handled’ (McRae, 1991: 3). (…), it will only allow for ‘communicative survival in carefully circumscribed environmental contexts’ (McRae, 1991: 6). (…), they do not offer scope for imaginative involvement and self-expression, and what is more important, they do not enable students to develop the so important ‘fifth skill, thinking in English’ (McRae, 1991: 5), which is essential for interpreting and understanding different kinds of texts and for developing language awareness.” (p. 1183);

“(…), we have to expose them to a wide range of representational materials which invite learners to respond and react, to question and evaluate, to interact with the text, to get involved emotionally and creatively, and to relate it to their own experience.” (p. 1183).

3.      Creativity as an omnipresent phenomenon

“The skills obtained while studying texts will help learners become better, more aware readers of the world they live in. For it is not only in literature that we can see the creative and imaginative use of language. (…), examples of it can be found outside literature’. Even ordinary everyday conversations show creative uses of language such as idioms, metaphors, proverbs, play with words, and so on, ‘which are strongly associated with criteria for literariness’ (Carter, 1997: 49), but people are so used to them that they are not even aware that they are using the language in a creative way.” (p. 1183);

“(…), giving foreign language learners opportunities for discussion, evaluation and understanding the meaning of words and phrases, and developing their interpretational and inferential skills will make them more reflective and effective learners and users of the language.” (p. 1183).

4.      Authenticity and motivation

“The use of authentic materials is in line with the experiential strategy of language learning which ‘involves learners in authentic communication and in genuine experiences which have value, importance, or significance for them’ (Stern, 1992: 302).” (p. 1184);

“As literature is authentic text, the activities used with literary texts 'are genuine language activities, not ones contrived around a fabricated text' (Long, 1986: 58). (…) they also give students the satisfaction of knowing that they are reading literary texts in their original form (Ur, 1996: 155), which, on the other hand, helps build their reading confidence and gives them assurance in their ability to use the language.” (p. 1184);

“(…) by discussing linguistic choices, syntactic structures, rhetorical organization, tone and so on, students are trained to think not only about what the text means but also how the meaning is achieved, which leads to ‘a heightened awareness of how language can mean, how its resources can be exploited to express different perspectives on familiar reality’ (Widdowson, 1992: 32).” (p. 1184);

“Finally, if students want to continue to learn the language after completing their formal education, they will have to use the skills, strategies and habits they have acquired while learning the language in the classroom (Allen, 1983: 82). (…), offering learners opportunities to develop the necessary reading skills will equip them for autonomous and self-directed learning. In Barnett’s words, ‘authentic texts are vital; they motivate students, offer a real context, transmit the target language culture, and prepare students to read outside the classroom’ (Barnett, 1989: 145).” (p. 1184).

5.      Active involvement of learners

“One of the benefits of using literature in the language classroom is that it encourages 'dynamic learning - (…), literary texts ‘have potential for meaning’ which can only be realized in the interaction between the text and the reader (Wallace, 1992: 39). (…). Language development cannot occur if students are only passive recipients of the teacher’s input.” (p. 1184);

“In order to make sense of the text, readers have to ask questions, make predictions, form hypotheses, use their imagination, background knowledge and personal experience until they arrive at a satisfactory interpretation, (…)." (p. 1184);

“What is important is not the result of the interpretation but the processes involved in arriving at that interpretation. The ultimate goal is not understanding that particular text, but developing procedures for understanding similar texts that learners may choose to read outside the classroom.” (p. 1184);

“The active involvement of the learners in interpreting the text through noticing, inferencing, negotiation, interaction and imaginative involvement promotes language acquisition.” (p. 1184);

6.      Extensive reading

“A valuable contribution of teaching literature is that it serves as a gateway to extensive reading which increases students exposure to the target language. (…). Sinclair (1996: 142) argues that when teaching literature, the role of the teacher is to help students ‘gradually develop the capacity for selecting English texts according to their own preferences and interests, as well as dealing with and understanding the language, discourse, style, form and contexts of these texts’.” (p. 1185);

“Hedge (2000: 204) summarizes the benefits of extensive reading as follows: ‘Learners can build their language competence, progress in their reading ability, become more independent in their studies, acquire cultural knowledge, and develop confidence and motivation to carry on learning.” (p. 1185);

“Reading authentic literary texts outside the classroom is highly desirable for foreign language learners because it increases the exposure to the target language, reveals unusual and unexpected uses of the language, stimulates language acquisition and provides a motivating and enjoyable way of learning the language.” (p. 1185).

7.      Conclusion

“Using literature as a resource offers teachers possibilities for basing language learning activities on materials that can stimulate greater interest and involvement than is the case with other texts (Carter and Long, 1991: 3). Duff and Maley (1990: 6) formulate three types of justification for using literary texts: linguistic, methodological and motivational.” (p. 1185);

“Literary texts enrich the language input in the classroom and stimulate language acquisition by providing 'meaningful and memorable contexts for processing and interpreting new language'." (p. 1185);

"Using literary texts in the language classroom can make the students more aware of the language they are learning, help them develop skills and strategies they can apply in many different situations and contexts, increase their interest and motivation, and make the learning of the language a more enjoyable and worthwhile experience." (p. 1186).