Literature as Content for
ESL/EFL
• What makes literary texts unique is that in
literature the what and how of the text are
inseparable.
• Works of literature make literature valuable for
extending learner’s awareness that how they
say something is important in two ways. First,
how something is said often contributes to
speakers’ achieving their purpose in
communication; and second, in deciding how
something is said, speakers often communicate
something about themselves—they establish
their voice.
Literary texts
• Rosenblatt (1978) defines literary texts
primarily in terms of how readers interact
with the. A text is merely an object of
paper and ink until a reader interacts with
it.
• See p. 321 Comparing two short stories
Language learning styles and
strategies
• Learning style is the biologically and
developmentally imposed set of characteristics
that make the same teaching method wonderful
for some and terrible for others.
• Learning strategies are specific actions,
behaviors, steps, or techniques—such as
seeking out conversation partners, or giving
one-self encouragement---use by students to
enhance their own learning
Building awareness and practical
skills to facilitate cross-cultural
communication
• Becoming proficient and effective
communicators, learners need to attain
second language sociocultural
competence.
• The visible and invisible culture
• Teaching cross-cultural awareness in the
language classroom
Action research, teacher research,
and classroom research in
language teaching
• Action research is often conducted by
teachers in language classroom. In
addition, it focuses on particular features
of classroom interaction.
• See the figure on p. 491