Teaching English through
Literature
IN SECONDARY EDUCATION
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1.
Why use literature in the language
classroom?
 a.
Valuable authentic material
 b.
Cultural enrichment
 c.
Language enrichment
 d.
Personal involvement
Collie and Slater (1990:3)
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Some other reasons
 a.
Universality:
 b.
Non-triviality:
 c.
Personal relevance:
 d.
Variety:
 e.
Interest:
 f.
Economy and suggestive power
 g.
Ambiguity
Maley (1989:12)
SOCIAL RICHNESS
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2. Different models of teaching literature
in class.
 The Cultural Model
 The Language Model
 The Personal Growth Model
Task 1, 2 and 3.
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Five perspective to select texts according
to Littlewood….
1.
Literature as a group of linguistic structures.
2.
Stylism
3.
Literary text interesting for the students and including
cultural content.
4.
Take into account the students’ linguistic and intelectual
level, as well as their motivation to read that particular
book.
5.
Choose those relevant books due to their role in literary
history or literary movement.
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3. Creating Significant learning
 The teacher gives students relevant and brief information
on the text
 The teacher offers them the task to be done.
 The students work in small groups and take control of
their progress.
 We are using the communicative approach which
promotes group activities as well as student-student
interaction.
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4.
The teaching of English Literature
 Take into account: age, attitude, preparation and
motivation, ideology, linguistic level.
 You should have a widen knowledge of literature.
 What do you want to work?: linguistic competence?
Cultural awareness? Historical awareness? Pleasure?
 Simplified, modernized or original pieces of work?
 Design a selection of works with different objectives
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5.
Criteria for Selecting Suitable Literary Texts
in Foreign Language Classes.
 the language teacher should take into account:
needs,
2. motivation,
3. interests,
4. cultural background and
5. language level of the students.
6. personal involvement
7. relevant to the real-life experiences, emotions, or
dreams of the learner
 Language difficulty has to be considered as well.
1.
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Some other considerations:
 Interest, appeal, and relevance are also prominent.
 Enjoyment; a fresh insight into issues felt to be related to
the heart of people’s concerns; the pleasure of encountering
one’s own thoughts or situations exemplified clearly in a
work of art; the other, equal pleasure of noticing those
same thoughts, feelings, emotions, or situations presented
by a completely new perspective
Task 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Task 8, and 9.
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The Chemist’s Story
A
chemist
ha d
j ust
s wi t ch e d
off
the
C h e m i s t’ s l i g h t s w h e n a m a n a p p e a re d a nd
as k e d f o r m o n e y . T h e o w n e r o p e n e d t h e c a s h
r e g i s t e r . O n c e h e h a d g o t t h e m o n e y a nd p u t
i t q u i c k l y i n t o o n e o f h i s p o ck e t s , t he y o u n g
m a n d i s a ppe a r e d .
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5. Literature and the teaching
of the four skills
LITERATURE AND READING
LITERATURE AS A MODEL FOR WRITING
LITERATURE AS SUBJECT MATTER FOR WRITING
LITERATURE, SPEAKING, AND LISTENING
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A.
Literature and Reading
 Adopt a dynamic, student-centered approach.
 First Level: Begins with direct questions of fact
regarding setting, characters, and plot.
 Second Level: Later on they must make speculations
and interpretations concerning the characters, setting,
and theme, and where they produce the author’s point of
view.
 Third level: ready to do a collaborative work.
Stimulates students to think imaginatively about the
work and provokes their problem-solving abilities.
Discussion deriving from such questions can be the
foundation for oral and written activities.
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B.
Literature as a Model for Writing
 Controlled Writing: mainly used with beginners.
 Guided Writing: used with intermediate levels.
 Reproducing the Model: using techniques like
paraphrase, summary or adaptation.
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C. Literature as Subject Matter for Writing
 There are two kinds:

Writing “on or about”: can occur before students begin to
read a work. They take many forms, such as questions to be
answered, assertions to be debated, or topics to be expanded,
discussion groups to be established.

Writing “out of”: creative assignments developed around
plot, characters, setting, theme, and figurative language. There
are many forms of writing out of literature, such as Adding to
the Work, Changing the Work, Drama-Inspired Writing and A
Letter Addressed to Another Character, etc.
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c.1. Adding to the Work
 writing imaginary episodes or sequels,
 in the case of drama, “filling in” scenes for off-stage
actions that are only referred to in the dialog.
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C.2. Changing the Work
 Students can make up their own endings by
comparing the author’s ending to their own.
 Short stories can be rewritten in whole or in part
from the point of view of a character versus a third
person narrator or of a different character.
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C.3. Drama-Inspired Writing
 The student steps into the consciousness of a
character and writes about that character’s attitudes
and feelings.
 It is possible to derive drama-inspired writing
activities from plays, short stories, novels, and
sometimes poetry.
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C.4. A Letter Addressed to Another
Character
 The student can write a letter to one of the
characters, in which he / she gives the character
personal advice about how to overcome a particular
problem or situation.
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D.
Literature, Speaking, and Listening
 Oral reading,
 dramatization,
 improvisation,
 role-playing,
 pantomiming,
 reenactment,
 discussion,
 and group activities.
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Potential Problems to find
Materials
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(see checklist for choosing literary texts)
 Problem 1: Where do I find material?
The internet brings you instant access to many works of literature.
 Problem 2: How do I choose material?







Do you understand enough about the text to feel comfortable using
it?
Is there enough time to work on the text in class?
Does it fit with the rest of your syllabus?
Is it something that could be relevant to the learners?
Will it be motivating for them?
How much cultural or literary background do the learners need to be
able to deal with the tasks?
Is the level of language in the text too difficult
 Problem 3: Is the text too difficult?
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6. Using Novels and Short
Stories to Language Teaching
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1. Educational Benefits of Short Stories
 it is short.
 it makes the students’ reading task and the teacher’s
coverage easier.
 It’s universal.
 makes contribution to the development of cognitive
analytical abilities : compresses a situation in a
single place and moment.
 characters act out all the real and symbolic acts
people carry out in daily lives in a variety of registers
and tones.
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 Makes students’ reading task easier .
 enlarges the advanced level readers’ worldviews .
 provides more creative, encrypt, challenging texts .
 motivates learners to read .
 offers a world of wonders and a world of mystery.
 gives students the chance to use their creativity.
 promotes critical thinking skills.
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 facilitates teaching a foreign culture .
 makes students feel themselves comfortable and
free.
 helps students coming from various backgrounds
communicate with each other .
 helps students to go beyond the surface meaning and
dive into underlying meanings.
 acts as a perfect vehicle to help students understand
the positions of themselves as well as the others .
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2. Anticipating student problem when
using a short story
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Tasks
 Task 10: writing your own story.
 Task 11: solving student problem.
 Task 13: solving student problem.
 Task 14: Planning a lesson with a short story.
 Task 15: Further tasks and activities.
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3. Using extracts from stories or short
stories
 Ask students to write what they think will happen
next, or what they think happened just before.
 Ask students to write a background character
description of one of the characters which explains
why they are the way they are.
 Ask students to imagine they are working for a big
Hollywood studio who wants to make a movie from
the book. They must decide the location and casting
of the movie.
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 Ask students to personalise the text by talking about
if anything similar has happened to them.
 Ask students to improvise a role play between two
characters in the book.
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4.
Using Novel to Language Teaching
Characteristics of the
short story
 Chronological
sequence of events.
Characteristics of the
novel
 Chronological
sequence of events.
 Narrator description.
 Lenght.
 Volume of unfamiliar
vocabulary.
Task 12, 16
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TASK: Novel or Short Story?
 Focusses on a moment of crisis.
 Narrative told from different perspectives.
 Mood and tone fairly unified throughout the text.
 Large cast of characters.
 Numerous flashbacks to past events.
 Highly complicated plot.
 Very economic, suggestive use of language.
Can you think of any other differences between both of
them?
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 Focusses on a moment of crisis. S
 Narrative told from different perspectives. N
 Mood and tone fairly unified throughout the text. S
 Large cast of characters. N
 Numerous flashbacks to past events. N
 Highly complicated plot. N
 Very economic, suggestive use of language. S
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7. Using Drama to Language
Teaching
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“… drama is not made of words alone, but of sights
and sound, stillness and motion, noice and silence,
relationships and responses.”
(J.L. Styan (1975), Drama, Stage and Audience)
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“However familiar or unfamiliar the world of a
tragedy, comedy, farce or melodrama may be,
everything that we experience has its source, in the
long run, in words.”
(Gareth Lloyd Evans (1977), The Language of Modern Drama)
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Benefits of using Drama
 makes students more skilled and more rounded
individuals.
 provide practical experience in communicating.
 give children the opportunity to learn to work
together and to be part of something.
 promote active learning, enriching and reinforcing
their more traditional school experiences.
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 most children are excited by the prospect of
performing in front of others as a chance to be the
center of attention.
 study funded by the Guggenheim museum in
2006:increases fundamental literacy skills in
elementary school students. Students involved in
these programmes also "scored higher on expression,
risk-taking, creativity, imagination and cooperative
learning."
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Why should we use plays for teaching
English?
 it's authentic
 an ESL play script promotes fluency.
 helps them to become clear and confident speakers.
 helps to improve the understanding and retention of
language.
 By encouraging self-expression, drama motivates
children to use language confidently and creatively.
 allows children to tap into different learning styles visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile.
 ESL plays are ideal for mixed ability groups
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Using extracts from plays
 Ask students to act out a part of the scene in groups.
 Ask students to make a radio play recording of the
scene.
 Ask students to read out the dialogue but to give the
characters special accents .
 Ask students to write stage directions next to each
character’s line of dialogue. Then they read it out
loud.
 Ask students to re-write the scene. They could either
modernize it or imagine that it is set in a completely
different location
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Adapting the play
 Choosing the right play is important.
 Roles should be assigned according to your students'
language ability levels.
 Keep the script according to your students'
proficiency or lack of proficiency in English.
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Pre-teaching the play's vocab and
phrases
 Pre-teaching the play's vocab and phrases
 teach the key phrases
 Rehearse: put together all the elements - words,
expression and movement.
 Keep props simple: to be included in the final
rehearsals
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play performance
 It is absolutely vital.
 Preparation of posters and invitations.
 Take a video of the play.
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8. Using poetry
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Benefits of using poetry
 supports the development of literacy.
 supports the development of writing paradigms and addresses needs to
raise the standards for writing.
 is an excellent venue to teach and reinforce discrete grammar and
vocabulary skills.
 provides a focus for reading and writing, and helps students learn how
to be concise.
 supports components defined in brain research such as the importance
of searching for patterns, and is an acceptable way for students to
express emotions and feelings.
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Acrostic
 Acrostic poetry uses letters to form a name, word, or
message when read vertically. Each letter begins a
word or phrase that tells more about the poem's
subject.
Bats dark as the night
As they fly
Teeth are sharp
Scary
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Choral Poetry
 Choral poetry is generally short, designed to be read
aloud in unison by two or more people in a group
setting, and written to express feelings, opinions,
points of view, etc.
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Cinquain
 True cinquain poetry is written using five non-
rhyming lines that contain 22 syllables in a
predictable syllable pattern (2-4-6-8-2).
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Clerihew
 Clerihew poems are fun and whimsical four-line
poems with rhyming couplets about somebody who
is named in the verse. They feature an a-a-b-b
pattern.
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Diamante
 The diamante is a seven-line poem in which the
words form the shape of a diamond, or
parallelogram, and contrast two opposing sides of a
topic.
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Free Verse
 Free verse poetry is free from the normal rules of
poetry. The main object of free verse is to use
colorful words, punctuation, and word placement to
convey meaning to the reader.
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Haiku
 Haiku poems are generally written to describe nature
and do not rhyme. The most widely recognized form
consists of a three-line stanza that has a total of 17
syllables in a pattern of 5-7-5.
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Limerick
 A limerick is a humorous, and often nonsensical,
five-line poem with a rhyming pattern of a-a-b-b-a.
Limericks often begin with the words: There once
was. . . or There was a… .
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Rap
 Rap is written to be spoken in a rhythmic manner;
usually with the accompaniment of percussion
sounds or music. Rap often expresses an opinion or
point of view about socially-charged topics.
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Tanka
 Tanka is a Japanese poetry style that was originally
written to mark a special occasion or moment. Tanka
traditionally contained five lines and 31 syllables in a
5-7-5-7-7 fixed pattern.
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Triangle Triplet
 A triangle triplet is written by arranging three
rhyming sentences or phrases along the three sides
of a triangle. The poem can be read from any point
on the triangle.
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11. Using Treasure Hunts
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a.
What is a Treasure Hunt
 A Treasure Hunt is a minor activity compared with
WebQuests.
 the task is not complex: to find out the answers to
some questions offered.
 The links have been previously selected by the
teacher.
 can include “the big question”.
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b.
Elements of a Treasure Hunt.
 1.
A brief introduction to the topic.
 2.
A set of questions.
 3.
The big question.
 4.
The web page links .
 5.
An assessment .
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c.
Key aspects.
 more flexible than the WQ model.
 can be considered TH although it doesn’t contain all
the elements.
 It is not a Reading Comprehension .
 it uses different resources and texts.
 Quite frequently, the answers are going to be found
in different pages.
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d. How to design a Treasure Hunt
 Choose an interesting topic.
 Take into account their cultural knowledge as well as
the lexical and grammatical.
 Search for internet resources.
 Build the question taking into account the resources
found or viceversa.
 Ask “a big question” if you consider necessary.
 Write the Introduction and the Assessment.
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e. How to generate a Treasure Hunt
 Option 1: Use a web page editor (ej. Front Page, Composer,
Dreamweaver).
 Option 2: Use a word processor (ej. Microsoft Word, Open
Office): Write the content of the TH, insert images and links.
Save the activity.
 Option 3: Use a TH generator.
www.aula21.net/cazas/ayuda.htm
 Save the activity an upload it in a web page/wiki,…
 Use a free space in www.wizard.4teachers.org/ or
www.isabelperez.com/webquest/taller/treasure4.htm
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f.
Analyzing a Treasure Hunt
 You can take a look at a very basic treasure hunt,
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/huntExample.html
 The Tempest:
http://www.isabelperez.com/wizard/tempest.htm?ID=78070
 Huckleberry Finn
http://poster.4teachers.org/worksheet/view.php?id=78075
 The Lord of the Rings
http://poster.4teachers.org/worksheet/view.php?id=78053
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12. Using WebQuests
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a.
What is a WebQuest
 The WebQuest model was developed by Bernie
Dodge in 1995. He defined a Webquest as:
"… an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the
information that learners interact with comes from resources on the
internet" (Dodge, 1995)
 A WebQuest is built around an attractive task which provoques a
superior process of thinking. Something must be done with the
information: solving problems, judgments, analysis or synthesis. The
task must be something else than answering questions or reproduce the
information. (Starr, 2000b:2)
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 This model allows students to elaborate their own
knowledge at the same time that they are doing an
activity.
 The students surf the net with a task in mind.
 The aim is that students use their time in the most
effective way, using the information and
transforming it.
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WebQuest Taskonomy:
A Taxonomy of Tasks
 The task is the single most important part of a
WebQuest.
 It provides a goal and focus for student energies and
it makes concrete the curricular intentions of the
designer.
 A well-designed task is doable and engaging, and
elicits thinking in learners that goes beyond rote
comprehension.
 There must be fifty ways to task your learner.
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 It's likely that the task in a given WebQuest will
combine elements of two or more of these task
categories.
 Let’s see twelve categories established by Bernie
Dodge.
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Compilation Tasks
Mystery Tasks
Journalistic
Tasks
Retelling Tasks
Design Task
Scientific Tasks
Creative
Product
Tasks
Judgment Tasks
Analytical Tasks
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Tasks
Persuasion Tasks
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Consensus
Building
Task
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b.
Elements of a WebQuest
Introduction
Establishes the frame and gives them some information on the
topic.
Task
The final result of the activity they are going to do.
Process
Description of the steps they must follow to complete the task. It
includes resources and scaffolding.
Resources
A selection of the links they must use to find relevant
information. It is part of the Process.
Assessment
Explanation of how the activity is going to be assessed.
Conclusion
Reminder of what they have learned and encourage them to go
on learning.
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c.
Key aspects.
 The real task implies a research process as well as a
transformation of the information obtained.
 Activities are in group and by roles (cooperative learning)
 The final task implies analysis, synthesis, assessment, creation,…
 The task must be motivating with a correspondence with some
realistic activities.
 Assessment must show clearly the aspects we are going to assess and
how they are going to be assessed.
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WebQuest Typology
Short duration
Aim
Acquisition and
organization of
knowledge (observation,
analysis and synthesis)
Long duration
Aim
Time
Extension and knowlodge Between a week and a
processing (deduction,
month.
induction, classification,
abstraction,…)
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Time
Between one and three
periods.
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d. How to design a WebQuest
 Pick a topic that requires understanding, uses the web
well, fits curriculum standards, and has been difficult to
teach well.
 Select a design that will fit your topic. Download the
student and teacher templates for the design you chose.
Open them up in your favorite web editor (Dreamweaver,
Composer, FrontPage, etc.).
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 Write up the Task in the student template and the
Standards and Learners in the teacher template.
 Complete the Evaluation section in the student template.
Duplicate it in the teacher template and add any extra
information needed by teachers.
 Flesh out the Process section by finding a focused set of
resources to provide the information needed by learners.
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 Complete the Introduction, Conclusion and Credits
section and all other parts of the teacher template.
 Add graphics where appropriate.
 The process isn't always as linear as this. you may need to
go back and modify the work done in previous steps. The
most difficult part is choosing a design and task. The most
time-consuming part is designing the process.
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Main Steps
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