Author: Katarzyna FilousPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
Practising reading skills is undoubtedly an essential element of foreign language teaching. It would be hard to imagine a language course without a textbook providing abundance of short texts accompanied by reading comprehension tasks. Yet, filling the foreign language course with such texts often 'fashioned' for language learning purposes only and carrying no other value often means that literature is rarely considered as a language teaching and learning resource. Indeed, while literary texts offer a valuable intellectual experience and insight into the way a particular language works, many teachers refrain from making use of them in their classrooms. These educators are often concerned about time constraints, learners' poor language skills or their own lack of confidence when approaching literature. Truly, some preparation while using literary works may be in order. Therefore, following manual serves as a step-by-step guide for those teachers who hesitate over whether it is worthwhile to introduce elements of literature into their foreign language teaching and how this can be achieved. -- The essay begins with an introduction into the area of literature and the reading process in general providing the basis upon which literary practice may be built. The awareness of the reader-text interaction is likely to facilitate the understanding of the ways literary texts influence the way we think and perceive the world around us. -- The next chapter attempts to demonstrate what value is attached to literature within the school context in general and a foreign language classroom in particular. The theory is confronted with reality presented by the teachers' group discussion conducted in Poland. The reasons for the current state of affairs, thus, literature not being used in language ssrooms are then explored.