Literature and language teaching: a guide for teachers and trainers

✍ Scribed by Gillian Lazar

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 283
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Literature and Language Teaching is for teachers and trainers who want to incorporate literature into the language classroom. It is suitable for teacher trainers, teacher development groups or teachers working on their own. This book contains tasks and activities which encourage reflection on some of the issues and debates involved in using literature in the language classroom and explore different approaches to using literature with teenage and adult learners at all levels. It suggests criteria for selecting and evaluating materials for classroom use and identifies some of the distinctive features of novels, short stories, poems and plays so that these can be successfully exploited in the classroom. A wide range of practical ideas and activities for developing materials is provided. Tasks also encourage the observation and assessment of lessons using literacy texts, and draw on English language material by a variety of authors from all over the world.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Frontmatter......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Thanks......Page 9
Acknowledgements......Page 10
Introduction......Page 13
1.1 What is literature?......Page 16
1.2 What is distinctive about the language of literature?......Page 20
1.3 The reader and the text......Page 23
1.4 Literary competence and the language classroom......Page 26
1.5 Why use literature in the language classroom?......Page 29
2.1 An overview......Page 37
2.2 A language-based approach to using literature......Page 42
2.3 Stylistics in the classroom......Page 46
2.4 Literature as content: How far to go?......Page 50
2.5 Literature for personal enrichment: Involving students......Page 54
2.6 The role of metalanguage......Page 58
Selecting texts......Page 63
3.2 Evaluating learning materials which make use of literary texts......Page 71
4.1 Being a student......Page 77
4.2 A consideration of cultural aspects in texts......Page 80
4.3 Strategies for overcoming cultural problems......Page 82
5.1 Writing your own story......Page 86
5.2 Distinctive features of a short story......Page 87
5.3 Anticipating student problems when using a short story......Page 90
5.4 Planning a lesson for use with a short story......Page 92
5.5 Further tasks and activities for use with a short story......Page 98
5.6 Designing your own materials for use with a short story......Page 101
5.7 Using novels in the language classroom......Page 104
6.1 Putting a poem back together again......Page 109
6.2 What is distinctive about poetry?......Page 111
6.3 Why use poetry with the language learner?......Page 114
6.4 Exploiting unusual language features......Page 116
6.5 Helping students with figurative meanings......Page 119
6.6 Using poetry with lower levels......Page 124
6.7 Using poetry to develop oral skills......Page 131
6.8 Using a poem with students at higher levels......Page 136
6.9 Anticipating student problems......Page 142
6.10 Further tasks and activities......Page 144
7.1 What is distinctive about plays?......Page 148
7.2 The language of a play......Page 149
7.3 The performance of a play......Page 150
7.4 Why use plays in the language learning classroom?......Page 151
7.5 Using play extracts to think about language in conversation......Page 153
7.6 Using play extracts to improve students' oral skills......Page 161
7.7 Using play extracts with lower levels......Page 167
7.8 Anticipating student problems......Page 170
7.9 Further activities for play extracts......Page 174
7.10 Using a whole play with students......Page 176
8.1 Thinking about observation......Page 182
8.3 Micro-tasks for reflecting on specific areas of teaching......Page 185
8.4 Observing a student......Page 191
8.5 Other ways of monitoring your teaching......Page 193
9.2 Why have a literature self-access centre?......Page 194
9.3 A simulation: First meeting for planning and setting up a literature self-access centre......Page 195
9.5 Setting up a literature self-access centre: A case study......Page 197
9.6 Worksheets to guide students in their reading......Page 200
Answer key......Page 204
Trainer's notes......Page 231
Bibliography......Page 270
Appendix: Eveline by James Joyce......Page 274
Index......Page 278