JOURNAL OF ROMANIAN LITERARY STUDIES: ISSUE NO.

ALINA NICOLETA PADUREAN

Romanian Language and Literature &
English Language and Literature of
“Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad

Presented by: Novika Rosalinda Ridwan

 Teacher’s claim Students’ argument
• Students read less • The books that are
and less supposed to read for
• illiteracy is an exams have out-dated
increasing topics
phenomenon in • They are no taught
society how to work with a
text because teachers
deliver only theoritical
lectures
LITERATURE AND READING?

This study aims to prove that literature is still useful and

necessary
• Grammar –Translation Method:
Language used in literary works was considered
grammatically accurate
• Communicative Approach
Focus on the study of language for practical purposes
• In the 80’s, literature regained its place in the EFL
classroom. The scholars considered that literature should
be taught using a different pedagogical approach for non-
native speakers
Three main approaches to teaching literature (Carter
and Long, 1991: 2) :
The Language Model
The Cultural Model
The Personal Growth Model
o It relies on the development of students’ knowledge by
working with familiar grammar, lexical and discourse
categories.
o It focuses on the way language is used in literary texts.
o It does not encourage creative thinking but the
acquisition of information related to the target text.
The techniques used are typical for an EFL classroom:
Prediction exercise
Jumbled sentences
Summaries
Role-play, etc.
• It deals with a literary work in relation to the target
language.
• It does not focuses on mere language acquisition but
also on the knowledge of a country’s culture and
ideologies.
• Students are asked to explore and interpret the social,
political, literary and historical context of a text (Yimwilai,
2015:15)
• It is an attempt to create a link between the language
model and the cultural model.
• The focus is placed on the use of language but used in a
specific cultural context.
• Students have to be intellectually and emotionally
engaged in the lesson and especially in the reading
activity.
• Students are encouraged to express their opinions and
beliefs, to make connections between their own
experiences and the text and use critical thinking.
• The text should be:
o interesting and appropriate for the students’ age and interests
o facilitating students’ personal discovery and involvement in the text
o a resource which contributes to the students’ personal growth
o a resource for literary and linguistic development and they
shouldn’t be regarded as assessment material
• Lessons should be student centre
• Teachers should use activities that encourage students’
communication and relate to their personal life.
o Use pre-reading, while-reading and after-reading activities.
o Use prediction making, jigsaw reading, matching or gap-filling,
reading comprehension, debates, and creative writing
Linguistic model: literature provides excellent writing and
linguistic diversity
Extension of Linguistic Competence
Mental training
Authenticity
Open for interpretation
Memorability
Cultural enrichment

As seen, the study of literature in high schools and universities is

ESSENTIAL for the acquisition of linguistic and cultural
knowledge of the foreign language.
• The sample:
• Consists of 47 students: 2 male and 45 female students aged
between 21 and 30
• Enrolled in the study programme Romanian Language and
Literature & English Language and Literature at the Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences, “Aurel Vlaicu” University of Arad.
• 3rd year students facing the graduation exam and the tenure exam
• Data were collected using:
• Questionnaire method: written form consisting of open and/or
closed questions (Nunan, 1992: 231)
• Focus group discussions :
• Attitude towards reading
• Opinion about the selection of texts and teaching methods
used
• Perception of learning literature
• Relevance of text selection for their tenure preparation
• Students’ involvement in text interpretation, etc.
ATTITUDE TOWARDS READING STUDENT PERCEPTION OF
READING LITERATURE
Language &
culture

9% Challenging
Positive attitude
toward reading
30% 15%
40% Useless
Negative Attitude

70% Boring
36%

TEXT DIFFICULTY

Difficult
18%

Quite Difficult
45%
Easy

37%
RELEVANCE FOR TENURE STUDENTS' OWN
EXAMS INTERPRETATION

Not Relevant Always

11%
Sometimes

29% 43% Rarely

Relevant 20%
71%
Never

26%
TEACHERS' REACTION TO
STUDENTS' INTERPRETATION

Agreement
15%

Correction

53%
32% Rejection
• This study offered us some solutions for the
encouragement of literature studies. Here are some of
them:
• Teacher should use group work during literature seminars but also
during lectures;
• Texts should be interesting;
• Teachers should use a wide variety of activities;
• Modern and interactive teaching methods would increase
openness for reading
Literary texts develop students’ linguistic and literary skills
and in the case of Romanian Language and Literature &
English language and Literature, students’ literary texts
have the following benefits:
• Personal growth
• Linguistic enrichment favoured by authentic texts
• Literary enrichment