Approaches to Using

Literature
in the classroom
 Definition
Literature means those novels, short stories, plays
and poems which convey their message by paying
considerable attention to language which is rich and
multilayered.
 3 basic approaches

1. a language-based approach

2. a content-based approach

3. literature for personal

enrichment
1. A language-based approach
material is chosen for the way it illustrates certain stylistic
features of the language but also for its literary merit

integration of language and literature syllabuses

detailed analysis of the language helps students to make

meaningful interpretations or informed evaluations of it

increase of general awareness and understanding of

English

encouragement to draw on existing knowledge of

grammatical, lexical or discoursal categories to make
aesthetic judgements of the text
 2. A content-based approach

texts are selected for their importance as part of a literary

canon or tradition

concentration on history, the characteristics of literary

movements, the social, political, historical
background, literary genres and rhetorical devices
 3. Literature for personal
enrichment
material is chosen on the basis of whether it is appropriate to
students interests and will stimulate a high level of personal
involvement

material is often organised thematically (German:

Unterrichtsreihe), and may be placed alongside non-literary
materials which deal with a similar theme

literature as a tool for encouraging students to draw on their own

personal experiences, feelings, and opinions

it helps students to become more actively involved both

intellectually and emotionally and hence aids acquisition

excellent stimulus for groupwork

Task
The NRW curriculum
Englisch Sekundarstufe II : Gymnasium/Gesamtschule (p.
30) says the following about dealing with literary texts:

By dealing with exclusively authentic and thematically as well as

structurally complex literary texts, the students deal with demanding
topics, get to know different structural patterns, analyse examples of
differentiated uses of language, elaborate aesthetic effects and intentions
while at the same time taking into account factors that are external to the
text, and are asked to re-cast texts and create their own ones.

a) Which of the above-mentioned approach(es) can you

find here?
b) What does that mean for your own (future) teaching?
A language-based approach to
using literature

Handout 1: Activities
 Stylistics in the
classroom
Stylistics is part of a language-based approach
to using literature.
Stylistics, which involves a close study of the
literary text itself, has two main objectives:

(1) to enable students to make meaningful

interpretations of the text itself;
(2) to expand students knowledge and
awareness of the language in general.
Background
Traditional practical criticism:
students are presented with a text and expected to
arrive spontaneously at an appreciation of its literary
qualities

no explicit guidance as to how this is to be done

differences in the linguistic, cultural and literary

backgrounds between a native speaker and a language
learner intuitions about the language may differ
considerably

being expected to appreciate a text without being given

a clear strategy for doing so boredom,
mystification, demotivation
Instead:

Enable students to reach an aesthetic

appreciation of a text which connects its
specific linguistic features with
intuitions about its meanings.

Stylistics is such a way, as it uses

linguistic analysis to understand how
messages are conveyed.
 Analysing a text for
classroom use
objective: to design activities for our
students which use stylistic analysis;

we ourselves need a procedure or

strategy for analysing the text;

one possible procedure which involves

two main steps:
 Step 1
While looking at a particular text, note
down any linguistic features which are
particularly noticeable.
These features may be noticeable because
they recur with unexpected frequency in the
text;
they deviate slightly from what might be
considered grammatically or lexically usual;
if these features were paraphrased or
rewritten in a slightly different way, a very
different effect would be created.
 Step 2

Develop a series of questions which alert

students to these features, and
encourage them to reach an
interpretation or appreciation of the
text bearing these features in mind.
A two-step procedure for
stylistic analysis

Handout 2: Example & Task

 Preparation for next week

Please read pp. 35-38 and pp. 41-43 in:

Gillian Lazar (1993), Literature and
Language Teaching. (reserved reading
shelf).