Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to discuss the place of literature in foreign language learning and teaching contexts, and to show reasons of using literary texts for the development of communicative competence, intercultural communicative competence, and for individual as well as social human growth. Although literature and language teaching had been following separate paths, currently a strong tendency emerges of integrating language and literature teaching across proficiency levels. This tendency results from the recognition of the roles that literacy, multiliteracies and multimodality play in the life of humans in the 21st century. Respected bodies such as the Council of Europe or Modern Language Association recommend merging literature and language learning to promote translingual and transcultural competence. Empirical evidence supports the claims that experiential reading of literary texts focuses the learner’s attention both on content and form, providing them with rich and meaningful input as well as opportunities for extended output, thus facilitating language learning and language improvement. It also gives access to other cultures and contributes to whole person development. However, if literary texts are to become inseparable from language learning, teachers need to be trained on what texts to use and how to use them to motivate language learners and encourage independent reading. In the chapter, the teaching of language and literature is first reviewed from the historical perspective to show a long-standing rift between language teaching and literature teaching. The case of Poland is discussed on the basis of the author’s personal experiences (retrospections) that point to the crucial role of the teacher in this context. Then reasons for including literary texts into foreign language teaching along with benefits resulting from such a combination are presented and suggestions concerning training foreign language teachers to use literary texts are included.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Beatty, K. and D. Nunan. 2004. Computer-mediated collaborative learning. System 32: 165–183.
Coleman, A. 1929. The teaching of modern foreign languages. New York: MacMillan.
Collie J. and S. Slater. 1987. Literature in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Common European framework of reference for languages: Learning, teaching and assessment. 2001. Council of Europe/Cambridge University Press: Strasbourg/Cambridge.
Cummings, E. E. 1965. A selection of poems. With an introduction by Horace Gregory. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
Davis, J. N., L. Carbon Gorrell, R. R. Kline and G. Hsieh. 1992. Readers and foreign languages: A survey of undergraduate attitudes toward the study of literature. Modern Languae Journal 76: 320–332.
Donato, R. and F. B. Brooks. 2004. Literary discussions and advanced speaking functions: Researching the disconnection. Foreign Language Annals 37:183–199.
Hall, R. 1961. Literature, life and language. Modern Language Journal 45: 121–126.
Hall, G. 2005. Literature in language education. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hannauer, D. I. 2001. The task of poetry reading and second language learning. Applied Linguistics 22: 295–323.
Hanauer, D. I. 2003. Multicultural moments in poetry: The importance of the unique. Canadian Modern Language Review 60: 69–87.
Hanauer, D. I. 2010. Poetry as research. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Henkle, D. P. 1971. Advanced literature: A creative method. Modern Language Journal 55: 440–449.
Hester, R. 1972. From reading to reading literature. Modern Language Journal 56: 284–291.
Howatt A. P. R. 1984. A history o English language teaching. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Jerome, K. J. 1976. Three men in a boat. To say nothing of the dog. 2nd ed. 1976. Moscow: Higher School Publishing.
Jewitt, C. 2008. Multimodality in education. Review of Research in Edducation 32: 241–267.
Kern, R. 2000. Literacy and language teaching. New York: Oxford Univrsity Press.
Kern, R. 2003. Literacy as a new organizing principle for foreign language education. In Reading between the lines: Perspectives on foreign language literacy, ed. S. G. Payne, 40–59. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Kern, R. and J. M. Schultz. 2005. Beyond orality: Investigating literacy and the literary in second and foreign language instruction. Modern Language Journal 89: 381–392.
Kim, M. 2004. Literature discussion in adult L2 learning. Language and Education 18: 145–166.
Komorowska, H. 2001. Supplement to foreign langauge teaching in Europe. Warsaw: EURYDICE Foundation.
Kramsch, C. 1976. A workshop approach to German literature: Reliving Schiller. Die Unterrichtspraxis 9: 88–93.
Kramsch, C. 1993. Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kramsch, C. and O. Kramsch. 2000. The avatars of literature in language study. Modern Language Journal 84: 553–573.
Mantero, M. 2002. Bridging the gap: Discourse in text-based foreign language classrooms. Foreign Language Annals 35: 437–455.
Martin, A. M. and I. Laurie. 1993. Student views about the contribution of literary and cultural content to language learning at intermediate level. Foreign Language Annals 26: 189–207.
Maxim, H. H. 2006. Integrating textual thinking into the introductory college-level foreign language classroom. Modern Language Journal 90: 19–32.
McRae, J. 1996. Dances with thorns: Perspectives on the teaching of new literatures. In Challenges of literary texts in the foreign language classroom, ed. L. Bredella and W. Delanoy, 227–232. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Modern Language Association Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. 2007. Foreign languages and higher education: New structures fora changes world. Profession 2007: 234–245.
Morrison, J. C. 1945. An administrator looks at language study. Modern Language Journal 24: 679–687.
Niżegorodcew, A. 2011. Understanding culture through a lingua franca. In Aspects of culture in second language acquisition and foreign language learning, eds. J. Arabski and A. Wojtaszek, 7– 20. Heidelberg, Dordrecht, London, New York: Springer.
Niżegorodcew, A. 2012. Stable and variable aspects of intercultural education: Czesław Miłosz’s poetry in international teacher training workshop. In Variability and stability in foreign and second language learning contexts. Vol. 1. eds. E. Piechurska-Kuciel and L. Piasecka, 267–278. Newcastle on Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishers.
Paesani, K. 2011. Research in language-literature instruction: Meeting the call for change? Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 31: 161–181.
Paran, A. 2008. The role of literature in instructed foreign language learning and teaching: An evidence-based survey. Language Teaching 41: 465–496.
Perkins, J. A. 1980. Strength through wisdom: A critique of U.S. capability–A report to the President from the President’s Commission on Foreign Languages and International Studies. November 1979. Modern Language Journal 64: 9–57.
Piasecka, L. (in press). “in time of daffodils who know” - reading poetry in a foreign language classroom. In Exploring the microcosm and macrocosm of language teaching and learning. A festschrift on the occasion of 70th birthday of Professor Anna Niżegorodcew, eds. E. Mańczak-Wohlfeld and M. Jodłowiec. Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press
Qiping, Y. and C. Shubo. 2002. Teaching English literature in China: Importance, problems and countermeasures. World Englishes 21: 317–324.
Radwanska-Williams, J. and L. Piasecka. 2005. English language teaching in Poland: Tradition and reform. In Teaching English to the world. History, curriculum, and practice, ed. G. Braine, 115–124. Mahwah, NJ/London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Richards, J. C. and T. S. Rodgers. 2001. Approaches and methods in language teaching. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rosenblatt, L. M. 1994. The transactional theory of reading and writing. In Theoretical models and processes of reading, (fourth edition), eds. R. B. Ruddell, M. R. Ruddell and H. Singer, 1057–1092. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Scott, V. M. and J. A. Huntington. 2007. Literature, the interpretive mode, and novice learners. Modern Language Journal 91: 3–14.
Steiner, F. 1972. Teaching literature in the secondary schools. Modern Language Journal 56: 278–284.
Stewart, J. A. and K. A. Santiago. 2006. Using the literary text to engage learners into a multilingual community. Foreign Language Annals 3: 683–696.
Swaffar, J. and K. Arens. 2005. Remapping the foreign language curriculum: An approach through multiple literacies. New York: Modern Language Association of America.
Tomlinson, B. 1998. And now for something not completely digfferent: An approach to language through literature. Reading in a Foreign Language 11: 177–189.
Widdowson, H. G. 1990. Aspects of language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Widdowson, H. G. 2003. ‘So the meaning escapes’: On literature and the representation of linguistic realities. Canadian Modern Language Review 60: 89–97.
Yang, A. 2001. Reading and the non-academic learner: A mystery solved. System 29: 450–460.
Yang, A. 2002. Science fiction in the EFL class. Language, Culture and Curriculum 5: 50–60.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Piasecka, L. (2013). Blending Literature and Foreign Language Learning: Current Approaches. In: Gabryś-Barker, D., Piechurska-Kuciel, E., Zybert, J. (eds) Investigations in Teaching and Learning Languages. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00044-2_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00044-2_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-00043-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-00044-2
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)