Summary of “Teaching English through Literature”-LinQing

    Compared to “ Using Literary Texts in Language Teaching” , this article explain the reasons of using literary tests in a language classroom and the criteria of selecting tests in a more detailed way and the important roles that literature plays in teaching the four basic English skills and the benefits of different genres of literature to language teaching. According to Collie and Slater, the author thinks that there are four main reasons for teachers to teach literature in a English classroom, valuable authentic material, cultural enrichment, language enrichment and personal involvement. Except these, some characters of literature texts also contribute to the use of literature as a powerful resource in the classroom context, such as universality (the themes literature deals with are common to all cultures), non-triviality (literature does not trivialize or talk down texts or experience), personal relevance (readers can relate the texts to their own lives), variety( literature includes varieties of subjects), interest(literature’s topics or themes are usually interesting), economy and suggestive power(maximum output can be derived from minimum input in literature), ambiguity(literature speaks subtly different meanings to different people), sociolinguistic richness( language changes from one social group to another in literature). Just as what said in “Using Literary Texts in Language Teaching”, the author agreed to choose the texts based on the needs, motivation, interest, cultural background and language level of the students. The most interesting part is the description of the relationship between literature and reading skills, writing skills, speaking and listening skills. The author put an emphasis on writing skills and explain the literature’s potential contribution to three models of writing (controlled writing, guided writing and reproducing writing), two subject writing (writing “on or about” literature, writing “out of” literature) and some forms of writing “out of“ literature( adding to the work, changing the work, drama-inspired writing and a letter addressed to another character). As for the speaking and listening part, the author provided some activities, such as oral reading, literature-based dramatic activities( dramatization, role-playing, improvisation) and group activities( general class discussion, small group work, pane discussion, debates), which can be helpful for students’ speaking and listening. Finally, the author discussed the benefits of different genres ( poetry, short fiction, drama, novel) of literature to language teaching, which can give teachers more suitable choices to choose from. Although teachers may face many difficulties in teaching literature, but literature do provide students with an incomparable rich source of authentic material over a wide range of registers, so as an English teacher, we should try our best to use literature in our English classrooms.