Teaching literature to english majors at the universitiy of social sciences and humanities ho chi minh city an integrated approach

After spending their first two years on learning and improving language skills via subjects such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, and phonetics, students had to take subjects on

INTRODUCTION

This study aims at investigating whether an integrated approach can be a viable teaching approach in literature classes at the Department of English Linguistics and Literature, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities – Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City This introduction presents the rationale, the aim and the significance of the study and an overview of the rest of the thesis

0.1 RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH

Over the last few years intensive and widespread debates have taken place concerning the nature and purpose of teaching and learning English literature There used to be a so high degree of uncertainty about the role of literature in the fast moving world that Zach (1989: 11) asked a very embarrassing, provocative yet truly fundamental question, “Are literary scholars today in the situation of dinosaurs on the verge of extinction?” To some people, literature reading can even be considered as a time-wasting, dreary, and even ridiculous activity Not only common readers but also

„expected serious readers‟ like language students usually think of literature

as something too academic, intellectual, difficult, and impractical

The same thing happens to literature in foreign language classes nowadays Due to future employment prospects, the number of students who enroll the literature course is smaller and smaller More young Vietnamese are joining in a fast-paced, hectic, and even frantic way of life Their financial concerns and practical viewpoints gradually erode their interest in literature Even if English literature is a compulsory subject in the whole curriculum, students will have no choice but study literature with less

effort than that for other subjects such as translation, business English, and language studies They rarely have time for the enjoyment of reading a long novel or citing a poem in their native language, let alone in a foreign language

Moreover, students‟ lack of interest in English literature may also result from the way Vietnamese literature has been being taught in schools, usually imposing and centralized, rather than motivating and inspiring Pupils and high school students are not very often allowed to interpret a literary work in their own ways or freely respond to it They seem to copy what their teachers have said about the work for their exam papers In this way, their passivity and dependency are exacerbated, but their creativity and uniqueness are undermined, which may end up in their loss of enjoyment for this subject

In addition, it is acknowledged that English literature is not an easy subject

to deal with since the learning of English literature is not simply an involvement of the four language skills Learning literature requires not only students‟ language skills but also their „ability to think‟ while not all students were born to have an aptitude for literature

Besides, it is common that students have to deal with “unfamiliar background references” (Lewis, 1999: 200) and allusions in English literature, which may sometimes make them „struggle‟ with the reading and hence take away their pleasure in reading it

Another factor that makes English literature inaccessible to some students

is the language barrier They often complain that the language used in

literary works is old-fashioned, even archaic, which is too hard to internalize or „digest‟ In fact, some students complain that they are put under a lot of pressure when they are asked to do some challenging tasks such as making oral presentations about the literary works or writing literary essays

Apart from the difficulties in learning literature, the context of the shift to the credit system training since the school year 2007 has called for big changes in the teaching and learning of literature at the Department of English Linguistics and Literature (henceforth DELL) of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (henceforth USSH) American Literature has no longer been a compulsory subject in the graduation exam which is crucial to the whole curriculum for English majors of DELL The latest curriculum reform in the DELL permits students to choose whether or not they take literature as a major subject after finishing the course of Introduction to Literature This reform to some extent has put literature in a really challenging position, especially when the prestige of natural sciences seems to gain the ascendancy in society

And even with students who choose literature as their major subject, they still find it difficult to enroll the other literature modules, namely Writing about Literature, Selected British Literary Works, Selected American Literary Works There exists a gap between the first and the second stage

of the curriculum During the first stage, students are expected to spend time on building and developing the four major language skills which are speaking, listening, reading and writing through compulsory subjects such

as phonetics, language studies, advanced writing, advanced grammar, etc Therefore, many students cannot cope with literature and the big changes

in teaching methodology adopted for this subject during their second stage

of learning Here appears a need to form a transitional phase to help students prepared for the new subject and methods in order to improve their both knowledge of and about the English language in general and literature in particular

It is evident that many approaches are suggested to help teach English literature more effectively and practically Nevertheless, it can be a challenging task, especially for young and inexperienced teachers In order

to apply a suitable approach to the teaching of literature, which enhances and motivates students to learn this subject, teachers need to know about the nature and kinds of learning motivation They also need to identify how much students are interested in reading and studying literature as well as what reasons lie behind their interest and efforts In addition, an understanding of students‟ perceptions of motivational causes can help teachers encourage students to learn

Another inspiration for the study is the concern over learners‟ autonomy, cultural awareness, and personal growth It is believed that literature can be

a great source of interesting and easily assessable materials for later study Thanks to the authentic interactions with many cultural notions found in the literary works, learners‟ cultural enrichment can also be developed And the process of their personal growth can thus be reinforced After graduation, students are expected to continue teaching themselves for the sakes of not only language improvement, but also cultural enrichment and self-fulfillment

self-However, there is no substantial body of research on a certain approach

which can be used to teach EFL literature to Vietnamese learners in this new context It is in such direction that this paper, an investigation of teaching literature to English majors at USSH in the light of an integrated approach is conducted

0.2 AIM OF THE RESEARCH

The urgent need of conducting a new approach to teaching literature is undeniable However, up to the present time, there has been no study with great focus on teaching EFL literature in the new context, especially the one that can meet the specific needs of English majors who are enrolling credit-based system at DELL-USSH

Therefore, the aim of this research is to figure out how effective it can be

to teach literature in the light of an integrated approach after identifying learners‟ difficulties in as well as expectations from the teaching and learning of literature

0.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH

In terms of scientific significance, this research is to provide a theoretical framework for better understanding on an effective pedagogical method of teaching literature via the integrated approach, the new trend of teaching English literature to learners of other languages

Hopefully, this research will contribute practical significance to the application of the new approach to the teaching and learning of literature to students at DELL - USSH in order to better both the students‟ study results and the teachers‟ pedagogy

0.4 ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH

Besides the introductory chapter which introduces the rationales for the research, its aims, significance, and organization, this research covers five main issues which are dealt with in separate chapters

Chapter 1 provides background information to the study, consisting of (1) the new literature curriculum for students at DELL – USSH, (2) the Introduction to Literature module, and (3) the characteristics of English majors at DELL – USSH

Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature in four major sections, including

(1) definitions of literature, (2) the knowledge about and knowledge of

literature, (3) the teaching and learning of literature in an EFL class, and (4) approaches to the teaching of literature

Chapter 3 sets out in details the methodology employed in this research, regarding (1) the research questions, and (2) the research design Accordingly, the subjects, instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures are presented

Chapter 4 is to (1) analyze the data collected via pre-questionnaire, questionnaire, as well as class observation, and (2) discuss the findings from the analysis result

post-Chapter 5 ends the thesis by (1) concluding the main points drawn out from the research and (2) making some recommendations for later application

CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

For an understanding of the study context, this chapter looks in detail at (1) the place of literature in the curriculum for students at DELL – USSH, and (2) the Introduction to Literature module at DELL – USSH

1.1 THE PLACE OF LITERATURE IN THE CURRICULUM FOR STUDENTS AT DELL – USSH

English literature has been a compulsory subject in the curriculum for time English majors at DELL –USSH for years After spending their first two years on learning and improving language skills via subjects such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, and phonetics, students had to take subjects on English Linguistics and Literature (including British Literature and American Literature) in the last two years The goals are set out as to enable the students to improve their language skills, to enrich their knowledge of the English people, culture, and history, to use English for their communication and future career, as well as to bring about a love for the target language More importantly, since they have to sit a graduation exam in American Literature at the end of the course, British Literature and American Literature have always been the subjects taken seriously by teachers and students Therefore, the place of literature in the curriculum for English majors is of great importance

full-Since the application of credit-based system to the university education in

2007, literature has under gone a number of changes and adaptation The

for the Introduction to Literature and Writing about Literature modules, the others are no longer compulsory subjects to learn Instead of enrolling eight courses in British Literature and American Literature (two courses for each semester during the two last academic years), students can choose whether or not they continue specializing in it Inevitably, students no longer sit a graduation exam in literature Since it is no longer a criterion for university graduation but a matter of optional choice, the important place of literature in the curriculum for English majors at DELL – USSH has been faded

1.2 THE INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE MODULE AT DELL – USSH

Introduction to Literature is the compulsory module in the curriculum of DELL - USSH This module is made up 45 class meetings, which counts

as 3 credits in the credit-based curriculum The teaching objectives of this module are to provide students with a basic comprehension of elements of fiction and to back them up with necessary skills to read, analyze and comprehend a literary work In order to enroll the module, students are required to finish all Language Skills modules

The assessment policy for this module is based on two kinds of scorings The first one is from the mid-term test, which makes up 30% of the final result The second one made up 70% of which 20% is for attendance and participation, 30% for assignment, and 50% for the end-of-term test

However, there are still chances for the teacher to replace the suggested literary texts by those which are still relevant to the teaching content and more suitable to the level and interest of the students

Presented below is the preliminary syllabus for an Introduction to Literature course

5 Fiction: Point of View

Concepts: First Person/Third Person – Narrative Voice Practice: Two versions of a fairy tale

6 Fiction: Image, Symbolism and Allegory

Concepts: Sense Impressions - Universal/Cultural/Contextual Symbols

Practice: Symbolism in Doris Lessing‟s “Flight”

7 Fiction: Style, Tone and Language

Concepts: Language Conventions – Voice – Attitudes Practice: Style in Doris Lessing‟s “Flight”

Concepts: Meaning Practice: Two versions of a fable by Aesop

Concepts: Sound and Sense Practice: Analysis of “Stopping by Woods” by R Frost

Table 1.1: Introduction to Literature syllabus

1.3 SUMMARY

This chapter has provided relevant information regarding the situation of teaching Literature at DELL – USSH The chapter also sketches a clear image of the course practitioners The description of the students‟ characteristics adds final details to the picture of teaching and learning of Literature at DELL –USSH

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

The previous chapter has presented the background information crucial to the overall planning of the research This chapter provides the theoretical context of the study by reviewing the relevant literature in four major

sections, namely (1) definitions of literature, (2) the knowledge about and knowledge of literature, (3) the teaching and learning of literature in an

EFL class, and (4) approaches to the teaching of literature The theoretical framework accounts for the design and implementation of the research It also serves as a cornerstone for the discussion in the subsequent chapters

2.1 DEFINITIONS OF LITERATURE

Commenting on the efforts in defining literature, Meyer (1997: 4) writes,

“Understanding exactly what literature is has always been a challenge.” Critics and scholars have given numerous definitions of literature

According to Murdoch (1978), literature is a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotions

As Selden (1989: 9-10) points out, literature is “a special use of language which achieves its distinctness by deviating from and distorting practical language.”

Rosenblatt (1995) supports the idea that literature treats the whole range of choices and aspirations and values out of which the individual must weave his own personal philosophy The literary works that learners are urged to read offer not only literary values, to use a currently favored abstraction,

but also some approaches to life, some images of people working out a common fate or some assertion that certain kinds of experiences, certain moods of feeling, are valuable In other words, the literary work is not primarily a document in the history of language or society It is not simply

a mirror of, or a report on, life It is not a homily setting forth moral or philosophic or religious precepts

As a work of art, it offers a special kind of experience And as the language level, literature “is not qualitatively different from any other linguistic performance It is “an instance of the productive use of a limited number of linguistic structures in order to achieve communication” (Brumfit & Carter, 1997: 178)

And Barnet & Cain (2006: 87) clarify the term by regarding literature as

“human experiences”, but “the experiences embodied in literature are not simply the shapeless experiences – the chaotic passing scene – captured by

a mindless, unselective camcorder.”

More importantly, Davies (2000) believes that true literature is not just there to entertain but it is there to help us understand ourselves and the world in which we live that little bit better

2.2 KNOWLEDGE ABOUT AND KNOWLEDGE OF LITERATURE

Knowledge about literature refers to the comprehension of facts about

literary contexts, dates, authors, titles of texts, name of conventions, and literary terms It is knowledge for its own sake and does not automatically lead to a more responsive reading or to a fuller interpretation of a text As Carter & Long (1991: 4) point out, “there is little concern with how to use

such information to read literature for oneself and to learn how to make one‟s own meanings.”

Knowledge of literature; on the contrary, is expressed “in terms of pleasure

and enjoyment rather than in terms of the accumulation of facts” (Carter & Long, 1991: 4) Thanks to the emotional as well as experiential involvements gained from personal interactions with the literary texts, such kind of knowledge is constituted and developed And in turn, it helps to lead to a high level of literature enrichment and appreciation in readers As mentioned by Carter & Long (1991: 4), there has always been “a focus on

exploring ways of fostering this kind of knowledge of literature.”

2.3 THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF LITERATURE

According to Rezaei & Derakhshan (2011: 201), “literature was the main source of input for teaching in language classes in the era of Grammar Translation Method but since then it has been dropped down from the pedestal.” In line with the advent of Structuralism and Audiolingual method, literature was downplayed and ergo discarded to the periphery (Collie & Slater, 1987: 2)

Regardless of these disfavors, in the middle of the 1980s, language scholars and educators resurrected literature as a language learning material after a long period of being rejected This resurrection was confirmed by series of publications heralding the coming back of literature (Maley, 1989)

Until relatively recent times the learning of literature in foreign language classes is considered as “the study of certain classic pieces of English

literature, a sine qua non for truly educated person” (Carter & Long, 1991:

1) Moreover, literature, as viewed by Rezaei & Derakhshan (2011), is a

“promising tool” for language learning purposes

2.3.1 Literature teaching and the use of literature as a resource

From the context of the above review, it is worth noticing that there is a distinction between the literature teaching and the use of literature as a resource

The literature teaching involves exploring literary works within an academic, institutionalized setting for purposes of obtaining literature competence and qualifications in literary studies Such way of teaching literature provides learners with a considerable baggage of critical concepts

as well as literary conventions, and the ability to employ such knowledge

in talking and writing about literature As shown by Carter & Long (1991: 3), this conception emphasizes “a compendious store of information about the history of the target literature, its traditions and conventions, its particular heritage, and the nature of the influences and relationships between the author, texts and contexts which make up that literary culture.”

Since the early 1980s, there has been a strong theoretical undercurrent advocating the use of literature as a resource in language teaching Widdowson (1975; 1984) raised the fundamental issues and these have been developed, examined, and amplified, most significantly in Brumfit and Carter (1986), Carter and Long (1991), Duff and Maley (1991), MaRae (1991) and Widdowson (1992) The use of literature as a resource

is less academic but closer to the practical needs of learners This perception treats literature as an abundant resource for teaching language

skills, widening learners‟ understanding of the world in which they live, and educating them to be good individuals in their community

In summary, scholars in the field have proposed various arguments on the use of literature in teaching and learning What follows is a review of the objections to and approvals for such proposals

2.3.2 Argument against the teaching and learning of literature

There used to be a general perception that literature is detrimental to the process of language learning for its linguistic and cultural complexities To what follows is the look at the reasons that literature was rejected in a EFL class

2.3.2.1 Syntax

Syntactic difficulty inherent in the literary text makes reading a troublesome task This is one of the main criticisms proposed against adopting literature in a language program McKay (1982) notes that some literary texts, especially classics are far from the standard English, which may cause lots of difficulties in comprehension and discouragements in learning

However, he also points out that these complexities can turn out to be a source for language practice and improvement if the teacher adopts a good method in teaching and the learners are willing to carry them out

2.3.2.2 Lexis

Robson (1989: 25) contends that due to its lexical difficulty, literature is said to do “little or nothing to help students to become competent users of

the target language.” He continues his assumption with the example of

“thee and thou” in Shakespeare‟s plays, insisting that literature with its outdated vocabulary provides learners with the vocabulary they cannot use

in their daily communication

Nevertheless, there is a counterargument that such phenomenon works in classical literature such as that of Shakespeare Since teachers are not forced to teach old literature only but they are allowed to integrate many modern literary works and literature with “small l” into the syllabus, the argument against literature due to its lexical difficulty is not applausive

2.3.2.3 Cultural barrier

Literature is saturated with certain cultural concepts that may be strange to people who do not practice such culture McKay (1982) maintains that cultural knowledge embedded in literature makes the teaching and learning

of a foreign literature frustrating This kind of cultural barrier is believed to prevent learners from understanding the characters as well as their thoughts and acts and thus, impeding their appreciation for or objection against literary characters in particular and literature in general

Nonetheless, McKay (1982) suggests two ways to wipe this cultural complexity out including using simple texts which do not treat cultural themes seriously and offering some culture notions related to the literary texts before teaching

2.3.3 Argument for the teaching and learning of literature

Despite the fact that there is a general perception that literature is detrimental to the process of language learning for its bewildering

complexity, literature is still being taught widely in many foreign language classes Carter & Long (1991: 3) summarize the rational for literature teaching and learning as following:

Literature can be a special resource for personal development and growth, an aim being to encourage greater sensitivity and self-awareness and greater understanding of the world around us It can also supply many linguistic opportunities to the language teacher and allow many of the most valuable exercises of language learning to be based on material capable of stimulating greater interest and involvement than can be the case with many language texts Literature is a legitimate and valuable resource of language teaching

There has also been a consensus of opinions on integrating literature to the language program regarding its values to the teaching and learning of a foreign language which are as follows:

2.3.3.1 Literature in terms of language learning

The first rationale which merits the teaching and learning of literature is its function in the process of language learning Since literature is inherently authentic, it is believed to provide authentic input for language learning Literature can play its significant role by having different aspects of language constituted in itself, including not only syntax and lexis but also pragmatic and cultural points that cannot be easily found in non-literary texts

As Carter and McRae (1996: xxi) state, “literature is always more than language and that appreciation and enjoyment of literature transcend the development of linguistic capacities.”

Stern (1991) emphasizes the significance of literature in a language program He reasons that literature can enhance cognitive and aesthetic maturation as well as a feeling and appreciation for the language

Van (2009) states literature is full of instances of real-life language in various situations Consequently, it can provide unprecedented opportunities to ameliorate syntactic, pragmatic, cultural, and discoursal awareness among learners

Regarding to the writing skill, Stern (1991) figures out that literature with its variety of writing styles, scopes of vocabulary, and arrays of grammatical points can be a rich and provocative source for writing tasks

By having learners to complete a poem or short story in cloze form, or to write a new end in their own words, or to narrate the story from the point

of view of another character, or to interpret the elements of fiction, the writing skill can be taught effectively and enjoyably (Rezaei & Derakhshan, 2011)

Considering the reading skill, Stern (1991) also argues for employing literature by reasoning that reading literary works offers learners many opportunities to master difficult sentence structures, unfamiliar vocabulary items in terms of denotative as well as connotative meanings, idiomatic expressions, proverbs, slang, and colloquialism He believes that reading literary works enables learners to apply all the reading strategies they learnt in reading class into practice and maintain a long-life reading habit

in the target language both in and outside the class McKay (2001) supports Stern‟s point by asserting that since certain syntactic patterns and

certain stylistic word order inversions occur more frequently in literary works, they can provide ideal contents for reading practice Rezaei & Derakhshan (2011: 203) point out that literary works can “provide good opportunities for extensive and intensive reading” and “it is good for practicing reading sub-skills including skimming, scanning, and finding the main ideas.”

Since literature deals with universal concepts such as love and hatred, life and death, happiness and sorrow, nature and mankind, etc it offers learners

a great source of topics for discussion, presentation and many other oral activities By orally responding to questions or taking part in the arguments

on certain issues related to a literary work, learners‟ listening and speaking skills can be improved amazingly

Rezaei & Derakhshan (2011: 203) summarize their points as follows:

For speaking purposes, the events in a poem, novel or short story can be associated with the learners‟ own experience in real life Such a practice paves the way for hot topics for discussion in language classes Having the students freely reflect on the events and having them critically comment is also facilitative for advance speaking proficiency For listening purposes, the learners can be exposed to the audio versions of the poem, short story or novel

Last but not least, Stern (1991) emphasizes the significance of literature in teaching communication by reasoning that literature leads learners to a deeper level of communication in which they are fully and truly involved

in what is said or heard in a more-than-superficial communication context

2.3.3.2 Literature in terms of cultural awareness

The other benefit that literature brings about is cultural awareness Brown (2000) claims that culture cannot be separated from language, and when a piece of language is learned, a notion of culture is acquired

Van (2009) believes that literature promotes cultural awareness, especially

in the era of globalization It can also help to promote learners‟ understanding and appreciation of many different cultures

Collie & Slater (1994: 26) point out that, “Literature – as the active mirror

to reflect what happens around us – can be an indispensable resource in teaching a second language to increase the foreign learners‟ insight into the country whose language is being learned.” In other words, literature can widen learners‟ knowledge of culture by offering them a chance to understand those who live in another country or at a different period of time

As viewed by Allen (1975: 111), “Literature is a facet of a culture.” Therefore, the teaching of culture and literature should be inextricably bound together so that learners come to understand cultural differences thanks to the diverse literary texts and adapt themselves to the diverse world of cultures

2.3.3.3 Literature in terms of motivation

Motivation is considered as the key element that pushes learners ahead in their learning It can be achieved only when learners are exposed to what they are interested in

Since literature deals with interesting things and diverse concepts, it can be

a great source for motivating learners to learn McKay (1982) points out that to the extent learners enjoy reading literature, it can enhance their motivation to interact with the text and thus, inevitably increase their reading proficiency Similarly, Ghosn (2002) and Van (2009) put forth that literary texts are very motivating due to their authenticity and the meaningful contexts they provide

Inevitably, motivation in literature teaching and learning shares some similar characteristics with motivation in language teaching and learning Learners become intrinsically motivated to literature when they are aware

of its multiple values, and internal rewards such as language proficiency, literature competence, culture knowledge, and self-fulfillment They are also extrinsically motivated with an anticipation of grades and some types

of positive feedback from the teacher and classmates Factors such as living experience, intellectualization and job orientation are also counted

as motivation toward the teaching and learning of literature (Jerome Bruner, 1962; Kohn, 1990; Williams & Burden, 1997)

2.3.3.4 Literature in terms of personal growth

Another merit of conducting literature in EFL classes is the benefit of personal growth that literature can foster in language learners

Schomberg (1993) agrees with this perception by claiming that teachers can empower learners to change themselves and the world in which they live by helping them to identify and resolve the conflicts that can be found

in many literary works

Plastina (2000) notes that a wide range of the experiences depicted in the literary works can reach learners‟ self-awareness and identification With its multiple interpretations, literature provides learners with several ready-made opinion gaps to be bridged by real interactions

In addition, Ghosn (2002) believes that literature with its diverse themes has the potentiality to change attitude as well as perception, and to diminish prejudices as well as negative conducts With its themes, learners can generalize the situations, behaviors, thoughts and emotions of literary characters to the real-world contexts, which enable them to involve in problem-solving tasks and get their personal growth

To argue for this belief, Guth & Rico (2003) remark that literature helps learners to enrich their living experiences, reinforce their moral beliefs, expand their imagination, and nourish their personal growth

2.3.3.5 Literature in terms of critical thinking

Nowadays, critical thinking is the essence of education It ensures learners not to take things for granted and to attempt to unravel the hidden meanings of the text According to Langer (1997: 607), literature allows learners to reflect their life, learning and language It opens “horizons of possibility, allowing students to question, interpret, connect, and explore.”

Rezaei & Derakhshan (2011) maintains that literature, among other text types is fertile with ideas to critically look at

Ghosn (2002) even puts it forth with his beliefs that reading literary texts foster emotional intelligence and that literature is a good source for

nurturing our emotional intelligence quotient (EQ), which plays an

important role in the process of critical thinking

In summary, there are many benefits to integrating literature in a language syllabus Apart from its capacities to widen learners‟ understanding of their own and other cultures, literature can offer opportunities for personal expressions as well as reinforce learners‟ knowledge of lexical and grammatical structures Furthermore, it helps to foster learners‟ critical thinking and motivation Therefore, it is necessary to adopt new approaches and methods of literature teaching to help learners obtain acquired information about the writers, the texts, the historical background, the canon, the message it conveys, the elements that make up a well-written and enjoyable literary work, and to draw out some personal responses in a way that can simultaneously enhance learners‟ competence and performance

2.4 APPROACHES TO THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE

Moody (1983: 23) defines the term „approach to teaching literature‟ as “the framework, or sequence of operations to be used for the purpose of coming

to actualities in teaching.”

Richards & Rodgers (1986) refer to anything that is designed to increase learners‟ motivation, participation in the learning process and the interactions between teacher and learners and the texts

Whitehead (1968) mentions that one of the factors that paves the way for learners‟ lifelong learning is how the teacher approaches the teaching of literature The writer believes that employing a suitable approach is the

most important principle of a successful teacher of literature The teacher; accordingly, must be acquainted with a variety of activities and techniques that make up a good approach to be used so as to stimulate and develop learners‟ interest and literature competence

There have been various approaches that can be employed in the teaching

of literature Presented below are some prevalent approaches that have been widely practiced in many language classes to teach literature

2.4.1 Critical literary approach

This approach is named by Marley (1989) to refer to the teaching of literature via elements for literary criticism For him, critical literary approach centers around background, psychology, literary canon, and literary concepts; namely plot, characterization, theme, setting, point of view etc In so doing, the teacher must focus on identifying and interpreting elements of fictions, poetry or drama and learners must advance in their language skills as well as be familiar with literary conventions

Lessons conducted in the light of critical literary approach are said to offer

knowledge about literature which easily turns out to be boring and unreal

to most of learners though it may be useful to those who aim at becoming

scholars in the field In addition, the knowledge about literature in the form

of facts, dates, or an ability to name literary tropes gained from learning literature through critical literary approaches cannot foster long-term pay-off for learners in the form of personal engagement with literature and a lasting enjoyment in reading and interpreting for oneself

As Long (1991) points out, structural approach to literature teaching emphasizes much on discrete-point teaching, correctness in grammatical form, and repetition of a range of graded structures, restricted lexis

Field (2000: 38) also notes that structural approach views literature as “a means to extend students‟ productive language repertoire through valuable exercises of language learning.”

Teaching literature under the light of this approach is usually conducted in

a reading class where a literary work is used as a means to enrich vocabulary and advance grammar or to better learners‟ reading speed with

a new reading resource According to Rezaei & Derakhshan (2011: 203),

“reading in literature is a combination of reading for enjoyment and reading for information Therefore, it bridges the lack in non-literary texts.”

With structural approach; however, literary text is simply an object which contains one or more language items to be learnt Though the literary text

is presented with great enthusiasm, learners are too busy writing in translation of unfamiliar words and structures so that they can respond to the text adequately What teacher and learners care about in applying this

approach to their own teaching and learning is that the meaning of selected literary work must be figured out basing on a set of questions designed to test learners‟ competence of the content and language of the work The main elements of fiction such as theme, plot, characterization, point of view, etc are not taken into consideration The figurative language may be considered; however, such consideration aims at improving learner language skills only

Since the changes in literature teaching throughout history have reflected recognition of changes in the kind of proficiency learners need, moving toward performance rather than reading comprehension as the goal of literature reading helps end the implementation of structural approach in teaching literature

2.4.3 Grammar-translation approach

According to Brown (2011), grammar - translation approach was widely practiced in many literature classes in the past because people used to learn literature for the sake of being scholarly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Grammar - translation approach views literature as an academic subject in which literary texts are studied and analyzed in the light of literary criticism and learners are expected to demonstrate their ability to read, talk, and write about literature Literary canon, literary criticism, classical works and writers‟ style are mainly focused in the class that grammar - translation approach is practiced This requires a great deal of reading about canonical context, background and related information, which may help to understand the literary work better but cannot replace the main content of the text

In teaching literature through the grammar - translation approach, learners are asked to read difficult classical texts from the very beginning of the language learning process and the teacher may use both the target and the native language to explain the grammar structures, to teach vocabulary, to translate the text and to draw out a few moral lessons

This traditional approach used to be employed in many literature classes because of the following reasons Firstly, teachers can explain the literary text easily by translating every word and phrase from English into the learners‟ mother tongue Secondly, learners can acquire some sort of accuracy in understanding the literary work in the source language and target language without many great efforts Thirdly, teacher‟s lectures are not time consuming and challenging, which enable learners to give feedback and response immediately And last but not least, teachers can easily assess whether learners have learned what has been taught since the communication between the teacher and the learner does not cause linguistic problems

However, this approach is not an ideal method to motivate learners or help them to achieve the necessary literacy competence because it is a completely teacher-centered process in which learners have no opportunities to develop their own opinions and their interests but too much of the formulation comes directly from the teacher, who also does most of the talking in class (Carter & Long, 1991) All decision-taking is still in the hands of the teacher, and the questioning seldom relates the literary text to learners‟ experience outside the classroom

Since it is universally known that exact translation from one language to another is not always possible, this method cannot ensure a good way to teach literature The learners who have learned literature through this method find it difficult to give up the habits of first reading in Vietnamese and then translating their in-mind ideas into English to perceive the content

of the literary work, and thinking in their mother tongue and then translating their ideas into the second language to respond to the text They; therefore, can neither get proficiency in the second language nor comprehend the literary works in this target language

Carter & Long (1991) also argue that though teachers who use the grammar - translation approach might help learners understand details in the text through the process of presenting background information, translating the piece and explaining difficult words and structures, they cannot create necessary room for appreciation of the whole work Consequently, implementing grammar - translation approach to teach literature, the subject which besides the language competence, factors such

as customs, traditions, modes of behavior, and moral lessons are all worth teaching, suffers from certain weaknesses

Moreover, this approach is rather unnatural for it neglects the interaction between the teacher and the learners, and then, the learners and the work Therefore, this traditional approach cannot bring about the long-term benefits expected for the whole learning and teaching process but learners‟ short-term memory of what have been taught or in Carter & Long‟s term –

“instant pay-off”

Responses are not appreciated in classes which practice this approach Learners‟ comprehension of the literary work will be tested, ignoring their opinions about and evaluation for the work they have to deal with And if some certain responses are asked about in the form of a written assignment

on the text, they are not truly learners‟ responses but the reproduction of some ideas which are plagiarized or developed from someone else They are, as coined by Long (1991), the „second-hand‟ responses that cannot reflect learners‟ real understanding and appreciation

And more seriously, it cannot help teachers to reach their literature teaching goals Since the teaching of literature should seek to develop learners‟ responses in order to help them advance the particular sets of learning objectives; namely the competence as well as performance in the three fields: language-culture-literature, and the ability to grow up mentally, the implementation of grammar - translation approach is not highly recommended

2.4.4 Language-based approach

Language-based approach has become more distinctive and definitive in their own right since the early 1980s Language-based approach is carried out to teach learners to be “sensitive to language” and make “explicit reference to the way language works to make meaning in texts” (Winser, 1992: 12)

In contrast to grammar - translation approach, language-based approach can create a learner-centered classroom and it is believed to be a more suitable method to teach literature to learners of all level (Carter & Long, 1991) The goal of a literature course with the language-based approach is

to find out implied meanings in a certain literary text by analyzing the forms of language It seeks to integrate language and literature by involving a number of techniques and procedures which are familiar in teaching English as a foreign language such as prediction exercises, cloze exercises, ranking tasks, active comprehension technique, producing and acting out the text (Carter & McRae, 1999)

In a language-based approach literature class, learners directly participate

in the process of meaning making and teacher plays the role of a motivator

or facilitator who activates learners‟ experience and links it to the literary work (Collie & Slater, 1994) Therefore, teacher is phased out and learners

do most of the talking They are more active in their own learning, basing

on teacher‟s instruction to make their own judgements instead of merely accepting the judgements of the teacher or giving second-hand responses Since learners are allowed to freely explore the literary text and develop their own responses and sensitivities in a language-based approach class, it

is usually selected by teachers in order to develop learners‟ interpretive and critical thinking skills

Moreover, language-based approach with its activity-based and oriented characteristics offers approaches to literary texts which are accessible not just to move advanced students but to a wider range of students, from lower to upper intermediate or advanced levels

process-Although this approach seeks greater unification between language and literature, Carter (1988) asserts that language-based approach stresses more

on literary texts as resources for language practice through series of language activities than teaching literature for the purposes of achieving language capacity, culture awareness, and personal fulfillment

2.4.5 Stylistic approach

Language-based approach utilizes some of the strategies used in stylistic analysis, and explores literary texts from the perspective of style and its relationship to content and form

According to Carter & Long (1991: 121), stylistic approach is “an approach to the study of texts which involves analysis of language use in literary texts” It also embodies one essential part of the general course philosophy that is the combination of language and literary study

Stylistic approach guide learners towards a closer understanding and appreciation of the literary, using the combination of linguistic analysis and literary critics This means learners are taught to recognize how linguistic forms in a literary text function in conveying messages to the readers (Lazar, 1993)

Carter & McRae (1996: 5) claim further that “stylistic analysis helps to foster interpretive skills and to encourage reading between the lines of what is said” Stylistic analysis can also reinforce in teacher the confidence

to make sense of language input which is not always neat, clear and comprehensive in real communication contexts

Such linguistic-stylistic analysis can have considerable benefits for the study of the language and thus aids the integration of language and literature study They propose that linguistic-stylistic model of literature teaching can aid recognition of and sensitivity to the nature of language organization in related discourse types in the target language Besides, it can lay a basis for the interpretation of texts by closely analyzing key

structural features of the text language And last but not least, it promotes learner-centered language activities which are useful in their own right

However, stylistic approach results in an over-determination of the text due

to its assumption that there is only one central meaning to a text and that if the language of the text is analyzed in enough details, the meaning can be objectively located This approach heightens an attention to words on the page which appears not to recognize that many texts are historically determined and are produced in specific historical contexts Moreover, it neither highlights the values of moral and philosophical considerations behind one‟s reading nor offer a certain understanding of the culture embedded in the text In acknowledging this shortcoming, an urge for conducting another approach rather than this stylistic one is taken into consideration

2.4.6 Carter & Long’ approaches

Carter & Long (1991) enumerate the three main modes to teaching literature: the cultural model, the language model, and the personal growth model These models, though are not mutually exclusive and should preferably be viewed as tendencies, do present distinct characteristics that can be summarized as follows:

2.4.6.1 The cultural model

“Teaching literature within a cultural model enables students to understand and appreciate cultures and ideologies different from their own in time and space and to come to perceive tradition of thought, feeling, and artistic form within the heritage the literature of such culture endows” (Carter & Long, 1991: 2) Teachers working within such an orientation stress the

value of culture engaged in the literary works and provide learners with many opportunities to generalize the cultural norms being taught They usually combine literary readings with social and historical analysis By reading texts in this way, learners achieve a deeper understanding of how historical circumstances, social traditions, and the media work together to create a cultural milieu in which certain sets of beliefs are either reinforced

or questioned Therefore, this model considers a literary text as a social product with a specific history and a particular agenda to be explored

Along with its emphasis on culture, this model reveals some disadvantages

in teaching and evaluating learners‟ acquisition The overlapping contents

in the literature class and the culture class may result in hazardous situations and counter effects Besides, this model tends to be teacher-centred and impedes the possibilities for extended language work And the teacher‟ assessment may depend heavily on learners knowledge about culture in a form to be memorized and recalled when required

2.4.6.2 The language model

Carter & Long (1991: 2) believe that, “a justification for the teaching of literature is its value in promoting language development.” By putting learners in touch with the subtle and creative uses of the language, teachers can help learners to find ways into a text easily and in turn, improve their language competence This language model argues that language is the literary medium The more learners can read in and through language, the better able they will be to come to a proper comprehension of literature

However, Carter & Long' belief is sometimes mistaken to mean that literature can be treated as “an instrument for use in connection with the

teaching of specific vocabulary or structures or for language manipulation.” Such a treatment misunderstands the nature of language in literature and may result in mechanistic and demotivating teaching practice which substitutes language activities in place of a genuine engagement with the work as literature and will probably have the detrimental effect of spoiling any pleasure the poem or story might have given

Carter & McRae (1996) regard this model as a „reductive‟ approach to literature due to the fact that there is little engagement of the learner with the text other than for purely linguistic practice Accordingly, literature is purposelessly and mechanistically used for a series of language activities orchestrated by the teacher

2.4.6.2 The personal growth model

Carter & Long (1991: 3) claim that, “the test of the teacher‟s success in teaching literature is the extent to which students carry with them beyond the classroom and enjoyment and love for literature which is renewed as they continue to engage with literature throughout their lives.” The main goal for teachers who are primarily committed to the personal growth model is to help learners to grow up as individuals as well as in their relationships with the people and institutions around them after engaging themselves with the literary texts

This personal growth model; therefore, insists on selecting texts to which learners can respond eagerly and in which they can participate wholeheartedly Literary texts with universal themes closely related to learners‟ lives are highly recommended Moreover, this model also argues

for promoting the kind of conditions which will make the learning process more enjoyable and memorable

Nevertheless, the teaching and learning of literature within such an orientation is hard to be verified and evaluated since what learners acquired from this way of teaching and learning cannot be really measured

in term of examinations

Carter & Long‟ three approaches to teaching literature differ in terms of their focus on the text: firstly, the text is seen as a cultural artefact; secondly, the text is used as a focus for grammatical and structural analysis; and thirdly, the text is the stimulus for personal growth activities What is needed is an approach to teaching literature in the English foreign language classroom which attempts to integrate these elements in a way that makes literature accessible to learners and beneficial for their linguistic development

In summary, conducting the above approaches, teachers may fall back upon a more traditional classroom role in which they see themselves imparting information and learners passively taking it for granted Sometimes, the teaching of literature turns into a massive process of explanation or even translation of so many concepts that neither meet learner‟s needs, interest, cultural background and language level nor stimulate a kind of personal involvement At more advanced level of working with literature, teachers may resort to the meta-language of criticism, which may both distance learners from their own response and cause them to undervalue it, whatever the gain in analytical terms And if teachers try to sharpen learners‟ responses to the literary work via detailed comprehension they fail in helping them to be active, motivated and continuous in their learning Therefore, the overuse of a certain approach

can cause tedium and even failure in the classroom That is to say, these approaches with their own advantages and disadvantages should not be conducted separately There exists a need to integrate them into a more systematic approach to better the teaching and learning of literature

The concept of integration has been shaped by a number of developments

in different fields including education, second language acquisition, linguistic and literature teaching Many scholars and teachers in the field recognize the importance of integrating the four language skills in any curriculum, arguing that these four language skills support each other and are found together in real-life language use Not only does Larza (1993) call for the integration of all four skills but he also emphasizes the benefits

of integrating culture in the teaching of literature To him, culture ties language skills and language use together into a more coherent curriculum

According to Duff & Maley (1991) as cited in Savvidou (2004), there are three main rationales namely linguistic, methodological and motivational

for adopting the integrated approach to the teaching and learning of literature in a foreign language class

2.5.2 Paradigm

Collie & Slater (1991) suggest a paradigm with four phases, namely encountering, maintaining momentum, exploiting highlights and ending for implementing integrated approach

2.5.2.1 Encountering

For learners who are about to explore a new literary work, the first encounter with it is extremely crucial Many learners fail to persevere with

a text because they find the initial encounter simply too daunting It may

be that the first page is full of difficult words or deals with strange concepts which are different from their own surrounding And the first teacher‟s imperative to draw learners quickly into the text is also considered as discouraging Integrated approach; otherwise, seeks for an encounter that brings about curiosity, excitement and apprehension Teachers adopting the integrated approach; therefore, should spend time on orientation and warm-up sessions by implementing one or some of the activities suggested by Collie & Slater (1991):

 using the title and cover design to set the scene and kindle learners‟ curiosity;

 getting into the mood to prepare learners for a new experience;

 showing visual prompts such as photos, magazine pictures, videos, slides to elicit learners‟ guessing and response;

 generalizing the theme to entail free discussion;

 highlighting key words/sentences;

 asking learners to respond to the questionnaire designed to ask for learners‟ opinions on a certain aspect that the literary works deal with;

 providing learners with a listening-in to improve listening skill as well as to take notes for follow-up writing task;

 presenting biographical montage in the form of asking learners to speculate the meaning of photos, objects, place names that relate to the author‟s life;

 giving some biographical information or a plot summary of the text for learners to fill in missing information;

 organizing the sentence whisper game, which puts the class into four

of five lines of students and challenges each student to whisper from memory into the ear of the student next in the line the sentence required

Although these beginning activities are rather time-consuming they are worthwhile to draw learners‟ attention to the teaching and to build motivation for the follow-up classroom activities

2.5.2.2 Maintaining momentum

Collie & Slater (1991) believe the success of a literature class depends heavily on how much learners are engaged in the text and interact with it They argue that the more critically learners read the text, the clearer their understanding is Therefore, they introduce a wide range of steps that should be carried out to reach what they call „maintaining momentum‟:

 allowing learners to skim and scan through the text in its written form on printed pages as well as spoken form on cassettes, recorded CD;

 handing out worksheets that are designed to check reading comprehension via true/false questions, multiple choice questions, close questions, matching activities, etc.;

 giving learners a chance to work in groups and compete each other

by asking and answering the close questions that they raise by themselves;

 asking learners to summarize the plot or paraphrase the content of the text in their own words;

 trying new ways of summarizing with snowball summaries, montage, graphic representations, wall chart, diagram, etc.;

 monitoring the game „jumble‟ which asks them to rearrange the jumbled events or some sentences in a correct order and quick manner;

 hosting a debate in which the two volunteers argue for/against a certain behavior or thought of a character;

 holding a contest of eloquence in which learners are asked to present and convince listeners on a moral drawn out from the text

These activities, obviously, aim at encourage extensive reading habit They also pave the way for learner-text-teacher negotiations to help learners come to a thorough comprehension later

2.5.2.3 Exploiting highlights

This phase is considered as the core of integrated approach since it helps exploit the highlights of the work by developing a growing sense of narrative and characterization Through learner-text-teacher negotiations, the main content is acquired piecemeal For the sake of it, an additional range of imaginative activities introduced by Collie & Slater (1991) can be

modified or adapted according to the particular teaching context and learners‟ level, including:

 assigning each group of learners with a certain scene from the literary work to perform in class;

 inviting some learners to play the role of an interviewer or characters

in the literary work to ask and answer open-ended questions;

 asking learners to write a note or short letter that a character dashes off as a plea for help;

 allowing learners to suggest another ending for the literary work with clear and convincing reasons;

 encouraging learners to popularize the work by making some review

or comments on it;

 using authentic formats such as television, radio serial, newspaper articles, journalist‟s reports, „agony aunt column‟, epitaphs, etc to import to the themes and spur the writing about them;

 hosting discussions which center around learners‟ opinions and evaluations of an aspect of the text;

 asking learners to figure out as many moral lessons as possible and argue for or against them;

 giving the task of concocting a two-minute „trailer‟ to advertise the work being dealt with

With the above-mentioned activities, integrated approach can motivate even less imaginative or shyer learners to take part in the lesson The outcome of these activities is not only a general improvement in the language ability in the target language, but also an enjoyable relationship with the literature of that language As a result, learners will respond

actively in communicating and negotiating for a fuller understanding of the teaching content

2.5.2.4 Ending

Collie & Slater (1991: 79) point out that, “Coming to the end of a literary work is only a staging point, a temporary distancing from a continuing process of appreciation and understanding.” Therefore the activities presented below reflect a wish to keep learners‟ sense of the literary work alive, and aim to involve them in their own personal growth

 asking learners to provide a design for the book‟s paperback cover, which helps elicit and crystallize their oral as well as written responses to the work they have learnt;

 inviting one volunteer to pantomime a character for the others to name him/her out

 encouraging learners to retell the story in an emotional way or adapt the literary work for another audience such as children, elementary learners, and movie director, etc.;

 asking learners to search for newspaper articles, films, songs, plays, stories, proverbs, etc that share the similar theme with the literary work they have dealt with;

 monitoring the game “If I were” to put learners in the situations of the characters and draw out lessons from them;

 challenging learners to write a short story, or compose a poem or even a song to reveal their love, hatred, sympathy or criticism toward the writer, the character or a certain point of the work

These activities, needless to say, are career-oriented and responsive to personal growth In the same respect, they are compiled to meet the current