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Reading, learning literature helps improve English Language skills

Reading, learning literature helps improve English Language skills

Posted on 13 October 2013 - 08:09pm

ON Thursday, it was announced in Oslo, Norway, that Canadian Alice Munro had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
What's interesting is that Munro won the prestigious honour for her tales of the struggles, loves and tragedies of women in small-town Canada.
The award-giving committee called her the "master of the contemporary short story."
Stories were the order of the day at school, more than six decades ago. From fables and fairy tales to fiction, narratives, historical chronicles and drama, those were what we read and learned through our school years.
I'm sure the range of stories prescribed to us were carefully planned and selected by those who designed the curriculum. The teachers were well versed in the content and pedagogical aspects of enabling us to understand, appreciate and develop an interest in all those stories.
More importantly, we were cultivating good English language skills by learning, practising and using English, both in its verbal and written forms.

While much continues to be said about the need for our students and jobseekers to improve their English language skills if they are to succeed in today's highly competitive world, it should be pointed out that reading as a hobby and learning literature as a subject in the academic curriculum can contribute immensely to honing one's English language competency.
A habit that I, like many others, was encouraged to develop at home and in school continues to this day.
The relatively more recent advent and availability of multi-channel TV and the internet have broadened and increased manifold the scope and possibilities to access news and information and, more importantly, to learn from it.

Munro's winning of this year's literary prize reminded me of one of my English Literature teachers, a great enthusiast of Nobel Literature laureates, who encouraged us to read the works of Kipling, Tagore, Shaw, Pearl S. Buck, Hemingway and others.
We were also encouraged to pool our pocket-money savings to buy second-hand copies of news magazines, such as the Reader's Digest, Time and Newsweek. We would then share the periodicals among our classmates and took turns to read articles of interest.
In class, we would be called upon to present oral summaries and engage in discussions and debates on many of the topics in those magazines.

My purpose in describing these experiences in some detail is to illustrate how teachers who are competent and dedicated can innovate various methods for students to develop the reading habit and, combined with the learning of literature, enhance their ability to gain competency and communicate effectively in the English language.

Rueben Dudley
Petaling Jaya

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How Literature can influence the English Language Learning?

How Literature can influence the English Language Learning?

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“ Literature just adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become” C.S.Lewis (British Scholar and Novelist, 1898-1963).
As far as we remember we used to look forward to the English Literature classes every week when we were in high-school.  Were you as excited about new stuff and great information taken from the class?
Since English has become an international important language, more and more people are studying it. “ The study of literature allows people to develop new ideas and ethical standpoints, and can help individuals to present themselves as educated members of society. Studying literature can be enriching, eye-opening experience” ( Joshua Cruz, eHow contributor, www.eHow.com).

Traditionally, the role of Literature was not taken into consideration in English Language Teaching programs due to the importance given only to functional language. Today, Literature in second language classes has a very important linguistic input for students and it is a valuable source for learners’ motivation.
* Usually, students who study only English Language  emphasising on reading and writing skills, sometimes fail to see the point of studying English literature, especially if they have no plans to study English or Translation at University. But English Literature can introduce students to a range of aspects, not only of the English Language but also of the English culture.

There are parts of the English culture that are “encapsulated” by English Literature. Of course this is quite evident when studying the works of Shakespeare or other writers, poets and playwrights of  last centuries.
Teachers are the basic pillars to reach students through literature trying to attract them to this field that can be interesting to everyone. Teachers should think about everything that they are going to do without  falling in boredom and keep their students interested in the topic. Also we, as teachers,  consider that we are the ones who must make students get closer to Literature so that they can realise that it is not as abstract as they think, trying to avoid their frustration. Also it is useful to have literary texts and their analysis easier made for students.
The next two points are to help teachers in the hard labour of keeping students interested in Literature.

USEFUL QUESTIONS THAT TEACHERS SHOULD BE AWARE OF
*What has been your experience, as a teacher, when using Literature?
*Do you prefer using originally literary texts or short versions for your students?
*What kind of supplementary material, if any, would you use to raise students’ motivation?
*How can you include the four skills when using Literature in class?

SOME TIPS TO INCLUDE LITERATURE IN AN ELT CONTEXT
?         Students can learn about allusions and references to different aspects of English culture.
?        They can also learn the context and meaning of famous quotes and phrases.
?        When studying Literature, students can improve not only language such as vocabulary, but also the language that can be used for specific purposes.
?        The study of Literature can provide students with a fresh and creative angle with which they can approach their studies in particular and their lives in general.
?        English Literature makes students learn about their creativity and imagination, interacting with the text themselves, and playing different literary roles.
?        Literature must be presented as an authentic task, so the students can get through the texts discovering their different learning styles.
?        Students can live literature not only read it. Plays can be represented so that  students can be immersed in a different time and into a different person.
?        By following the histories presented throughout English Literature, it is possible to understand how contemporary Western culture has developed into what it is today.
?        Reading new words and new phrases can increase any one’s lexicon.

“ The study of literature offers many ways to improve literacy: it gives access to language, reading,  writing, a shared culture and one’s own self. “ (J.Trounstine, “Literature in Prison?” ).
?        Through the reading of literary texts, students can develop their autonomy and independence, making hypothesis and guessing unfamiliar words.
?        The use of authentic literary texts give learners the opportunity to connect to real world issues at the time they can learn true values for their lives.

CONCLUSIONS:

Literature has been proven as a great tool to approach English language and English culture. Even though there are students and teachers that consider it as too abstract or bored, we, as teachers now and students in the past have experienced the situation and we can say that it works. It gets you closer to the language, culture as well as customs and it is always a way of learning how to write and spell correctly.  Teachers should make literature interesting for students.
That is the reason why this quotation resumes in one sentence what we truly think: “Literature will increase all language skills because literature will extend linguistic knowledge” Povey (1972:18)
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Do you agree with us? why? why not?
Bibliography:

Joshua Cruz, eHow Contributor, www.eHow.com, extracted on 23.09.2010

http://www.middlesex.mass.edu/PeoplePages/trounstinej/, extracted on 24.09.2010

Literature in Primary English Language Curriculum??

Dilemma....

I'm having a few dilemma in choosing my research topic. I'm planning on doing a research on the implementation of literature component /language arts in primary schools. But I hardly decide whether to test on it's effectiveness or on the pupils' readiness or on how it could help in improving ones' language skills.

As we know, this is the first year of Year 4 KSSR implementation in primary schools. One of the new components that have been introduced was the contemporary English literature. Studying literature at the secondary school level wasn't new to us, but for the primary level, it is totally a new thing. 

Well, maybe I need to examine the literature content of the curriculum first then I will have a clearer view of what should I choose to become my research topic.

Examine the Literature Content of the Curriculum

The curriculum content is organized in terms of Content Standards and Learning Standards. Content Standards specify the essential knowledge, skills, understandings and strategies that pupils need to learn. Learning Standards describe in detail the degree or quality of proficiency that pupils need to display in relation to the Content Standards for a particular year.

In the initial stages of learning English, pupils will have the opportunity to listen to meaningful English input, in the form of stories or oral descriptions by teachers based on graphic texts. Through listening, pupils will become familiar with words that will be introduced in their early reading and writing lessons. The emphasis in the initial stages will be on vocabulary acquisition.

English is taught as a second language in all Malaysian primary and secondary schools. The mastery of English is essential for pupils to gain access to information and knowledge written in English. In line with the government’s policy on strengthening English, the curriculum has been designed to produce pupils who will be proficient in the language.

The goal of the English language curriculum is to help pupils acquire the language in order to help them use it in their daily lives, to further their studies, and for work purposes.

This curriculum stresses the development of critical literacy. Teachers will provide opportunities for pupils to question and evaluate texts that they listen to, read or view. These opportunities are essential for achieving personal growth and confidence in functioning as an effective and productive member of our society. This is in line with the goals of the National Philosophy of Education which seeks to optimize the intellectual, emotional and spiritual potential of pupils.

The English Language Curriculum for Primary Schools aims to equip pupils with basic language skills to enable them to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts that is appropriate to the pupils’ level of development.

In the language arts module, pupils are trained to show appreciation of and demonstrate understanding of texts read, sing songs, recite rhymes and poems as well as produce creative works for enjoyment.

 

Sharing is caring =)

Hi Friends,
Well, this is just some info to share with you. 

CONTENT AND ORGANIZATION OF A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Proposals should follow a simple, logical form of presentations. Although there are many ways to arrange the items within the proposal, the following outline of the proposal is the one that students shall follow:-

Organization of a Proposal

a)      Introduction: Background of the study

b)      The Problem and its setting

·         The Statement of the problem

·         The sub-problems

·         The Objectives

·         The Hypothesis

·         The Delimitation

·         The Definition of terms

·         The Assumptions

c)       The Review of the related literature / Literature Review

d)      The Methodology

·         The Data to be collected

                                     i.            Primary Data

                                    ii.            Secondary Data

·         The Criteria governing the admissibility of the data

·         The Treatment of the data

                                      i.            The Data needed

                                      ii.            Where the data are located

                                      iii.           How the data will be obtained

                                      iv.           How the data will be treated and interpreted

                                      v.            Specific tools and analysis that can be used

e)      The Important of the study

f)       The Outline of the proposed study

g)      The Selected Bibliography
 

Third class (reflection)

In our class today, we've learnt about Literature Review. Shauqi has presented the topic very well. With some addition and discussion with Dr. Teoh, we have started to have clearer views upon this topic. 

What is Literature Review??

• reviewing the sources of written materials of the last study done before to gather information
• review related studies to determine the extent of the research problem
• describe past and current information and research

By having LR you can 

• create a justification on the important of the research you conducted and why it should be conducted
• expand the knowledge and the finding from other related research
• you can describe the problem which you focus in the research 
• you can compare the finding from past research and can made argumentation on that as well as provided recommendations

Basically theses are the steps in conducting Literature Review

1. find the focus of research
• define the research question and key terms for the research
• write the research statement / problem statement
2. find the sources of the research
• search for the past research related to our research
• articles
• journals
• thesis
• dissertation
3. read and evaluate
• read the sources found
• take all related finding from the sources 
• gather all information related to our research
4. organized
• write the LR

..and these are what we need to take into consideration

•  LR is not a summary of articles or journal but combination of information gather from various sources which related to the research conducted. 
• In conducting LR, for me the most important thing is to read and understand what we are reading. By understand what we read, we can evaluate the information and make connection with each other and we can organized is well according to the format.
• To derived the best LR only reading and reading and reading with sense and know how to evaluate the information.