From https://www.modernenglishteacher.com/literature-at-length by Amos Paran
” . . . Many activities can be used to revise one chapter, a longer section or the whole book. The whole class can be given the same activity, or different groups can be asked to do different activities – this then makes it much more interesting when the groups present the products of their activities. Amongst the generic activities I use are writing a page in the diary of one of the characters; dramatising a section and acting it out; choosing favourite quotes (which I do as a pyramid activity – each learner in the group chooses three favourite quotes, which means that the group has a large number of quotes, which they then need to whittle down to three again); writing a summary of one or more chapters, and incorporating a mistake in it; writing definitions or descriptions of characters, places or important objects in the book, and presenting them as a quiz to the class. One activity I do with teacher trainees is asking them to create a summarising activity – with fantastic results in most cases (the illustration on page 5 is a summarising activity for a chapter in Haroun and the Sea of Stories, in the form of a board game). Other activities may be specific to the work you are teaching – for example, since Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time intends to go to university, I asked groups to create a guide for students with Asperger’s Syndrome going to university for the first time.”
There is a difference between ‘the study of literature’ and ‘the use of literature as a resource for language teaching’. https://www.modernenglishteacher.com/a-case-for-literature
Reading literature in the ESL classroom heightens “language awareness.” “Interpreting literary texts necessarily exposes students to creative uses of language. Students must actively engage with the language of these texts in order to establish a meaning. They must question word choice and the multiple meanings of some words; they will also question unusual patterns of syntax, figures of speech and the arrangement of phonological features. They may also question the register and what the meaning of imported registers has for the overall work of literature. Students will constantly question the linguistic arrangement of a literary text for clues that connect a particular pattern to the overall meaning of the text. This is far from a passive activity.
As students are led to question and probe the particular linguistic choices that go to make up the meaning of the text they become familiar with the flexible and evolving nature of language. This sort of language awareness also has the possibility of encouraging students to think critically and creatively with regards to their own language use. So an active engagement with literary texts opens students up to the possibility of what language is capable of doing and of what they themselves might be able to do with language. It also opens them up to an emerging cultural awareness.” https://www.modernenglishteacher.com/literature-with-a-small-l
A case for using literature in the ESL classroom. “Literature …
- … is highly motivating and encourages personal involvement. It provides a stimulating basis for genuine interaction.
- … provides vivid contexts for language acquisition and helps learners develop language awareness.
- … helps learners develop textawareness and enables them to become more confident – and more competent – readers.
- … provides a real-world reading experience in the classroom.
- … brings the reality of another culture – or other cultures – into the classroom.
- … shows ways in which language can be used creatively to express feelings.
Why not?
There are some potential difficulties, all of which can be overcome or at least avoided.
Getting students to respond. Simply asking for a response is rarely very productive. Tasks, such as modifying, extending or adding to a text, involve students creatively and are an effective means of indirectly eliciting response.
Selecting texts. Texts chosen as examples of ‘good’ literature or because they are the teacher’s personal favourites may not appeal to students. Texts that work are those that students connect with in some way, or those that ‘grab’ the reader.
Dealing with vocabulary. Literary texts, by definition, are ungraded, and too much unknown vocabulary can inhibit the pleasure of reading. But the coherent structure of literary texts can also favour guessing meaning from context. As with any text, you can work on essential vocabulary items before reading, and many student editions of literary texts give strong glossary support.
Exploiting the text for language content. Nothing is more likely to kill students’ enthusiasm for a text than exercises designed purely to practise language points. What is worth looking at, however, is the way the writer uses language to achieve particular effects. https://www.modernenglishteacher.com/english-teaching-essentials-literature
How
- Maximise pre-reading support. Students should be not only ready, but eager, to read. Use warm-up activities to introduce context, topic or theme, and prediction tasks as ‘tasters’ to draw students into the world of the text. Often, such pre-reading tasks will result in students mentally constructing their own parallel texts, which will act as powerful motivators when they read.
- Minimise the extent to which you disturb students’ reading. If you have invested plenty of time before they start, there should be little need to come between readers and text.
- Draw students’ attention to stylistic peculiarity. Tasks which help them to appreciate linguistic ‘special effects’ will sharpen their awareness of normal language use as well as the ways in which the writer departs from the norm.
- Provide frameworks for creative response. Give students opportunities to respond to what they read by inviting them to step into the writer’s shoes. By facing the same decisions the writer has made and experimenting with the paths the writer has not taken, students can discover for themselves how the text works.
And, finally …
Encourage students to read widely, whether the ‘literature’ has a small l or a capital L. The more literature they read – and enjoy – the more they will want to read.