Literary Text in EFL Classroom

General Conclusion

Literature is considered as a complex field which makes it unapproachable to the EFL students who lack the sophisticated knowledge of the target language. Therefore, teaching literary texts in EFL classrooms is a challenging task. The challenges met in this case can be due to a variety of reasons. For example, the emblematic use of language in literary works differs from that of conventional standard language. In literature, lexicon and grammar are manipulated to have specific figurative features and to create particular effects. Linguistic limitations and the lack of analytical and critical thinking skills of the EFL student who are not equipped to overcome the complexity of understanding a text makes literature a controversial issue to tackle. Another reason is that students when reading literature find it difficult to get the text’s meanings that are totally different from the readers’ social context.

Therefore, literature should be given further attention since it can be used to broaden EFL learners’ understanding of other cultures, promote learners’ linguistic knowledge and generate an opportunity for personal expression. Carrying out an empirical investigation on teaching literature can be informative in this regard and it needs to consider the choice of literary texts, EFL learners and their cultural context, and the teacher.

Literature is one of the important components in the EFL curriculum at university. It is recently considered as an important tool to learn English. Teachers at university can use literature to create a number of activities that help their students to get an idea on how language works. Literary texts are regarded as a very useful authentic material. However, teaching literature...

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... make them aware of the link between linguistic analysis and literary criticism.

Stylistics gives both teachers and students a chance to know about how language works in a literary text. Being aware of the different grammatical structures and rhetorical expressions literature is rich in can improve students' interpretive abilities and critical thinking skills.

Applying a stylistic approach to teaching literature can be the best tool teachers may have recourse to to engage their learners in the classroom discussion and to motivate them to read and to appreciate literary works. In addition to other teaching approaches of literature that can be used in EFL classes, stylistics is regarded as a valuable source to know about the target language and to understand the way literary language works: it may be a golden opportunity for the students to start creative writing.