DIPLOMA IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
(D.El.Ed.)
Course-503
Learning Languages at Elementary Level
Block -3 Language Learning in the Classroom
BLOCK INTRODUCTION
In Unit-7 & 8, we will learn about linguistic
appreciation of literature and see what is that element about language
acquisition that creates creativity within children and how it is created.
Along with this, we will also explore the role of poems, stories, dramas etc in
language learning.
Unit 9 is concerned with teaching aids we can use in
language teaching classes and how we can plan for various activities to make
language teaching methods effective. It is clear that unless the class gets
interesting and the teaching aids are thought provoking and creative, children
will never find the class interesting and hence the language learning will also
not take place. Unit 10 is about assessment and evaluation. We will examine the
conventional traditional assessment system and see how we can modernise the
system such that the learning assessment can be measured and graded.
CONTENTS
Sr. No. Unit Name Page
No.
1. Unit
7: Literature and Language 1
2. Unit
8: Language Teaching Methods in Classroom Settings 22
3. Unit
9: Educational Materials : Some New Dimensions 51
4. Unit
10: Assessment 69
UNIT-7 LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE STRUCTURE
7.0 Introduction
7.1 Learning
Objectives
7.2 Literary
Devices
7.3 Role
of literature in language teaching
7.3.1 What is literature?
7.3.2 Forms of literature
7.3.3 Use of
literature in language teaching: historical perspective
7.4 Objectives
of literature teaching
7.4.1 Types of classroom
7.4.2 First language and second language (or
foreign language) classroom
7.4.3 Development of various skills through
literature
7.5 Various
forms of literature
7.5.1 Basis for including forms in primary and
upper primary classes
7.5.2 How to use literary forms in classroom?
7.5.3 Facing problems in the classroom
7.6 Let Us
Sum Up
7.7 Suggested
Readings and References
7.8 Unit-End
Exercises
7.1 INTRODUCTION
In this unit, we will examine the role played by
literature in language learning. In most schools, literature is not treated as
a separate subject in the elementary classes. It is included in the language
(be it Hindi, English, Sanskrit or any other) syllabus. Although stories,
poetry, essays can be found in nearly all textbooks, there has been little
dialogue around why they are necessary and how they may play an important role
in the acquisition of language. Some of the questions we would discuss in this
unit include: What is literature, what is children’s literature, how to use it
in the classroom and what objectives it would fulfill?
7.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit:
•
You will be
introduced to various forms and kinds of literature
•
You will be able to
analyse the role of literature in the acquisition of language.
•
You will be able to
present your point of view on the conditions for the selection of literature in
primary and upper primary classes.
•
You will be able to
recognise the problems which are encountered in literature teaching.
•
You will be able to
clarify the role of teacher in literature teaching.
7.2 LITERARY DEVICES
The language of literature is different from normal
spoken language because it includes various kinds of literary and aesthetic /
artistic devices such as simile, metaphor, analogy, alliteration, assonance,
consonance, rhyme, rhythm, parallelism, synonymy etc. We will discuss some of
these literary devices below:
1)
Simile: Simile means to compare the characteristics of two
things on the basis of some unique quality. Simile has four elements: X and Y
which are compared with each other; a quality on the basis of which the
comparison is made say Z and finally an element that will establish the
relationship among X, Y and Z. For example, in “her face is as pretty as moon”,
‘her face’ is X and ‘moon’ is Y; the quality Z is ‘pretty’ and the connecting
element is ‘as’.
2)
Metaphor: The essential feature of a metaphor is that unlike
objects are identified with each other; in the process, some unique similarity
between them is underscored. For example, consider ‘a’ and ‘b’ below:
i.
Camels are found in
the deserts.
ii.
The camel is the
ship of the desert.
No metaphor is seen in ‘a’ but in ‘b’ we have a
metaphor. When you look at or think of a camel, normally there is nothing that
would bring a ‘ship’ to your mind. But here ‘the camel’ is called ‘the ship’; a
bit odd but it does make you think that a camel plays the same role in a desert
as does a ship in the sea.
Some metaphors become ‘dead’ with the passage of time.
They become a part of our day today language and lose their metaphorical
impact. For example, ‘to take steps, to take stock’, or ‘it’s raining cats and
dogs’ etc
There are also mixed metaphors having confusing images
such as ‘I smell a rat’.
3)
Alliteration: Alliteration refers to the repetition of the same
consonant or vowel sound in a line of a poem or a prose piece. An easily
understood example is ‘She sells seashells by the seashore.’
If it is the repetition of the
same consonantal sound, it is called Consonance as in ‘whose woods these are I
think I know’ Or say in Hindi: जोगी जंगल जाता जाते जग से जाता रहा৷
Assonance refers to the repetition of vocalic sounds. For
example, the sound ‘ai’ in‘try to light the fire’. In the following sentence by
Frost: ‘His house is in the village though’, the words his, is, in and village
are examples of assonance.
4)
Irony: Irony suggests the implication of Y when X is being
said; very often it is used to indirectly hurt another person or to make fun of
him/ her. For example, you may address your driver (whom you normally address
as ‘you’) as ‘Sir or Mr.’ when he has made a grave error. Irony occurs when the
speaker means something very different from what she/ he actually says.
5)
Allusion: Sometimes while speaking or writing you refer to
someone/ something obliquely to suggest or emphasise a specific quality. You
might say for example, ‘Amit is as strong as Sardar Patel’; this is an allusion
to Sardar Patel being a strong leader.
6)
Hyberbole: Sometimes poets and writers wish to exaggerate a
specific feature or an event. Hyperbole refers to that exaggeration. Your might
say, ‘ That saint is as old as the hills.’
7)
Rhyme: When similar or identical sounds are repeated in
different lines, they are said to rhyme with each other. Consider the following
lines from Shakespeare:
Shall
I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou
art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough
winds do shake the darling buds of May.
And
summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
(Excerpt from Shakespeare’s
“Sonnet XVIII”)
Notice that ‘day’ rhymes with
‘May’ and ‘temperate’ with ‘date’; so the rhyme scheme is ‘ab...ab’ i.e. the
third line rhymes with the first and the second with the fourth.
8)
Personification: Poets and writers often represent nature and animals
as human beings to give some special effects. A poet might say ‘The wind stood
up and asked me…’ etc. The wind here is personified as a strong human being.
9)
Symbols: We talk of a symbol when X stands for Y. For example,
a ‘dove’ may stand for ‘peace’; an ‘apple’ in the case of the Adam and Eve for
‘evil’.
We hope as you now read poems and stories you will be
able to identify some of these literary devices and examine their impact on the
reader.
Check Your Progress-1
1. What is the difference between symbol, simile and
metaphor?
2. Decide which one of the following are similes, which
are metaphors and which are allusions:
a. My love is like a red, red rose.
b. Her smile is as beautiful as Mona Lisa’s.
c. Life is a struggle.
d. He won the first two games but the third proved to be
his Waterloo.
e. Their mother is a pillar of strength.
f.
She is as
immovable as a pillar.
g. She was good in mathematics but language was her
Achilles heel.
3. Find out some examples of personification from the
poems you have read.
4. Work out the rhyming scheme of an English/ Hindi poem you
have read.
5. Strong and String demonstrate consonance. Blank and
think also do so. Write down three more examples.
6. ‘Lake’ and ‘fate’ demonstrate assonance. Think of more
such pairs of words.
7. Pick the correct option: ‘Do you like blue’ is an
example of assonance, dissonance or alliteration.
7.3 ROLE OF LITERATURE IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
7.3.1 WHAT IS LITERATURE?
The generally known meaning of literature includes the
expression of meaning using words but the combination of words and meanings is
also found in the content of subjects like history, geography, science etc.
This means that every subject has its own literature which describes in detail
as to what the subject is all about. For example, cooking has its own
literature which describes in detail the steps involved in cooking a particular
dish. In other words we can say that literature includes in it complete and
detailed information about a particular subject.
We need to pay attention to the fact that the language
of literature is different and distinct in comparison to other writings. In
this the relation between word and meaning is not straight and simple; it is
artistic. Literature of any language is a mirror of that time as well as
society. It presents both a realistic and a symbolic picture. It encodes in
aesthetic terms the feelings and compassion of the people living in a
particular time and space. It is also often an expression of universal human
values. Thus any piece of literature, poetry, novel, drama etc., should have
social, aesthetic and universal dimensions. The social aspects are reflected in
capturing the nuances of local life in terms of its rituals and festivals etc;
the aesthetic dimension rests in the emotions it evokes among the readers and
in the selection of sounds, words and structures used in the composition. The
universal dimension is reflected in capturing those values of truth and beauty
that stay with human beings all the time.
In this way all the types of literature can be
classified in three parts on the basis of their objectives:
i.
Informative
literature: This category includes reference books like encyclopedia,
dictionary, thesaurus, pronunciation dictionaries, other reference text etc.
which provide us information about things we may not know. They are extremely
useful but these do not constitute literature in the true sense of the word
since both the aesthetic and universal dimensions are missing from such texts.
ii.
Critical literature:
In this category, a particular subject is clarified in a logical manner and it
often uses the cause and effect nature of things. These compositions try to
encourage the reader to find out more. For example, books of philosophy,
science and mathematics.
These
two types of literature can also be called non-aesthetic literature. In these
the emphasis is on gathering information, remembering facts and finding solutions
for a problem. It is the third category which we may call true literature.
iii.
Creative or
imaginative literature: Under this category, one would include poetry, drama,
novels, epics, short stories etc i.e. works that instill in us a desire to read
them with a sense of joy and engagement. They give their readers a chance to
experience the same feelings as the characters depicted in them. It encourages
the development of humanity and creative ability in the readers.
In this unit, we will discuss the use and contribution
of the different kinds of literature in learning language. As a language
teacher, whether teaching a first language or second, textbooks are often the
major sources of literature.
Due to lack of time and resources, schools can provide
only limited exposure beyond the textbook. Therefore a teacher requires some
basis for selecting suitable literature, apart from the textbooks, for her
students. Some broad guidelines while choosing literature are:
• There should be written text of suitable length where
language is used carefully. It may also be rich in metaphors, idioms,
innovative use of language etc.
• The text may take any one of the following forms of
literature: prose, poetry, drama, novel etc.
• It should provide both enjoyment and an aesthetic
experience to the students.
These criteria need not be followed rigidly. They are
only meant to help a teacher in determining whether a text qualifies as
literature. But even if while we know all the qualities of good literature, we
also need to decide what will be suitable in our classrooms. The age of the
children in our class is a major consideration. We will use the term children’s
literature to refer to any text suitable for children.
In many examples of children’s literature, the focal
character (or the hero) tends to be a child. In fairy tales such as Little Red
Riding Hood or novels such as Kidnapped and Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson,
a young child is the centre. But we cannot choose a story simply because the
main protagonist is a child. In-fact there are examples of stories where the
idea is quite complex even though the ‘hero’ of the story is a child The
thoughts that are present in ‘Idgah’ by Prem Chand, ‘Chota jadugar’ by
Jaishankar Prasad, ‘khel by Jainendra etc.- can be quite difficult for the
children to understand. The language and ideas too need to be of a level that
is easily accessible to a child.
In this unit we are focusing on the role of literature
in language teaching. However, other print material, such as advertisements,
cartoons etc. can also prove useful although it is not literature.
Check Your Progress-2
1) Differentiate between aesthetic literature and
non-aesthetic literature.
2) According to the discussion till now, how would you
define children’s literature? Would you describe it as any written material
available for children in the age group of 6-14?
3) Are all stories about children, children’s literature?
Give examples to support your answer.
4) Think and decide whether the following are examples of
literature:
a. Newspaper advertisement b. Dictionary c. Recipe
for a cake d. Poem
7.3.2 FORMS OF LITERATURE
In classrooms, various forms of literature such as
poetry, stories, plays, autobiography, biography, novel, essays, are used as
text material to sensitise children to social, cultural and aesthetic aspects
of life. There is no doubt that exposure to different varieties of literature
enhances the proficiency levels of children also.
Play: A
play is an enacting of various events, sometimes relating to great men. The
task of the playwright is particularly difficult. She/ he has to step into the
shoes of many characters and make them look authentic so that the readers or
viewers can identify themselves with all the different characters. All plays
have a beginning, a middle and an end. They could either be tragedies or
comedies or tragic-comedies and could be written either in poetry or prose or
both. The greatest plays of Shakespeare, such as Hamlet and King Lear, for
example are largely poetic. The ultimate test of a great play is its
performance on the stage, a test which does not apply to a novel, a short story
or a poem. The artists who enact different roles in a play before us are called
actors. The real success of play lies on its stage performance. Plays unfold
their stories through dialogues among different characters; sometimes, a
character may talk to himself/ herself in a soliloquy.
One Act Play: In
this form, the entire action of the play takes place at one place and time.
They are short and build towards an intense climax. These are especially useful
for a teacher as they can be easily staged, are shorter than full length plays
and do not require many sets. Children can be asked to write and enact them as
an exercise.
Novel: A
novel is generally a long story with many characters in it. It may often be a
realistic picture of the place and time in which it is written. Some of the
greatest English novelists include Fielding, Dickens, Hardy, Meredith and
Joyce. These writers present the picture of human life in a manner that engages
the attention of the readers so intensely that the length of the novel is no
longer a deterrent to reading.
Story:
Short story is perhaps one of most popular forms of literature and most
frequently used in school textbooks. It consists of a single narration which
can be read in a single sitting and can influence the reader on one aspect. All
those things which do not directly contribute to the central event or character
of the story are left out. We will soon note that the short story can be used
for very constructive pedagogical inputs. Some of the great names in short
story writing include: Somerset Maugham, Anton Chekov, Saki, Edgar Allen Poe, R
K Narayan, K B Vaid among others. The stories of Ruskin Bond are very popular
among younger children. ‘The last leaf’ and ‘The gift of the Magi’ by O. Henry
are also quite well known.
Essay:
Essay is that form of prose where thoughts are presented in a logical and
coherent order. For essay writing reading and knowledge of subject matter is
necessary. It is said that an essay must be characterised by brevity, neatness
and suitable examples. You will perhaps read essays of Charles Lamb, Addison, R
K Narayan, Nehru, Gandhi, Ruskin Bond among others in various books. You will
certainly enjoy reading them and get new ideas from them.
Autobiography:
When any person writes down events from his/ her life it is called an
autobiography. The protagonist of the autobiography is the writer himself. He
gives an account of his own past life and highlights his/ her struggles and
moments of joy and pain. One of the most famous autobiographies is Gandhi’s My
Experiments with Truth.
Biography:
The writer of a biography writes about some other person. Boswell’s biography
of the first ever dictionary maker Dr Johnson is considered to be a landmark in
this form of literature.
Travelogue:
When a writer writes about the incidents seen during his travels, it is called
travel account or travel literature. He describes the places, scenes, incidents
and his experiences during the travels and narrative is coherently tied
together. The travel books written by the great Hindi writer Ageya are very
famous and are known for their sensitivity to people and nature.
Outline/Sketch:
When an author writes about a person, thing, place, incident, scene, etc. in
such a way that the reader gets a graphic picture of the person or object, we
refer to the piece as a sketch. Such sketches are generally expected to be
objective.
Memoir:
When a writer describes an incident or a scene which had occurred in his life
or any other person’s life, it is called a memoir. Memoir is written in the
basis of memory. In order to write a memoir it is necessary for the writer to
have been personally associated with the person or the incident that has been
described in it. Memoir has to be of the past, it cannot be of present or future.
The writer is not supposed to add anything in it from his own creativity and
thinking.
Poem:
Poetry in many ways is considered to be the essence of all literature; it is
also perhaps the earliest form of literature. Greatest epics of all societies are
poetic. Be it the Greek Odyssey or Iliad or the ancient Indian Mahabharta or
Ramayana, they are all essentially stories in poetry. Then there are of course
great names like Kalidasa, Bhatt, Shakespeare, Donne, Shelley, Keats, Byron,
Wordsworth, Eliot, Yeats among so many others who you may be familiar with. A
poem is always lyrical and intangible and it uses similes, metaphors and
personifications a lot. As opposed to a novel or even a story or a essay, a
poem tries to pack a lot of thought and emotion in a few words. It leaves many
things open for discussion and is open to a multiplicity of interpretations.
Poems may be written to well-established metrical schemes or in free verse. Of
all the forms of literature, poetry is the most difficult to translate.
The objective of introducing these types of literature
is that it would help in choosing the teaching material which could be used by
us to teach students language in the classroom. It is noteworthy here that we
should not expect the children to learn the goals of these various forms of
literature rather it should be tried that they should be exposed to the
different forms of literature and acquire the ability to appreciate them
critically. They should also become sensitive not only to the content and ideas
contained in them but also to the specific kinds of vocabulary, idiom, phrases
and sentence patterns used in each one of them.
Check Your Progress-3
1.
Prose does not
include-
(a) Play (b) novel (c) poem (d) story
2. What is the difference between autobiography and
biography?
3. What are the attributes of a poem?
4. Write down the names of some famous short story
writers.
5. Write a few lines of your favourite poem. Who is the
author? What do these lines mean?
6. Name some of the most famous short story writer. Is
there a film you like? Who wrote its story?
7.3.3 USE OF LITERATURE IN LANGUAGE TEACHING: HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Till before the 4th decade of 20th century literature
was used as the main mode of teaching language. And it was understood that to
learn a foreign language it is important to have in depth study of its
literature. But during the decades 1940 to 1960 the use of literature in
foreign language teaching was not given due importance because it was replaced
by the lessons based on need based model. During that period literature was
mainly looked down upon and associated with the interests of the lower castes
and that is why literature was considered as an unimportant mode of language
teaching. Traditionally, the basis of language teaching has been grammar
teaching; later translation was added to it. The text material (study material)
does not always follow the rules of grammar and it is difficult to select a
text which has both the cognitive level and language ability. The grammar
translation method which was based on rote-learning noun and verb paradigms and
translating texts from the target language to L 1 and vice versa was very
popular for a long time and is actually still widely used. It was the decade of
1970-80 that gave birth to the method of cognitive language teaching which
assumed that children come to school with innate language and cognitive
abilities and the task of the teacher was largely to help them grow through
exposure to interesting and challenging texts. It was because of this that the
use of literature was again given some place in language teaching.
According to Widdowson the knowledge of
language-science is at two levels, level of use and level of usage. According
to this ‘use’ includes the rules of knowledge while ‘usage’ gives the
information of how to use these rule in further communication. Today’s maximum
literature text material gives us a base for the use of language. Pove’s (1972;
18) argument is “literature would increase all the skills of language because
literature increases language-science related knowledge.”
In this way till the end of 20th century literature
again got established as an important source of various language skills
development. A proof of this is that in the recent times children are taught
not through rote learning of various letters of the alphabet rather they are
taught through related material like stories, poems etc.
Check Your Progress-4
1. Traditionally the base of language teaching was:
(a) Meaning teaching (b) Sentence
teaching (c) Grammar teaching (d)
Sound teaching
2. Throw some light on the usage of literature in
language teaching in the end of 20th century?
3. What are the basic principles of Grammar-Translation
method of language teaching?
7.4 OBJECTIVES OF LITERATURE TEACHING
A number of different forms are being adopted in a
literature class. The objective of literature teaching and first language and
second language teaching depends on the attitude or performance in the
classroom.
1) Language format: In this kind of format, literature is primarily used for language
development in which word storage and sentence formation are the focus. The
main limitation of this is that the interest in literature is lost. In fact,
most of the time, children end up learning neither grammar and/ or vocabulary
nor do they develop any interest in literature.
2) Literary format: The focus in the literature dominant class is on the content and
abstract ideas. The main objective becomes the familiarity with specific
cultures and universal human values. It is obvious that in such a class except
for automatic language enrichment which may, in fact, be considerable, there
may be very little focus on grammatical form, usage, meter and sentence
structure. In the case of L 1, this may not matter so much but in the case of L
2 it may prove to be serious handicap.
3) Personality development format: The primary focus in this kind of format is on
individual and collective sensitivity and the growth of children’s minds
through the study of literature. This is done with the hope that children studying literature in this kind of format would turn out
to be better human beings and would become role models in all walks of life.
7.4.1 TYPES OF CLASSROOM
We have discussed the objectives and model of literature
teaching. But what should be the method of including it in classroom? Have you
ever thought. What are the various methods of teaching language in a classroom?
And what type of language children use in their homes? Can you tell how these
two differ? This part tries to answer such questions. Krashen, as already
pointed out in earlier units, makes a distinction between acquisition and
learning; acquisition refers to learning languages in natural settings of home
and street; learning refers to learning in more formal settings of school.
In natural settings, children automatically acquire
the rules of his/her language because there is considerable exposure and
because (s)he receives all the care and affection that makes language learning
possible. Yet, without an innate faculty for language, it would be impossible
to acquire structures as complex as those of language. We need to activate this
language faculty optimally in school. Fortunately, literature is a very
powerful means of just achieving that. As in the case of natural settings,
literature helps children to focus their attention on meaning rather than form.
Once meaning is internalised the formal aspects of grammar and vocabulary also
tend to get internalised on their own. Yet teaching of explicit rules of
grammar and practice in using new words is an important part of an L 2 class.
As a teacher you know in elementary or primary classes
a child has full command over first language in comparison to second language.
The aim of second language teacher should be to put pressure on the usage of
second language instead of explaining rules. The classroom should be organised
in such a way that natural learning is preferred to forced learning. The
students should be able to connect themselves with the language used in the
real world.
What does a typical L 2 classroom look like? It is
very different from the natural settings of home and street. Many second and
foreign language teachers believe in grammar translation method. These teachers
make a list of words and by giving some examples explain the rules of grammar.
After that a specimen is given for example which explains the rules in which
glossary of words is given and in the end there are certain questions for
practice. This is a tutored classroom setting, very unlike natural settings
where such things are never done.
In contrast to it, in classrooms close to natural
settings, children are provided tension free atmosphere and proper intelligent
input. Children are not checked for their mistakes. Children are made capable
of using the material outside the classroom which is related with the real day
to day world so that they may be able to learn to speak and communicate
successfully with the target language speakers.
Check Your Progress-5
1)
A child learns
her first languages before coming to school in: (tick one)
(a)
Tutored setting
(b)
Natural setting
(c)
Teaching by
parents
(d)
None of these
2)
What should be
the objective of second language teachers?
3)
What is the
difference between natural and tutored settings in terms of language learning?
4)
What is grammar
translation method?
7.4.2 FIRST LANGUAGE AND SECOND LANGUAGE (OR FOREIGN
LANGUAGE) CLASSROOM
You must have understood the difference between
language used in a classroom and a home. These differences can be seen through
limits of the exposure and in the form of input. What sort of material should
be provided in classroom so that the children could easily develop
understanding of second language like their mother tongue?
Literature could be used to teach any language, it may be first language,
second language or any other language. The selected literature should be in
easy words simple sentences and word
formation should be such which could be easily understood. Selected study
material should be interesting. Grammar should be taught only to a limited
extent where it is really needed. Learner needs a lot of material to improve.
Literature is its good source. The teachers need to understand the capabilities
of students and provide good and above average material so that the learner may
accept the challenge. It is thus very important for the teacher to estimate the
cognitive level of children and procure material that would interest them and
would prove challenging for their mental abilities. The more they struggle with
language, more they will learn.
In most states English is taught from class 1. The
teacher should pay attention in selecting and communicating study material as
it is difficult for first language speaker to use literature of other
languages. Analysis of study material should be minimum and children should be
motivated to find and search things independently.
Attention must be paid to following points while using
literature:
1)
Not complete but
partial understanding of study material is required.
2)
Reaction- the
children should give their reaction on study material. It could be in the form
of comment. It may not be exact repetition but their individual comment.
3)
Opportunities may be
provided for creativity.
4)
In analysis, the
focus should not be on repetition or on errors but on encouraging children to
react to what they have read. They must be encouraged to seek logical
relationship among events and appreciate the ideas and emotions expressed in a
piece of literature.
7.4.3 DEVELOPMENT OF VARIOUS SKILLS THROUGH LITERATURE
We have so far discussed how literature is used in
classrooms. The learner learns the appropriate use of language through
references which occur in stories and poems but we can see other merits of
exposure to literature. Interesting and engrossing stories help in developing
the art of concentration in the reader. After reading the literary material a
student can enrich his/her imagination and develop individuality and
independence. (S)he can also develop the art of comprehending the meaning of
unknown words. (S)he learns to control his/her thought process through the use
of literature and develops the power to make positive contribution to society.
According to Scott, literature is the mirror of beauty, morality and spiritual
values and also manifests the rules of social order and culture. While learning
language through literature, opportunities of personality development are
provided by cultural references. Therefore student may be introduced to
cultural life and given opportunities to participate in it.
According to Widdowson literature should not be used
only for language dealing or activity or to understand cultural subjects but
for communication skills. Literary material is not only helpful in increasing
studying skills but also in developing listening reading and writing skills.
In fact through analysis and use of literature it is
possible to understand the events related to actual world happenings and
experiences. It helps us in feeling our personal and social problems. According
to their emotional capacity it helps the readers to progress culturally and
literally.
Check Your Progress-6
1. Interesting stories help in developing:
(a) Concentration (b) Guessing skills (c) Imagination (d) All of the above
2. What are the benefits of providing children literature
exposure?
7.5 TEACHING OF DIFFERENT FORMS
As a language teacher, you have to deal with various
literary texts such as stories, poems, essays etc. Which form do you enjoy
teaching the most? While most children will be interested in reading a story,
how do you generate enthusiasm for reading poetry? How do you explain the
relevance of an essay? What strategies and teaching aids can you use to
increase interaction with the text? Most of these aspects are introduced here
and will be covered in more detail in the unit on lesson planning.
7.5.1 BASIS FOR INCLUDING FORMS IN PRIMARY AND UPPER
PRIMARY CLASSES
Stories, folk stories, mythology, fables and legends,
along with rhymes included in primary class textbooks. In upper primary
classes, these are used along with novels, plays, sketches, memoirs, biography,
autobiography etc.
There are several advantages of using short stories
with children. They are simple and usually the text that needs to be read is
short - its brevity motivates children to read. They are also challenging
because the entire plot is summarised in a few pages. These factors help in
retaining the interest of the reader.
In the early grades, it is easy to arouse interest in
students through simple rhymes. In the higher grades, they can be used to
develop sensitivity for words and rhythm. Poetry often uses metaphors,
alliterations, similes etc. more naturally than prose and children can be
introduced to these topics through poetry. It can be used to develop creative
language skills.
Use of drama helps heighten listening skills in
students. Plays can employ difficult grammatical structures and they help
students understand the relevance of context in understanding literature. While
reading, students have to be helped in visualising the scenery and how a
character says a certain line which builds a sense of participation; this
stimulates and heightens their imagination. Through plays, students can
discover what is meant by being human. They stir the imagination, and spurs
insight, reflection, and self-knowledge.
In recent years, research on socialisation with
literature has pointed out that reading literature increases reading efficiency
and competences. This is because it provides a motivation for reading and we
know that we can become better readers only by reading more and more. Children
should be given literature which they enjoy reading, that challenges their
imagination, and makes them sensitive and perceptive to nuances of different
cultures.
Since in the elementary classes, literature refers
mainly to novels, stories, poetry, rhymes, folk tales, the focus should be on
books that can be easily understood by the students. Teachers should help
students acquire skills for creative reading and also reading in their subjects
and disciplines. The objective of the curriculum and syllabus should be to
introduce children to various forms of literature and examples of them to
develop a positive attitude towards studies and increase the practice of
reading.
Literature can contribute to the development of both
basic language skills (reading writing listening and speaking) as well as
language areas (vocabulary and grammar). To understand how the level of text
progresses according to expected skills and the level of students, we can look
at Hindi and English textbooks of NCERT. The class 1 Hindi textbook starts with
simple rhymes and stories are introduced at the very end when it is assumed
that the child has developed enough concentration to follow a story over a
couple of days. The class 5 book on the other hand, has examples of different
types of prose (stories, essays, interview), poetry and drama. Stories such as
Idgaah by Premchand serve to develop sensitivity in the child. Analysing
textbooks would help you in selecting literature for your classrooms.
In upper primary classes, children are between
childhood and adulthood. In this stage, both stories and poems that evoke
nostalgia about childhood as well as those that encourage them to explore their
possible future are relevant. Plays provide them an outlet for expression and
also make the students capable of understanding those issues and feelings which
they were not able to comprehend some years earlier. We should select such
literature for teaching language that reflects the difference between childhood
and adolescence.
7.5.2 HOW TO USE LITERARY FORMS IN CLASSROOM?
In this topic we would discuss in detail how to use
the various types of literature forms - stories, poems, novel, one act plays -
given in textbooks and syllabus for teaching language in the classrooms.
Using extracts from stories or short stories: Almost all textbooks have short stories. You can also
choose an extract from a suitable story and carry out the following activities:
If the text is an extract from a longer story, you can
tell children to write what will happen after that or would have happened
before.
You can tell students to describe the personality of
any particular character.
Students can be asked to improvise a role play between
two characters in the book.
Teachers can tell stories in the class and stop the
narration at any particular point, to ask the students questions. The nature of
the question can be different for different grades. Students can be asked to
react to questions such as: what do they think is happening? What images are
forming in their minds, what are their feelings about different characters?
What are the questions in their mind about the story? In primary classes,
children can answer verbally whereas the children of higher classes can record
their response in book journals. Folk tales such as Akbar-Birbal, Allah-Udal,
Gonu Jha, Tenali Ram, etc can be selected for such activities because the
children can predict their plots more easily.
Use of Poetry: You
can recite a poem or ask the students to recite it with proper intonation and
expression. You can also do the following:-Students can be asked to write the
story hidden in the poem. For whom is this poem? Why this poem was written?
Students can discuss topics described in the poem and
how these topics are associated with their lives? They can contribute their
thoughts on it.
Students can be asked to re-write the poem without
changing its structure by changing the meaning only.
More advanced students can also be asked to describe
the various features of the poem and what makes them pleasant to hear. They
discuss the rhyme patterns in the poem.
Use of plays: You
can decide on what type of plays should be used in your class - Some people
give importance to contemporary plays of Arthur Miller, Saki, etc as the
context and language can be more easily understood. Others favor classics like
the plays of Shakespeare or Bhartendu’s ‘Andher Nagari’, Ram Kumar Varma’s
‘Ashoka Shastra Tyag’ which are the famous Hindi plays. However, it is
indisputable that those plays that heighten the senses and expect emotional
involvement from the students can prove more useful.
Students can be asked to stage their own plays and
bring material for it. They can use materials like newspaper cuttings, written
matter, pictures, or any other material which they feel can be useful for the
play. This exercise will help them communicate in a better way and develop in
them capability of exchanging their views about the world in which they live.
7.5.3 PROBLEMS
FACED IN THE LITERATURE CLASSROOM
If literary materials are not chosen in a proper way
and do not match the linguistic and cognitive levels of children, serious
problems may arise. If children do not understand the basic meaning of the text
they are studying because of vocabulary or grammar, they are likely to lose
interest soon and the whole exercise may prove fruitless. If the students are
to study in such a language which they understand with great difficulty, it
will be meaningless to expect from them that they can discuss content and form
of language.
Different language teachers have to face different
problems. Teachers have to handle children from a vast diversity of backgrounds
and with a varying level of proficiency and attention spans. They also need to
understand that the use of literature in teaching a first language would be
significantly different from the use of literature in an L2 situation. The
level of literary texts will have to be significantly lower, particularly in
the primary classes, as compared to the literature used in the first language
classes. The proficiency level of teachers in the second language and their familiarity
with the literature of the target language are also important parameters. It
should be obvious that for language teaching to be a successful enterprise, we
need intensive teacher training programmes.
Check Your Progress-7
1) Which skill increase by studying literature:
a. Reading b.
Writing c. Speaking d. Listening
2) What values are inculcated in children by teaching
them language through play in the classroom?
3) Classify the literary forms used in primary and upper
primary textbooks and also list which forms of literature are not used in them?
4) What is the base of selecting literary forms in
primary classes?
7.6 LET US SUM UP
•
Literature subsumes
all kinds of writing but its essential component is creative and imaginative
writing; informative literature and advertisements are not real forms of
literature.
•
Literature is of two
types- creative literature and non-creative literature. The objective of
creative literature is to give pleasure, develop sympathy and sensitivity. In
it we study story, poems, essays, pictures composition etc whereas in
non-creative literature our main objective is to acquire information, remember
the facts and solve the problems like newspaper, dictionary, world dictionary,
science related literature, etc.
•
For language teaching
in place of literature other printed materials like advertisements, cartoons
etc can also be used.
•
On the basis of its
form, literature has mainly three categories- prose (story, novel,
autobiography, and travel account), poetry (poem, couplet, and quatrain) and
play.
•
In a language class
there are three formats of using literature- language format, literary format
and personality development format.
•
There are two ways
of learning a language- language acquisition and language learning. Languages
are acquired in natural setting without any formal teaching; they are learnt in
formal classroom settings. Literature helps us to bring a learning situation
close to an acquisition situation.
•
The literature which
is to be used in the language classroom should be appropriate and of interest
of the children.
•
By using literature
children develop the skill of creativity, comment on any text material, self
realisation, power of analysis and concentration. They also become imaginative
and socially and culturally sensitive.
•
Through children’s
literature children develop imagination, interest towards studies and power of
self expression.
•
Along with basic
language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) literature makes an
important contribution in other areas of language including expression,
creative writing, word-meanings and grammar.
Assignment
Establish a corner in your class for library and give
a detailed description of the text-material selected for it on the basis of-
number of books, knowledge, appropriateness etc.
7.7 SUGESSTED READINGS AND REFERENCES
•
Agnihotri, R. K.
(2007). Hindi: An Essential Grammar. London: Routledge.
•
Krashen, Stephen D.
1981. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. English Language
Teaching series. London: Prentice-Hall International (UK) Ltd..
•
Widdowson, H.G.
1990. Aspects of Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
•
Working Papers of
the Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1997, University of North Dakota Session
1997 Volume 41.1
•
ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/6082.pdf10Nov.2011
7.8 UNIT-END EXERCISES
1.
On the basis of
objectives what are the different types of literature?
2.
While using
literature what have been your experiences as a teacher?
3.
Would you expose
your students to original texts or just give them summaries? Give reasons.
4.
What type of
complementary material would you use to motivate students?
5.
How would you make
students practice all the four skills while using literature in the class?
6.
What do you mean by
an epic poem? Explain with example.
7.
How would you use
different forms of literature while teaching language? Explain by giving
example of a poem.
8.
While selecting
stories or poems for primary class students what kind of things would you would
consider?
9.
Discuss in short the
historical perspective of the use of literature in language teaching?
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