1. Approaches to
Using Literature
with The Language
Learner

2. Approaches Used
A language-
based
Literature as
content
Literature for
personal
enrichment

3. A language – based
ApproachStudying the language of the literary text will help to
integrate the language and literature syllabuses more
closely. Detailed analysis of the language of the
literary text will help students to make meaningful
interpretations or informed evaluations of it. At the
same time, students will increase their general
awareness and understanding of English. Students are
encouraged to draw on their knowledge of familiar
grammatical, lexical or discoursal categories to make
aesthetic judgements of the text.
Methodological Assumption
Selection and Organisational of material
Material is chosen for the way it illustrates
certain stylistic features of the language but
also for its literary merit

4. A language – based
ApproachGoals How to use literature for language
practice
Literary
texts
Resources
Provides
stimulating
language
activities

5. A language – based
ApproachOffer a wide
range of
styles
&registers
Multiple
interpretation
Excellent
opportunity
for classroom
discussion
Focus on
genuinely
interesting &
motivating topics
to explore
A
D
V
A
N
T
A
G
E
S

6. A language – based
Approacha language-based approach to using literature
includes techniques and procedures which are
concerned more directly with the study of the literary
text itself. The aim here is to provide the students with
the tools they need to interpret a text and to make
competent critical judgements of it. Here the method
of stylistics or stylistic analysis is frequently adopted.
Stylistics involves the close study of the linguistic
features of a text in order to arrive at an
understanding of how the meanings of the text are
transmitted

7. Stylistics in the
classroomfocus on a method which can guide students towards a
more sensitive understanding and appreciation of the
literary text itself
two main objectives:
• firstly, to enable students to make meaningful
interpretations of the text itself;
• secondly, to expand students’ knowledge and
awareness of the language in general.

8. For the language learner, stylistics has the advantage of
illustrating how particular linguistic forms function to
convey specific messages. It uses terminology and a set
of procedures reasonably familiar to students (those of
grammatical description) to reach and justify literary
intuitions. In this way it not only helps students to use their
existing knowledge of the language to understand and
appreciate literary texts, it also deepens their knowledge
of the language itself. Stylistic analysis can also provide a
way of comparing different types of texts (whether
literary or non-literary) in order to ascertain how they fulfil
different social functions.
Stylistics in the
classroom

9. Analysing a text for classroom use
• Step 1
While looking at a particular
text, note down any linguistic
features which are particularly
noticeable. These features
may be noticeable because
they recur with unexpected
frequency in the text; because
they deviate slightly from what
might be considered more
grammatically or lexically
usual; or because, if these
features were paraphrased or
rewritten in a slightly different
way, a very different effect
would be created.
Step 2
Develop a series of questions
which alert students to these
features, and encourage
students to reach an
interpretation or appreciation
of the text bearing these
features in mind.