Literature Through Language [Archives:2000/52/Culture]
Dr. P.A. Abraham
Faculty of Education,
Amran
The ultimate objective of teaching literature is the study of words, idioms and syntax at the highest level of thought and imagination. It is an exercise depicting as to how words and sentences are made and molded in order to communicate what the writer wants to say. I often wonder if there is something like pure literature teaching. Or if there is a person like pure English literature teacher. Or if there is a group of pure English literature students.
In other words, the end result of teaching English literature courses turns out to be a reinforcement of English language. The medium becomes the thing and all that is literary becomes secondary, airy and abstract! My experience of teaching English literature, both to undergraduate and post graduate classes in India and even in Yemen has revealed to me a progressive bluntness in leaning, imbibing and appreciating anything literary or aesthetic. How many of our literature students know the classical, Christian and the native strands of English literature? Do they follow the Western theory of art and aesthetics. I am not underestimating the ability of our students to deal with English literature at all. But we have accept the reality that certain historical factors have brought about a shift of attitude towards teaching of English literature especially in the third world countries like Yemen and India.
The sum and substance of this shift of focus and emphasis is that the study of English literature has gradually been losing its literary aspect giving way to the study of English alone. So, if the role of English is progressively going to be language oriented, then our literature teaching courses must catch up to make themselves realistic and meaningful.
Language through literature is probably an accepted solution where literature is used as a medium for teaching linguistic features. On the contrary, the notion of literature through language may raise of a few eyebrows. Both students and teachers agree that the materials for classroom teaching should have a human interest, must appeal on the imagination, and should generate aesthetic feelings. Isolated sentences are never effective even while teaching grammar. It is in this context that we should consider the idea of literature through language. Of course, students must be taught literature, but it must be done through creating an awareness of linguistic possibilities and sensibility. It is not literature through literature that is to be emphasized, but literature through language. The medium is language; the content and form of a literary work arouses interest in the meaningful use of that medium. The selection of literary texts should be done very carefully so that it arouses interest in learning the features of language.
Short stories, narrative poems and one-act plays which do not have extreme examples of dialect usage may be used to provide models of language in every day use. All types of literary works including expository essays, the informal personal essay, diary notes, biography, autobiography, lyrics, plays and novels can be legitimate ELT (English Language Teaching) materials. It is important that they should be used judiciously as practice materials in the process of language learning.
Beyond the sentence is both a challenge and an opportunity. It is a training in the logic of linguistic expression, coherence, sense of direction, and arrangements of ideas. Punctuation, paragraphing ..etc are all important characteristics of linguistic communication at an advanced level. It is at this level that a student should learn the grammar of the isolated structures. The grammar of discourse is rhetoric. The devices of rhetoric become part of language acquisition from the point of view of an advanced level of communication. Selection from pieces of literature should be so made as to cater for the needs of developing linguistic skills.
In the final analysis we must remember that a text is only a pretext. What we do with it is what matters. There are different ways of handling anything unskillfully just as there are different ways of skillful and effective handling. Literature through language makes a plea that literary works judiciously selected may provide useful materials for language learning.
——
[archive-e:52-v:2000-y:2000-d:2000-12-27-p:./1999/iss52/culture.htm]
