Literature in the Language Classroom Literature in language teaching has a long pedigree. It was a fundamental part of foreign language teaching in the 'classical humanist' paradigm, where an understanding of the high culture and thought expressed through literature took precedence over mere competence in using the language. However, as the teaching English profession developed a more sophisticated understanding of how languages are learned, and as the demand for English shifted its focus from the small-scale production of scholarly elites to the mass production of large numbers of functionally competent users of the language, literature came to be regarded as, at best, an irrelevance and, at worst, positively harmful.

In general, the literature teaching approach has shown a preference for practical exploration in the classroom rather than for empirical research. For the most part, activities fall into one of two categories: those that focus on the linguistic analysis of the text, and those in which the text acts as a springboard for a variety of language activities, including discussion and writing. Not surprisingly, the kinds of activities in the second category in particular draw heavily on techniques developed as part of the communicative approach in general. They tend to utilize generalizable categories such as comparison, completion, re-ordering, matching, extension, and reformulation. Techniques such as opinion and information gap, problem-solving, and role-play/ simulation are also in widespread use, as well as a variety of activities to promote students' creative writing.

Clearly, the appropriacy of the texts selected for a particular class remains a crucial factor in the success of the approach. Texts that tend to be chosen are those that are not too long, not too complex linguistically, and not too far removed from the world knowledge of the students. Above everything else, however, the text has to have the capacity to engage the interest of the student.

(Adapted from MALEY, A. Literature in the language classroom in The Cambridge Guide Teaching ESOL, Cambridge Un. Press.)