ABSTRACT
The chapter opens by insisting on a wide definition of literature for the EFL classroom. In this view literature is not restricted to the high literature of the classical canon, but also embraces forms such as, for example, nursery rhymes, comic verse and even TV soap operas. Three sets of reasons are cited for the integration of literature into the language classroom, namely: linguistic, motivational and intercultural reasons. It is also pointed out that extensive reading, especially reading literature for pleasure, is a first step on the road to becoming an autonomous reader in English and perhaps a lifelong autonomous learner.
The balance of the chapter has a triple focus: short poems, short novels and project work based on reading literature. Each of these is treated separately. Concerning poems, some suitable poetic genres are first suggested and then a three-phase teaching approach is sketched out. Some dozen poems are looked at in detail and suggestions made about how to use them in class. The poems chosen for consideration include humorous verse for children and adults, respectively, descriptive poems and, for advanced learners, love poems as well as polemical and reflective poems.
Concerning short novels, detailed advice on criteria and procedures for selecting an authentic, unabridged and unedited novel as a class reader are given. Factors which make a reader too difficult are then discussed and screening techniques for identifying likely language difficulty – by no means the only sort of difficulty, of course – are provided. To structure a whole reading course, a three-phase macro-level reading plan which mirrors the micro-level plan for a single reading lesson is introduced and elaborated on. Reading logs are recommended and detailed advice on how to use them in the classroom is given.
The chapter is rounded off by a discussion of project work to accompany an extended reading course, or as a follow-up to such a course, and a three-phase plan is provided. Four possible problems that may arise in project work and measures teachers can take to avoid them are mentioned. Finally, nine general guidelines for teachers to follow when supervising project work are set out.
