FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION

JANUARY 2017

HBEL 3403
TEACHING OF LITERATURE

NAME : MOHD SHARUL ANUAR BIN ABD AZIZ

MATRICULATION NO: 810210065801001
IDENTITY CARD NO. : 810210065801
TELEPHONE NO. : 0199906690
E-MAIL : raunags@gmail.com
LEARNING CENTRE : MENTAKAB LEARNING CENTER
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TABLE OF CONTENT

NO CONTENT PAGE
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1

2.0 BODY OF ESSAYS

QUESTION 1 2
QUESTION 2 3
QUESTION 3 4

3.0 CLOSURE 6

4.0 REFERENCE 7
 HBEL3403 TEACHING OF LITERATURE

1.0 Introduction.
The objectives of the introduction of literature component into the English language
syllabus are to enable students to improve their proficiency through reading, respond to
text, draw lessons and insights from slices of life, understand and appreciate other culture,
relate to events, characters and own life as well as expose students to models of good
writing. Literature in Education is aimed at developing the potential of students in a
holistic, balanced and integrated manner encompassing the intellectual, spiritual,
emotional and physical aspects in order to create a balanced and harmonious human being
with high social standards. It is therefore, the primary aim of incorporating literature into
the English Language syllabus is to improve students language ability. As stated in the
English Language Curriculum Specification, the CCL Program is aimed to help students
improve their English through reading simple fiction, to provide a continuum for the
literature component introduced in school and to create an enjoyable learning
environment. In relation to this, literature is not only meant to address the interpersonal
and informational aesthetic value of the learning, but also beyond that where the students
learn about people, culture, ethics, behaviors and other social norms. Hence, the
implementation of childrens literature would help children to expand their imagination
and to acquire literacy in their learning. There is a need to discover if the literature
component in English is taught in line with its aims and objectives. Thus, a focus on the
approaches employed by teachers in the teaching of literature component in English
would be of great value and interest. This study focuses on teachers approaches and
challenges in the teaching of CCL Program in primary schools. The study will focus on
the approaches employed and challenges encountered in the teaching of literature to upper
primary students.
In this task, I will make a choice of the model given and explore the reasons for the
approach. And I will emphasising the positive impact on the teaching and learning
process.
In second part, I will describe an activity to promote language learning through literature.
And discuss how teacher can help to enhance the learner knowledge and get benefit from
learning literature.
In the third part, I will discuss and explain about the statements given. And also find a
solution to overcome the problems.

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2.0 Body of essays

2.1 Question 1
The most appropriate approach in the Malaysian classroom
To teach literature to ESL or EFL students, different models are suggested to be used in
the classroom. How teacher uses a literary text? It depends on the model chosen. There are
three models can be used in teaching literature. They are The Cultural Model, The
Language Model and The Personal Growth Model. What is then an approach? An
approach, according to Anthony (1963), was a set of assumptions dealing with the nature
of language, learning and teaching. Brown (2001) defines approach as theoretically
well-informed positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language
learning and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings. Moody (1983) cited by
Diana Hwang & Amin Embi (2007) explains that the importance of an approach is to
provide a framework, or sequence of operations to be used when we come to actualities.
Based on the definitions above, it is clear that an approach will influence teaching
strategies. There are many approaches that can be employed to teach literature to below
average group such as the information-based approach, language-based approach,
personal response approach, paraphrastic approach and moral-philosophical approach.
Stylistic approach is excluded in this research as learners require a degree of language
competence even before they participate in learning using the approach and therefore it is
more likely to cater for intermediate and advance learners and not applicable for less
proficient group.

The model I suggest most is The Cultural Model. It is a traditional approach of teaching
literature where learners need to discover and infer the social, political, literary and
historical context of a specific text. It reveals the universality of thoughts and ideas and
learners are encouraged to understand different cultures and ideologies in relation to their
own. This model views literature as a source of facts and it is teacher centered where the
teacher passes knowledge and information to the students. It views literary text as a
product. It is treated as a source of information about target culture. Most traditional
approaches are used in this model. So, the teacher has his full control in the lesson. Here
the teacher transmits knowledge and information to the students with-out leaking
information.
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The activities can be carried in this model are lectures and explanation. It is teacher-
centered model. So, the students need to listen to the speech . Another activity is
students just read the notes and criticism provided in the workbook or read by the teacher.
According to Carter& McRae,1996 Cultural Model usually cater for instrumental
purposes such as examination.

2.2 Question 2
Activity that effectively being use to help learners gain insight in literature.
In teaching literature there are many activities can be used to help learners gain insight
into the world of multicultural experiences. One of the activities is read aloud. Read-aloud
is one of the most beneficial ways that teachers can use multicultural literature in the
classroom (Morgan, 2009). One reason that read aloud have proved to be so affective is
that teachers often use their voice in special ways to make the characters in a book
come to life (Morgan, 2009, p. 5). Children prove to be most interested and engaged in a
story when the teacher strives to communicate the story as it was intended to be read and
not only does the teacher have the power to make the characters come to life, but also to
help the children read between the lines with facial expression in addition to tone
(Morgan, 2009). Furthermore, when the students are actively listening, they will be able
to pick up on the cultural differences and similarities that they share with the characters in
the story (Morgan 2009).

Morgan (2009) further elaborates in his discussion of culturally sensitive childrens

books that read-aloud are effective because the teacher can engage the students and
encourage them to think critically by asking analytic questions throughout the reading.
Furthermore, they can sense by the expression on the students face how
they are actively perceiving and interpreting the story (Morgan, 2009). One strategy for
using read-aloud suggests that teachers conduct a read-aloud or tell a story that includes
a problem of some sort or an issue of current interest. The children then listen in order to
discuss alternative solutions to the problem or issue (Montgomery, 2000). This particular
approach focuses on having students work together in order to engage them in
multicultural discussions that will in turn help them to understand one another in terms of
their cultural differences but also in terms of their similarities as humans. They will be
able to use what they know about justice, tolerance and understanding in order to
collaboratively create solutions to problems that affect society as a whole. Children will
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see that by working together they have a collective power and can accomplish many goals
(Zingher, 2007). Furthermore, students who are a part of a minority culture will have the
chance to help the class by offering their own personal experiences and background
knowledge as supplementary information. This will allow these children to feel a sense
of pride and belonging within their classroom community. Teachers who choose to use
read-aloud as a means of incorporating multicultural literature into their curriculum should
take care to choose books that are age appropriate, contain content that will spark interest
and conversation, and provide accurate portrayals of a given culture (Morgan, 2009).

2.3 Question 3
The impact of leaners lack of proficiency, cultural knowledge, and literary
competency on their performance in their comprehension on literary text

Lack of proficiency means someone that didnt have skill or competence in a subject.
Here I will discuss the impact to students cultural knowledge and their literary
competency in their comprehension literary text.

The first impact is the students cannot get the information correctly from the literary text
given. They may not deliver the information from the reads correctly. The way to solve
this weakness is to have some activities. The activities are role plays, a mental activity,
reading aloud and Exercises for reading between the lines,

Role play is easy to arrange the enactment of the drama. It is also possible to organize the
small role play sessions. It helps to increase students abilities to learn literature as well as
it helps them to improve their speech.

A mental activity: It is easy to give some mental activities to students for their wider
participation. The literary texts can be introduced by telling them an anecdote, joke,
proverb or showing /drawing picture etc.

Reading aloud: It is very useful to enable students to read the text in meaningful
units/chunks. Furthermore, through this activity teachers can diagnose the correct or
incorrect strategies students deploy while doing silent reading. It is therefore a remedial
task that can train the learners to overcome problems related to fluency and accuracy in
reading English as second/foreign language.

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Exercises for reading between the lines: It is essential to teach students of literature to
read between the lines. They can be asked to speculate on the meaning of the pieces of
literature. What do the particular lines or dialogues mean can be explained by students. It
will increase their imaginative powers and mental horizons. It is very important activity.
In the words of M S. Knowles, . . . it is tragic that we have not learned how to learn
without being taught, and it is probably more important than all of the immediate reasons
put together. The simple truth is that we are entering into a strange new world in which
rapid change will be the only stable characteristic (15). Hence, it is essential to find out
new techniques to teach literature.

5.0 Conclusions
The modern trends in pedagogy put an end to the separation of language courses and literature
courses and recommended a curriculum in which language, culture, and literature are taught
as a continuous whole. This contemporary view of the role of literature reinforces the notion
that literary texts can be used to teach language beginning at the earliest levels. In addition to
providing language models for children, literary selections also provide authentic cultural
information, help critical thinking skills, and emphasize historical and literary traditions. The
teaching of literature in primary school with appropriate pedagogic methods and means not
only develops linguistic abilities but also offers behavioural models which will contribute to
childrens personal fulfillment.

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References
Carter, R. & Long, M.N. (1991) Teaching Literature. Harlow : Longman
Chitravelu, et. al. (1995) ELT Methodology: Principles and Practice. Kuala Lumpur: Fajar
Bakti.
Collie, J. & Slater, S. (1987) Literature in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: CUP
Duff, A. & Maley, A. (1990) Literature. Oxford: OUP
Lazar, G. (1991) Literature and Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP
http://socyberty.com/education/models-of-teaching-literature/#ixzz19xPSEUL0