The Case for Literature in the English Classroom: Learning English through Short Stories

Córdoba

Conferencia; XXXV FAAPI Conference; 2010

Asociación Cordobesa de Profesores de Inglés

Literature has been used in the language classroom for a long time. The reasons that are given for its use are cultural, linguistic and personal. In fact, literature not only motivates students but also stirs their imagination making English language learning a more enjoyable experience. This rationale for integrating literary texts into language teaching is well established, but it does not go unchallenged. In this paper, we first examine the role of literature in the language classroom and then review studies in this field. One area of investigation that seems to deserve more attention is the evaluation of the teaching of English through literature. In order to contribute to fill this gap in the research, we describe an action research project in which we explore learning English through short stories. In this project, a questionnaire was administered before and after a classroom experience in order to obtain information about the students´ abilities and attitudes towards learning English through short stories. The results of the pre- and post-study questionnaires were compared in order to assess students´ abilities and perceptions, draw conclusions and make suggestions for classroom applications and future research.