The Compatibility of Literature with Communicative Methodology In EFL Classroom

Abstract

The status of Literature in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language has not been stable over the years. Under the traditional grammar-translation approach, for example, literature was given a high prestige in language programmes and was commonly assumed that a major reason for learning a foreign language was to gain access to the literary “classics” of that language. But with the advent of methodologies emphasizing the teaching of every-day English, such as - audio linguicism and the communicative approach, literature was removed from the EFL classroom and regarded as both unnecessary and of no practical use. However, in recent years there has been a call of the reinstatement of literature in the English language classroom, and a gradual recognition of its role as a valuable, even essential source of authentic material for the foreign learner. It is the aim of this paper to explore the compatibility of literature with the principles and techniques of the communicative approach, to suggest three kinds of activities and finally to apply some of them on a particular literary text.