Literature and English Learning

Abstract

1. Introduction This textbook is designed to learn English through literature and develop reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills. The target learners are second-year middle school students who are interested in English literature. They are 16 students of mixed genders in a private institute. The proficiency level of students is intermediate mid based on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). According to Nunan (2011), motivation is important for learners to achieve the goal of mastering the language (pp. 8-9). To enhance intrinsic motives, activities of the textbook are aiming at personalizing the learning process and encouraging collaborative learning. This textbook provides the content which learners can satisfy their curiosity. It consists of 10 exciting graded readers such as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from the Oxford Bookworms Library. 2. Method The two methodologies are applied in the textbook, including Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). As for the principles of CLT, Richards and Rodgers (2014) concluded that language learning is the process of dynamic creation through trial and error. Authentic and meaningful communication is the main goal. Students use different language skills at the same time and learn English by doing cooperative group work such as discussions, role plays, jigsaw activities, and information gap activities (p. 105). Therefore, the textbook contains real-life communicative activities that students should interact with peers using English purposefully. This textbook follows the sequence of TBLT. The pre-task stage is a preparation of the task. Students can be taught useful words and phrases. They may read an introduction to the story or notes about the author. The while-task stage is a focus on the task cycle. The task is completed by students in pairs or small groups. Students can make plans for the task. For example, they rehearse what they want to say or roughly create texts. After that, they can report briefly to the whole class. The post-task stage is a language focus. Students can analyze the language related to the topic. They may practice activities using examples from the text (Richards & Rodgers, 2014, pp. 190-192). In addition, this textbook is designed to teach intensive reading and promote extensive reading. Students will complete reading assignments at home and teachers will plan activities based on the reading. Intensive reading is an activity which students study grammatical forms and semantic details of a short text in the classroom. Extensive reading is reading for pleasure. Students enjoy reading books that are full of amusing stories outside of the classroom. It results in building their positive habit of reading. Thus, students expand their background knowledge of syntax, text structures, and the subject of the book (Renandya & Jacobs, 2002, p. 299). 3. Expected Outcomes Overall, students will not only improve reading, writing, and speaking skills, but they will also increase linguistic and world knowledge. Specifically, students will be familiar with reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, predicting, and inferring, as well as writing process focusing on how to link ideas and produce texts of different genres. Through creative texts and tasks, they will develop critical thinking skills and strengthen lifelong reading habits. Finally, students should be able to discuss what they have learned from literature with their classmates.