Literature: A Competent Implement in Language Attainment

Before going into the domain of how literature can function as one of the useful ways and prove to be an effective tool for language erudition, I would like to ask a simple question that how from our childhood we have learnt about some simple things of second language. For instance, the ‘verb’ to shine with a gleam those changes constantly from bright to faint is called –twinkle… How we have learnt various structures of sentences like wh-questions or imperative sentences… Obviously more than half of you will not deny the fact that we have gain knowledge of those from rhymes like…

 “Twinkle twinkle little stars…” (Verb like twinkle)

“Put your right hand in

Put your right hand out….” (Imperative sentence)

“Hop a little, jump a little one, two three

Bend a little, stretch a little tap your knee…” (Imperative sentence)

“Where is the thumb king? Where is the thumb king?

Here I am, Here I am…” (Wh-question)

However these are just instances nevertheless it leads to a vital point of discussion whether literature can serve as one of the modes of acquiring language? Is Literature a feasible means for Second Language Teaching and Learning?

Traditional course books include many awfully dully written materials that have neglected the curiosity of learners of a second language because teaching materials form an important part of most English teaching programs. From textbooks, videotapes and pictures to the internet, teachers rely heavily on a diverse range of materials to support their teaching and their students’ leaning. However, despite the current rich array of English language teaching materials commercially available, many teachers continue their materials as literature for classroom use.

There is an astonishing interrelation between life and literature, literature and language and language and life. All these three apparatus are essential and indivisible. Life functions as a root, afterward language advances and using the language literary works are created. In fact, it formulates the use of literature more significant in learning language, especially when such literature is in contemporary trend.

According to Collie and Slate, there are four main reasons which lead a language teacher to use literature in the classroom. These are valuable authentic material, cultural enrichment, language enrichment and personal involvement. In addition to these four main reasons, universality, non-triviality, personal relevance, variety, interest, economy and suggestive power and ambiguity are some other factors requiring the use of literature as a powerful resource in the classroom context.

How these can be done practically would be justified with illustrations from the text.  The following selections are from Gibran's The Prophet. It is important to note that the variety of themes, referred to as 'sermons', around which The Prophet revolves allows for using selections in many teaching units.On Love

LOVE

Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.

Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

- All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

Tasks:

1.     Why, here, ‘Love’ is defined as ‘He’?

Hint: Do you recollect any figure of speech?

2.     Which sentence structures are recurring?

3.     Do these recurring structures add into the understanding of the text?

4.     How converse views are used to define the function of love?

5.     ‘For even as love crowns you so shall he crucifies you.’ Do you recollect incident from childhood when your mother slapped in the morning and with your favorite dish hugged in the evening? Share your experience.

Apart from asking such questions students can be assigned the work of finding adjectives and how opposite adjectives are used to find the twofold function of love… We notice that Gibran in this selection uses parallel structures. Each structure begins with a When-clause setting a condition which must be fulfilled, followed by 'warning' of or 'notwithstanding' a certain fact; thus, the structure 'When... action, ... reaction, though ...' is repeated three times:

When ... beckons, .

,

When ... enfold,

When ... speaks

After the students are made aware of this perfect perfect parallelism, they can be asked to look for other parallel structures later in the text. For instance, the selection continúes with parallel structures of comparison based on the pattern 'even as ... so':

 For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.

Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

In Unes 7-10, we notice the following repeated structures; these structures, in addition to their repeated syntactic forms, contain three parallel patterns of antonymous relations:

even as ... crown, so shall ... crucify

even as ... for growth, so is ... for pruning

even as ... ascend, so shall ... descend

We also notice the following pairs of antonyms:

crown/crucify

growth/pruning

ascend/descend

 caress/shake

,.. 5. branches/roots

The selection On Love continúes as follows:

 Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

 He threshes you to make you naked.

 He sifts you to free you from your husks.

 He grinds you to whiteness.

 He kneads you until you are pliant; 16.

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast. (11)

We notice that in this section, Gibran uses an extended metaphor built around the complete process of preparing bread; it begins by gatheringsheaves of corn, and continúes in the processes of threshing, sifting, grinding, kneading, and finally assigning to fire. So, the students can learn all this related vocabulary. Besides, we could scramble the Unes and ask the students to reorder them guided by the normal process of bread-making. They could further be asked to develop a well-organized process paragraph. Other selections from The Prophet, reveal similar repetition of parallel syntactic structures and related vocabulary. Such selections could be the basis for building awareness as well as teaching/testing exercises.

Match the items:

crowns	Pruning
growth	descend
ascends	crucify

Besides the learners be familiar with sentences like Adverb clause of contrast (though his ways are hard and steep, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.) at the same time simple structures like svo (He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant)

In this way, literature can be utilized as one of the significant tool of learning language and it can also serve twofold task. Literary selections are a rewarding vehicle for teaching a foreign language. Yet, this literary 'vehicle' is not the sole means leading to the acquisition of a foreign language. Its use alongside other means is rewarding. The literary selections give the students the opportunity to find out how the same theme could be handled in different types of texts and literary genres; and henee, they are able to compare styles and techniques.

Literature plays a vital role in the English programs of many non-English speaking countries. However, there are some problems stumbles upon by language teachers in the area of teaching English through literature. First, there is a lack of pedagogically-designed appropriate materials that can be used by language teachers in a language classroom. Second, there is a lack of preparation in the area of literature teaching third, there is the absence of clear-cut objectives defining the role of literature. Besides some difficulties, literature facilitates students to acquire a native-like competence in English, express their ideas in good English, learn the features of modern English, learn how the English linguistic system is used for communication, see how idiomatic expressions are used, speak clearly, precisely, and concisely, and become more proficient in English, as well as become creative, critical, and analytical learners. Custodio and Sutton (1998:20) points out,

“Literature can open horizons of possibility, allowing students to question, interpret, connect, and explore.”

In nut shell, literature provides students with an incomparably rich source of authentic material over a wide range of registers. To end with the words of W.R.Lee in his editorial in the journal English Language Teaching says,

“… Literature is rooted, so far as the foreign-language learner is concerned, in the oral basis of language learning; rooted in lively and meaningful oral drills, in spoken and acted dialogues, in simple dramatization of stories; indeed in those very procedures which make for successful and interested learning of the language.”