Integrating literature into a four skills course
Tara McIlroy!Literature in Language Teaching SIG
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Literature Integrated Language Teaching
iPad commercial, 2014: Your verse !
Why not?
• Time constraints
• Teacher’s skill and experience
• Lack of students’ background knowledge
• Language proficiency issues
!Private languages university !Content-based CLT curriculum
Content-based classes• Self-selected topic!
• At least 650 in TOEIC!
• 2 koma for 15 weeks (90 minutes per week)!
• 100% instruction in English.!
• CLT method. Focus on four skills. !
• Teacher autonomy encouraged
Nation & Macalister, 2010: 37-38
“A sensible basis to guide teaching and to help in the design of courses rests on following
principles. These principles must be based on research and theory, and must be general
enough to allow flexibility in their application”
Language Curriculum Design
The waterfall model!Ideal mode of curriculum design!
All aspects of course, from goals down!
Virtually no constraints on planning!
Reality!
Variety of learning goals!
Unbalanced skills through testing/washback!
Multi-level classes!
Weak critical reading skills!
Tools
Mobile readings
Communication
Multimodal support
!Suitable content
Scaffolding
Global Issues Through Literature!!Poetry in English and translation!!Linguistic Creativity
Current courses
Linguistic creativity
Carter, (2004) Model of literariness !
Conversation, jokes, Information
text
Poetry
Linguistic creativity: Course goals1 Show an understanding of creative language in English
Students will be able to demonstrate some awareness of language features used in a range of texts. As well as becoming aware of these features, students will have some awareness of the same poetic devices in everyday English also.
2 Show an understanding of the experience of reading
Using examples from the classroom activities and other student-choice of texts, students will be able to show an understanding of the ways that language affects the reader using the senses such as sound, sight, taste and feeling that make up the experience of reading creative texts.
3 Apply creative methods to write and respond to texts
Students will engage with texts and respond in ways which show their understanding of creativity in language use. Students will write and respond creatively to their choice of text for these activities.
Principle 1: Motivation
“As much as possible, the learners should be interested about learning the language and they should come to value this learning.”!
Nation & Macalister, 2010
Interpretation• Self-selection of texts to encourage autonomy
• Using tasks which contain built-in challenges
• Setting clear outcomes with expectation that can be achieved
• Creating small, manageable tests to show learners they can be successful
• Rewarding efforts through publishing workbased on Nation & Macalister, p.50-51
Example
Example: quote and picture task
Principle 2: The Four Strands
A course should include a roughly even balance of meaning-focused input, language-focused learning, meaning focused output and fluency activities!
Nation & Macalister, 2010
MEANING FOCUSED INPUT MEANING FOCUSED OUTPUT
FLUENCY DEVELOPMENTLANGUAGE FOCUSED LEARNING
Close reading Easy reading Multimodal input
Spoken & written reflections Discussion & debate Role plays
Strategy tasks Intensive reading Group work
Repeated reading Use of simplified material Speed writing
based on Nation & Macalister, p.51-52
Interpretation
Four strands can be balanced in a lesson, unit or course
MFOMFI
FD
LFL
Pentametron• Four-strand mini-unit
• Beginning with language focused tasks (rhythm, rhyme)
• Workshop style lesson included reading Shakespearean couplets
• Examples of creative language in everyday use
• Finished with writing own couplets
Principle 3: Comprehensible input
There should be substantial quantities of interesting comprehensible receptive activity in both listening and reading.
Interpretation
• Checking the learning burden of texts
• Deciding whether to have difficult words glossed
• Offering multimodal support that provides L1 assistance
• Using the flipped classroom approach
based on Nation & Macalister, p.52-54
W.B. Yeats John Lennon
Billy Collins presents animations of his poems
Principle 4: Fluency
A language course should provide activities aimed at increasing the fluency with which learners can use the language they already know, both receptively and productively
Interpretation• Encouraging use of known language
• Using familiar topics and concepts
• Writing, reading, speaking or listening
• Using L1 knowledge to scaffold
• Simple texts for speed reading and writing
based on Nation & Macalister, p.54-65
People !Some people talk and talk And never say a thing Some people look at you And birds begin to sing !Some people laugh and laugh And yet you want to cry Some people touch your hand And music fills the sky !Charlotte Zolotow
Principle 5: Output
The learners should be pushed to produce the language in both speaking and writing over a range of discourse types
Interpretation
• Short lectures are used. Student talking time is emphasised
• Making use of language across text types helps to vary language use (formal, informal, etc.)
• Genre-switching, imitating style and retelling stories in texts all make use of this feature
teach a poem to a friend task
Principles 6,7,8,9,10…20
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Literature Integrated Language Teaching
Carter. R. 2004. Language and creativity: the art of common talk. London, UK: Routledge. !Collins, B. (2012)Everyday Moments, Caught in Time. TED.com https://www.ted.com/talks/billy_collins_everyday_moments_caught_in_time !Nation, I.S.P. & Macalister, J. (2010) Language Curriculum Design. London, UK: Routledge.
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