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One of the functions of language is the poetic function. This means that it can be used for aesthetic
reasons, for the sheer enjoyment of language. But reading or listening to literary text is not just a
pleasurable activity, it is also a communicative activity in which attitudes, values and sociocultural
aspects are transmitted.
Our current educational system is based on a methodological approach, called Communicative
Approach. This approach considers language as a vehicle of communication –the final objective is for
the learner to achieve communicative competence.
Materials such as stories, poems and rhymes are valuable teaching aids that will help our students
attain this communicative principle. They offer the teacher opportunities to encourage the learner to
acquire the language in a natural way. Here are some reasons why teachers should use literary texts in
the English class:
1. ① Literary texts presents language in context.
2. ② Literary texts provide authentic language.
3. ③ Literary texts are motivating.
In this unit we will look at the most suitable children’s literature genres, periods and authors. The best
genres to use in the English class are tales, children’s novels, nursery rhymes, riddles and limericks.
We will also list a typology of texts and the criteria to select them; finally, we will establish the didactic
application of literary texts.

1 MOST ADECUATE LITERARY EPOQUES, AUTHORS AND GENRES TO BE USED IN ENGLISH LESSON
Although forgotten for some time, literature has nowadays the importance it deserves within ESL
teaching. Teachers usually tend to select specific texts especially designed for primary students,
leaving classic aside as they are considered complex and boring for children. Nevertheless, the
appearance of adapted and graded texts contribute to the accessibility of these books and we, as
teachers of English, should take advantage of it, helping students to get familiarized with the literature
of those countries in which English is spoken.
Duff and Maley (1999) answer the question: Why teaching literature in the ESL class? Pointing out
three elements:
o Literary texts offer genuine samples of a very wide range of styles, registers, and text types at many
levels of difficulty.
o Literary texts are, by their essence, open to multiple interpretation means that only rarely will two
readers’ understanding of or reaction to given text be identical.
o Literary texts are non-trivial.
It would be difficult to select any specific literary period, author or even genre as the most suitable to
be taught in the English class.

1.1 CHARACTERISTICS AND FUNCTIONS

Most children always seem to be ready for a good story. As teachers, we can take advantage of their
eagerness for tales and use them for teaching purposes. Tales have the following features:
o ① Vocabulary and structures are contextualized.
o ② Natural repetition of words and structures, which will help the retention of language items.
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o ③ Simple grammatical structures.

o ④ In tales it is easy to predict what follows.
o ⑤ Introduction of sociocultural elements.
The use of stories in the English class has both a psychological and a didactic function
Psychological function
o Stories enable children to make sense of their feelings. Psychologists believe that stories help
children to solve their affective conflicts.
o Stories develop children’s imagination and creativity. Children become involved in a story and
identify with the characters.
o Stories develop social integration in the class. Storytelling provokes a shared response of laughter,
sadness, excitement and anticipation, which builds up confidence within the group.
Didactic function
o Stories develop positive attitudes towards the foreign language, since they provide the students with
fun, excitement and fantasy, creating in them a desire to continue learning.
o Stories encourage unconscious learning of the language. Frequent repetition, simple grammar and
the easiness to predict what follows allow language to be acquired.
o Stories develop receptive skills.
o Stories provide the starting point for a variety of follow-up activities.
o They provide an insight into other cultures and the lives of others.

1.2 THE EARLY DAYS OF CHILDREN’S TALES

The History of Literature is full of examples of tales and stories. However, to find the origins of
children’s literature, we must go back to the times in which children started to be taken into
consideration. One of the first authors to do this was Comenius, in the 17th century. His book Orbis
Pictus, which was filled with pictures and images, was a humanistic work that revolutionized the
pedagogy of the time and was to influence children’s literature in the future.
Another predecessor was La Fontaine who read Greek writers and used their ideas about morality and
politics in his fables. He believe that fables were the best genre for children to learn to distinguish
between good and evil. He used animals to both instruct and delight.
In the 18th century, Rousseau influenced children’s literature indirectly. In his book Emile, he stated
his theories about childhood: his naturalistic, tolerant and optimistic ideas about a child’s education
influenced later authors of children’s literature. For Rousseau, the best children’s book was Robinson
Crusoe, because it teaches children to learn from their own experiences.

1.3 TRADITIONAL TALES

Perrault (17th century)
He was the first important author who wrote for children. He shaped old tales and folk tales from the
oral tradition. He recalled tales he used to hear in his childhood from his mother and nurse, and wrote
them in a simple, fresh style –tales such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Tom
Thumb, Puss in Boots. In his tales, he recreated a world of wonder with fairies, spells and ogres, a
world in which fantasy and morality went together.
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The Grimm Brothers (19th century)

The Grimm Brothers were brilliant scholars and philologists who gathered old tales from the oral
tradition, but their style was more literary and poetic than the French authors. Their tales are a romantic
exaltation of folk and fantasy. The characters are all close to nature –kings, princes, faithful servants,
honest craftsmen, fishermen, shepherds. Birds, plants and stones speak and express their feelings. But
we can also find monsters, giants and obscure powers. Examples of their tales are Snow White, Hansel
and Gretel and Tom Thumb.
Hans Christian Andersen (19th century)
He was influenced by Danish folk tales, poetry, philosophy and scenes from his own childhood, which
was filled with misery. In Andersen’s tales everything is poetic. He exalts the beauty of nature, whilst
offering a realistic view of life. Examples of this tales are The Ugly Duckling, The Nightingale and
The Tin Soldier. In contrast with the Grimm Brothers, some of Andersen’s tales have a sad ending, but
this does not affect the poetic style of his work.

1.4 MODERN TALES

During this period, British authors contributed to children’s literature with delightful books. Books
were created for the enjoyment of children and the exclusive didactic intention of previous centuries
was abandoned. Children’s literature now embraced children’s imaginative worlds, ideas and feelings.
Lewis Carrol (19th century)
He wrote Alice in Wonderland. The tale plays with logic in ways that have given the story lasting
popularity to adults as well as children. It is considered to be one of the most characteristics examples
of the genre of nonsense literature, and its narrative course and structure has been enormously
influential, mainly in the fantasy genre. This story is open to many interpretations. Reading this book
at age 10 is a lot of fun, with talking animals and nonsense; the same book read in college seems to be
much deeper –loaded with social and political commentary, match puzzles, language games and
psychological images.
Oscar Wilde (19th century)
He is the crucial figure regarding storytelling during the Victorian period. The tales he wrote for his
children has persevered until the present time and have become classics everyone knows if we do not
recognize the source. He wrote books of deep symbolism and morality, such as The Happy Prince,
which tells the story of a prince’s statue who gave his own jewels to help poor people, and The
Nightingale and the Rose, a nightingale gives its own blood in order to provide the red color to a rose
that a young boy to give to his loved one.
J.M Barrie (20th century)
He wrote Peter Pan, one of the most famous characters in children’s literature, magically refuses to
grow up and spend his never-ending childhood in the small island called Neverland.
Beatrix Potter and A. A. Milne (20th century)
Exploring the charming relationship between animals and children –Beatrix Potter and A. A. Milne
turn this into an art of form. Beatrix Potter wrote Peter Rabbit, a tiny but delightful book, in which we
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get to know all about a country rabbit. All her books show her deep love for animals and children. A.
A. Milne wrote Winnie the Pooh, the story of a teddy bear who is transformed into a living creature.

1.5 CHILDREN’S NOVEL

Novels appeal to older children. Children’s novels all have adventure in common. Some of these works
were originally written for adults, but have become children’s books.
Daniel Defoe (18th century)
He wrote Robinson Crusoe, the adventures of a Scottish sailor who is shipwrecked on an island. The
protagonist symbolizes, the loneliness of man and his progress towards civilization. Robinson manages
to make fire, to look for food, to fish and hunt. Robinson has become a familiar character for children.
Jonathan Swift (18th century)
Gulliver’s Travels is the most famous example of Swift’s satirical works. It is a hard satire against the
society of his time. Gulliver is also shipwrecked and he ends up in Lilliput, a country inhabited by little
men. This is the most famous Gulliver’s journey, but the book narrates his adventures in other strange
countries as well.
Robert Louis Stevenson (19th century)
He wrote the Treasure Island, and his work has greatly influenced youth literature. It is a genuine book
of adventures written with poetic spirit. Romanticism is symbolized with pirates and treasure hunters.
Rudyard Kipling (19th century)
He was born in India and lived there until he was a young man. He wrote the Jungle Books, the
adventures of a boy who grows up in the jungle among animals. The animals speak and act as human
beings.
Mark Twain (19th century)
He wrote the immortal Tom Sawyer, a realistic and amusing novel that relates the adventures of a boy
in a credible way.
Roald Dahl (20th century)
He is a master of the short story. He wrote James and the Giant Peach, The Chocolate Factory,
Matilda…They all deal with current and varied subjects, and the narration is attractive and agile.

1.6 A SELECTION OF TODAY’S STORYBOOKS FOR CHILDREN

Nowadays there is an endless proliferation of storybooks for children. Many publishers produce
adapted storybooks for children learning English. These books are adapted to the learners’ age, level
of English and interests, and they are useful from a methodological point of view: they enable the
teacher to recycle vocabulary or structures in a profitable way.
Here is a selection of today’s storybooks that work well with children:
o The Snowman (1978). Raymond Briggs
o The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1971). Eric Carle
o Where’s my mummy? (1985). Colin Hawkins
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o Mr. Wolf’s Week (1987). Colin Hawkins

o Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? (1988). Bill Martin
o Pat the Cat (1983). Colin Hawkins
o Where’s Spot? (1980). Eric Hill

2 OTHER GENRES
2.1 NURSERY RHYMES
A nursery rhyme is a short poem or song for young children. Most nursery rhymes are traditional and
well-known. This genre has few things in common with tales:
o ① Natural repetition of words and structures.
o ② Simple grammatical structures.
o ③ Introduction of sociocultural elements.
Nursery rhymes differ from tales in the following aspects:
o ① They are short.
o ② They have marked rhythm and musicality.
o ③ Most of them can be accompanied by actions.
o ④ The reduced vocabulary of nursery rhymes makes them easy to learn.
Some examples of nursery rhymes are:
o Divine Songs for Children by Watts
o Original Poems for Infant Minds by Ann and Jane Taylor
o Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by Ann and Jane Taylor
o The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
o A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

2.2 RIDDLES AND LIMERICKS

Like nursery rhymes, riddles are short, with marked intonation and rhythm. They add a new element:
the children have to think about what is being described.
Limericks are humorous rhymes, which have their origin in holiday parties in which each person has
to say a humorous verse. The origin of limericks is popular and the author is usually unknown. The
first ones appeared in The History of Sixteen Wonderful Women, in the 19th century. In Edward Lear’s
Book of Nonsense we can find plenty of examples of limericks.

3 TYPOLOGY OF TEXTS
3.1 CLASSIFICATION OF TEXTS
There is a wide range of storybooks: from traditional tales to fantasy stories, and from picture stories
with no text to stories with rhymes. Ellis and Brewster (2004) have classified storybooks under three
headings: narrative features, content and lay-out.
Narrative features will allow us to distinguish between storybooks of the following types:
o ① Rhyming words
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o ② Repeating structures
o ③ Cumulative content and language
o ④ Interactive
o ⑤ Humorous
According to content storybooks can be divided into:
o ① Traditional tales
o ② Fairy tales
o ③ Fantasy stories
o ④ Animal stories
o ⑤ Everyday stories
o ⑥ Adventure stories
From the lay-out point of view we can distinguish between:
o ① Flap
o ② Minimal text
o ③ No text
o ④ Speech bubbles
o ⑤ Cut-away pages
The main aim of all our teaching is to enable our students to reach communicative competence. As the
focus will be on assisting our students to do in class what they will need to do outside, the materials
we use should reflect the world outside. In other words, they should have a degree of authenticity. We
can distinguish between authentic and adapted texts:
o ① Authentic texts. The language hasn’t been selected or graded.
o ② Adapted texts. The language has been selected or graded.

3.2 CRITERIA FOR SELECTING LITERARY TEXTS

The teacher must take care when selecting the text he/she is going to use for techniques purposes. Here
are several criteria to take into consideration:
① Student’s age
The teacher must take into account the students’ age. An 8 years-old child doesn’t have the same
interests and language competence as an 11 years-old student.
② Level of vocabulary, structures and functions
The text should not be too easy or too difficult for the student’s level of English, and the language
should be included in the course syllabus.
③ The characters
They must stimulate curiosity, and their actions must be meaningful to children. The attitudes and
values that the characters present should be relevant and appropriate for the children’s age group, as
well as being applicable to their daily lives.
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④ Use of visuals
The illustrations must be appropriate for the age of our students, attractive and colourful.
⑤ Language content
If the lexis is authentic, we should choose carefully: the language must be accessible and relevant.
If, however, the text is a simplified version, the language must be as appropriate and
representative of the variety spoken in the target language as possible
⑥ Rhyme and rhythm
They help our students understand the story, and later imitate and improve their pronunciation.
⑦ Balance between narrative and dialogue
It is important for the narrative to present repeated patterns of language, which will encourage
children to participate. Equally, dialogues are important because they offer models of useful
language for speaking practice.
⑧ Potential for follow-up activities
The text must provide a starting point for language practice such as role-play, practice activities,
written exercises, etc., so as to reinforce vocabulary, pronunciation and structures in a
meaningful and memorable way.

4 DIDACTIC APPLICATION OF LITERARY TEXTS

4.1 HOW TO USE STORIES IN FLT
The main aim of using storybooks is to encourage general comprehension and to stimulate purposeful
language-learning activities. Stories offer variety and can be used to provide extra language practice
by supplementing and complementing a coursebook. Alternatively, they can be used as a short basic
syllabus in their own right. That’s to say, they can be used to introduced elements of the English
language. Here is how to make the most of stories:
① Pre-listening stage
Here are some activities to arouse children’s curiosity and expectations:
o Identify elements in the pictures
o Explain the context, key words, etc.
o Deduce from their own observations
o Give opinions about their observations
o Predict what they think might happen
② While-listening stage
The students are now ready to listen to the story. The teacher can either read out the story or play the
story on a CD.
o Advantages of using a recording
◊ The voice provides a model of English spoken by a native speaker
◊ It provides a variety of voices
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◊ Some recordings provide sound effects, which are motivating and helpful
o Advantages of storytelling
◊ It allows closer proximity to children
◊ The teacher can use gestures, intonation, repetitions, pauses, slow down the narration to
encourage them to predict what happens next or to clarify language item
◊ The teacher can disguise his/her voice for different characters to help convey meaning and to
attract the student’s attention
Irrespective of the way the children are going to listen to the story, the teacher will have to tell (or
play) the story more than once. Students love hearing stories over and over again. Furthermore,
repetition helps to retain structures and vocabulary. In the while-listening stage, the teacher can ask
the students to perform a task. It is important to remember that listening is not a passive activity; on
the contrary, it is a complex active process. While listening to the story, children can:
o Follow the plot of the story without being too concerned about the details (skimming)
o Sequence the pictures of the story
o Complete true/false exercises
o Count the characters, places, animals, etc., that appear in the story
o Repeat key vocabulary items or phrases
o Do TPR activities
o Mime the story
o Correct the mistakes
③ Post-listening stage
These follow-up activities will consolidate language presented in the story. These activities also aim
at skill integration.
o Describing characters and places of the story
o Role-play
o Read the story out loud
o Comprehension questions about the story
o Pronunciation practice
o Sequencing pictures of the story
o Dictation of words or expressions from the story
o Drawings
o Vocabulary activities
o Singing a song about the story or about its characters

4.2 STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES

Stories are the first contact that the children have with the written language and according to Brewster,
et al. (2004) there is a great variety of techniques using storytelling in language teaching:
o It is important to set the mood. If possible, the children sit on the floor around the teacher.
o The teacher should make sure the students can see the teacher’s face and the illustrations of the
story.
o The teacher should read slowly and clearly, varying the pace and volume when necessary
o The teacher should involve the students actively by asking questions, making them repeat key
vocabulary, point to the illustrations, or do an action.
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o The teacher must use gestures, facial expressions, varied intonation and so on as much as possible
to help convey meaning and to maintain the students’ attention.
Above all, we must remember that storytelling is an art and telling stories in a foreign language is not
easy. Any teacher, whether a native speaker or not, needs careful preparation and practice.

4.3 HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF RHYMES, RIDDLES AND LIMERICKS

The common element in rhymes, riddles and limericks is that they are short and they rhyme. They are
useful for practicing intonation patterns, pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. The teacher can
follow this approach:
① Pre-listening stage
o The teacher can explain difficult words the children may encounter
o The teacher can explain the cultural background of the rhyme
o The teacher can present pictures to help with understanding
② Listening stage
o Children listen to the rhyme to hear the natural rhythm of the verse
o They listen to it again, but this time the teacher stops after each verse
o They can clap as they say the rhymes. This will help to develop a sense of rhythm
o Children can use gestures or mime the actions if it is an action rhyme
③ Production stage
o Children imitate the model verse by verse
o Taking turns to recite a verse
o Performing the rhyme
o Inventing new verses

4.4 EXTENSIVE READING

As we said above, the use of stories develop receptive skills: listening comprehension and reading
comprehension. Listening comprehension is developed through storytelling, whereas reading
comprehension is developed through extensive reading. Extensive reading is another didactic
application of literary texts.
In extensive reading, the student has to cope with a text without worrying about understanding every
unknown word or structure. The main objective should be to train the students to read fluently in
English for pleasure, without the aid of the teacher. According to Hubbard, et al. (1999) extensive
reading should play an important part in the foreign language class for several reasons:
o It is an activity that can be carried out by students on their own, outside the class
o It reinforces language that has already been presented
o It gives students useful practice in deducing meaning from context
o It increases motivation towards the target language
o It may be an opportunity for students to increase their reading speed
The most obvious way of directing students’ attention towards reading is to have a set of readers and
adapted books of different levels available for borrowing. A book corner in the classroom allows
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students to look through books of their own choice, at their own pace. Jean Brewster (2004) establishes
useful tips to set up a book corner:
o Displaying books with the cover showing
o Decorating the corner with any artwork done by the students
o Getting the students to write comments about different books
o Keeping a class record of books that have been read
o Involving your students in the organization of the book corner
o Devising a lending system
Above all, extensive reading should become reading for pleasure. Forcing the students to read will
defeat the object of the activity. Students will never become lifetime readers unless they see reading
as a pleasure task.

CONCLUSION
In this unit we have review the most suitable literary genres to use in the English class. The teacher
will have to decide on the type of text to use, according to criteria such as student’s age and interest,
and the linguistic and cultural potential of the text.
Literary texts offer a great source of teaching possibilities, since language is presented in a meaningful
and attractive context. But simple reading a story out loud or reciting a rhyme could be disastrous
without careful preparation. If a teacher selects an appropriate text and plans its exploitation carefully,
he/she will be developing students’ communicative competence, and purposeful receptive and
productive skills will be developed.