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Models-and-approaches-in-Teaching-Lit.

Carter and Long (1991) identify three main approaches to teaching literature: the language model, cultural model, and personal growth model. The language model focuses on enhancing language skills through text analysis, the cultural model emphasizes understanding literary works within their cultural contexts, and the personal growth model connects language use with personal and cultural experiences. An integrated approach combining elements of all three models is suggested for optimal EFL student development.

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20 views

Models-and-approaches-in-Teaching-Lit.

Carter and Long (1991) identify three main approaches to teaching literature: the language model, cultural model, and personal growth model. The language model focuses on enhancing language skills through text analysis, the cultural model emphasizes understanding literary works within their cultural contexts, and the personal growth model connects language use with personal and cultural experiences. An integrated approach combining elements of all three models is suggested for optimal EFL student development.

Uploaded by

maryjoyjimenez91
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2.

2 Approaches to Teaching Literature

According to Carter and Long (1991), the three main approaches to teaching literature are the language
model, the

cultural model, and the personal growth model. These are outlined in the following subsections.

2.2.1 Language Model

The most common approach to teaching literature in the EFL classroom is what Carter and Long (1991)
refer to as

the language-based approach. This model helps EFL students enhance their knowledge of the target
language by
working on familiar grammar, lexical, and discourse categories, indirectly paving the way for a better

understanding of a text and the formulation of meaningful interpretations. These will facilitate a
sensible and

aesthetic appreciation of a text. Such an approach enables students to access a text in a systematic and
methodical

way to study examples of specific linguistic features, literal and figurative language, and direct and
indirect speech.

This approach lends itself to the repertoire of activities used in EFL teaching—such as the cloze
procedure,

prediction exercises, jumbled sentences, summary writing, creative writing, and role play—that are used
by

teachers to deconstruct literary texts in order to serve specific linguistic goals.

2.2.2 Cultural Model

The cultural model helps EFL students deal with a literary work in relation to the target culture, such as
literary

history or genre. It requires that students explore and interpret the social, political, literary, and
historical context of

a specific text. This model provides an opportunity for students to explore cultural background, which
leads to a

genuine understanding of literary works and encourages students to understand different cultures and
ideologies in

relation to their own.

2.2.3 Personal Growth Model

The personal growth model, or enrichment model, attempts to bridge the language model and the
cultural model by

focusing on the particular use of language in a text while simultaneously placing it in a specific cultural
context.

This model involves students’ personal, intellectual, and emotional experiences. Students are
encouraged to

express their feelings and opinions and to make connections between their own personal and cultural
experiences

and those expressed in the text. Another aspect of this model is that it helps students develop
knowledge of ideas
and language—content and formal schemata—through different themes and topics. This function
relates to the

theories of reading expressed by Goodman (1970), which emphasize the interaction of readers with
texts. As

Cadorath and Harris point out, “text itself has no meaning; it only provides direction for reader to
construct

meaning from the reader’s own experience” (1998, p. 188). Thus, learning is said to take place when
readers are

able to interpret texts and construct meaning on the basis of their own experience.

From the above discussion, it can be said that these three models of teaching literature differ in terms of
their focus

on texts. In the language model, texts are used as a focus for grammatical and structural analysis; in the
cultural

model, texts are used as cultural artifacts, and in the personal growth model, texts are considered a
stimulus for

personal growth activities. Each approach has different strengths and weaknesses. For example,
Savvidou (2004)

comments that the cultural model tends to be teacher-centered, and there is little opportunity for
extended language

work. Therefore, what is needed is an integrated approach model comprising key elements of all three
models so

that literature becomes accessible to EFL students and most beneficial for their development.

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