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Teaching Novels in EFL/ESL Classes
By
Scott Alkire
S_alkire@pacbell.net
Abstract
This article presents pedagogical reasons for
teaching novels in EFL/ESL classes, basic criteria for choosing appropriate
novels, and practical suggestions for teaching them. The article also cites
significant research supporting this pedagogy.
Introduction
If we accept that novels can contribute to our
students’ knowledge of English, and if we agree that a novel requires a fair
amount of time and effort to read but can also be engrossing and enjoyable,
then it is important for us to choose carefully the novels we will teach. This
article presents pedagogical reasons for teaching novels in EFL/ESL classes,
basic criteria for choosing appropriate novels, and practical suggestions for
teaching them.
Why teach novels?
Many scholars have presented compelling
arguments for teaching novels in EFL/ESL classes. They argue that we should
teach novels because
1. They are enjoyable
to read.
2. They are authentic.
3. They help students
understand another culture.
4. They are a stimulus
for language acquisition.
5. They develop students’
interpretative abilities.
6. They expand
students’ language awareness.
7. They encourage
students to talk about their opinions and feelings.
8.
They foster personal involvement in the language
learning process.[1]
What novels should
we choose? What are “good” novels?
Lists of “good” novels, in particular those for
EFL/ESL learners, vary. Scholars themselves offer various definitions of what a
good novel is. For example,
The work of these scholars as well as others
can lead us to formulate a criteria for choosing novels. Most agree that a
novel that is appropriate for second-language learners has
1. Linguistic accessibility (syntax,
punctuation, vocabulary, etc. do not hinder reading)
2. Literary accessibility
(e.g., a traditional narrative will more likely be successful than an overly
descriptive, overlong, or experimental work)
3. Cultural accessibility (how bound is the
novel to its culture?)
4. Storytelling quality (is the book a
page-turner?)
Four novels that satisfy these criteria, from
Intermediate to Advanced levels, are:
1. Danny,
the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
2. Valley
of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
3. The
Godfather by Mario Puzo
4. In
Cold Blood by Truman Capote (classified as a “non-fiction novel”)
How do we determine
linguistic accessibility?
Web-based bookshop Amazon now features
readability scores (Text Stats) for many of its titles. Although these scores
are designed to reflect the readability of texts for native speakers, they can be used to estimate the readability of
texts for non-native speakers as well. Kellermann, in her study on reading in a
foreign language, notes that a foreign narrative’s readability largely depends
on how free it is from “lexical and grammatical traps.” (1981, p. 88)
Amazon uses the Fog, Flesch, and Flesch-Kincaid
indices, which produce scores linked to the absence of these lexical and
grammatical “traps.” Each index gauges a text on its number of complex[2] words, the average
number of syllables per word, and the average number of words per sentence. Amazon also allows you to see the relative
readability of texts in a given category (e.g., women’s literature, science
fiction and fantasy, true crime, etc.).
For books not listed on Amazon, the teacher will need to determine
readability manually. Kathy Shrock’s Guide for Educations (http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/fry/fry.html)
provides guidance on how to do this.
Practical matters
concerning the teaching of novels
Once a novel has been selected, it must not
simply be assigned to students as is sometimes done in mainstream literature
courses. Rather, the instructor should do the following:
- Reread the novel and highlight and annotate
important and potentially difficult passages before assigning it.
- Use a reading schedule.
- Have students lead class discussions (this
will allow you to quickly assess how well they are comprehending the novel).
- Exploit the creative possibilities of each
novel (bring in period music, historic photographs, film versions on DVD).
- Require the use of a high-quality dictionary.
- Promote careful, annotated reading of the
text.
- Have students keep a reading journal.
Berthoff (1981) suggests having students keep a double-entry notebook. Students
select a quote from the reading and write it on the left-hand page. On the
opposite page they write their response to it. The response may include an
explanation of what the quote says and why the student chose it.
- As much as you can, select a novel that will
be a pleasurable reading experience for your students.
- Do not pass out study sheets until students
have finished reading the novel.
- Be enthusiastic about the novels you teach.
Conclusion
It may be best to close on how students feel about the reading of
narrative texts (short stories, novels) in contrast to informational texts
(articles, essays, histories, etc.). Aebersold and Field (1997, p. 158) report
the following statements in their book on the teaching of reading in second
language classes.
When reading a story the reader shares the writer’s thoughts and
feelings as the reader thinks and tries to predict about the future or the
conclusion while he is attracted, but reading informational texts wouldn’t
attract the reader after he gets what’s needed from the information written.
Besides, that information doesn’t move the reader’s feelings and emotions, and
doesn’t motivate the reader toward thinking and predicting.
—
When I read a story, I will read it carefully. I want to know when and
where the story happened. And I must understand the characteristics of every
protagonist in the story. Then I can imagine the plot of this story and follow
the development of this story. I think I will enjoy reading a story.
When I read an informational
article, I will just read the main point of this informational article. I want
to know what happened and what was the result. I just get some information from
the article.
— Kuei-lan Lee,
It must finally be mentioned that students feel a special pride when
they finish reading a novel. This feeling is not usually experienced with other
texts (e.g., course books), and it can be a significant factor in motivating
students to read more (learn more). If you have chosen your novel well, you
will almost certainly get requests from your students for other good novels to
read.
References
Aebersold, J. A. and Field, M. L. 1997. From reader to reading teacher: Issues and strategies for
second language classrooms.
Amazon. 10 January
2009. <www.amazon.com.>
Berthoff, A. E. 1981. Forming/thinking/writing:
The composing imagination.
Boynton/Cook.
Brumfit, C. J. and Carter, R. A. 1986. Literature and language teaching.
University Press.
Collie, J. and Slater, S. 1987. Literature
in the language classroom.
University Press.
Gardner, J. 1983. On becoming a
novelist.
Kellermann, M. 1981. The
forgotten third skill: Reading a foreign language.
Press.
Lazar, G. 1990. Using novels in the language learning classroom. ELT Journal 44(3): 204–214.
_____. 1993. Literature and
language teaching.
Martino, M. and Block, E. 1992. Let them read books. College ESL 2(2): 12–20.
McKay, S. 2001. Literature as content for ESL/EFL. In M. Celce-Murcia
(ed.), Teaching English as
a second or third language (3rd ed.).
[1] Extensive discussion of these points
can be found in Brumfit and Carter (1986), Lazar (1993),
2 The Fog index defines a complex word
as having three or more syllables.