AN APPROACH TO TEACHING LITERATURE TO EFL LEARNERS

Our paper is to explore a possible framework that can be used by teachers to lead students to an awareness of how the literary text codifies its meanings and make them react to its themes and representations of human experience. Modern critics have explored several myths concerning the study of literature. Language teachers are likely to perpetuate the same myths about literature that were transmitted via their own education. However, it is the reader’s freedom to interpret a text according to his/her own outlook and beliefs, which makes the study of literature such a liberating experience. Some awareness of the culture of English-speaking countries is indispensable to understanding and evaluating literature written in English. The student has to learn something of the history, customs, and way of life within which these works were written. The teacher’s ultimate aim is to provide students with the attitude and abilities relevant to the reading of literary texts. As regards the participation in a discussion of the work, the teacher has to make sure that the communication between him and his students is not one-way. He has to give up the traditional way of regarding students as empty ‘containers’ to be filled by the knowledge imparted by an omniscient teacher. A course text must therefore be accessible in more than simple language terms. Students have to appreciate and respond to the text’s significances. The categories for text analysis should deal with the text in a way which ensures that the fundamental issues will not be neglected. Besides, the examination of the different levels by which the text communicates its meanings should help students to develop their powers to interpret independently other literary texts.