Four good reasons to use literature in primary school ELT

This paper presents four arguments in favor of integrating literature into English as a foreign language (EFL) classes for grade school children, particularly in cases where academic language proficiency is the ultimate goal of instruction but where English exposure and use is limited to the classroom and school. The arguments include the following: (1) authentic literature provides a motivating, meaningful context for language learning, and it presents natural language at its finest, promoting vocabulary development in context; (2) literature stimulates oral language and involves the child with the text while exposing him or her to some aspect of the target language culture; (3) literature can promote academic literacy and critical thinking skills, and has the potential of fostering private interpersonal and intercultural attitudes; and (4) good literature deals with some aspects of the human condition and attempts to come to some understanding of life, either symbolically or metaphorically, and can thus also contribute to the emotional development of the child. (Contains 23 references.) (KFT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of EtlUCatiOnal Research and improvement N EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION VD CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as C\ received from the person or organization originating it. vim' Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. 4-1 Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY . 4,7MeL.31105/1 TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 Four Good Reasons to Use Literature in the Primary school ELT Irma K. Ghosn Introduction The practice of teaching foreign languages, especially English, in the Primary school has been gaining global popularity. Several European countries are now introducing foreign language instruction in the upper Primary grades'. In some areas children are also expected to study at least some academic content in a foreign language'. I predict that the use of foreign language, English in particular, as an instructional language will be spreading as access to the electronic communications network is becoming available to ever widening circles of learners. The question is, to what extent the materials development has kept up with the changes in the goals of language instruction. Whether the aim is to provide exposure and enrichment or to prepare the child for the general curriculum delivered in the L2, the traditional structured materials may not be the most appropriate choice. In the first instance, they may not be motivating enough while in the latter case, they may prove to be too limited. On the other hand, materials developed for contexts where the target language is the community language and where learners have daily exposure to the target language and its culture may also prove problematic. They may assume certain levels of cultural awareness or availability of time and materials that are absent in the non-target language settings. Carefully selected children's literature, however, can provide a medium through which children can access the new language. Children's literature is no stranger in North American or Australian ESL classes, where literary circles and a rich variety of reading response activities foster first and second language development and promote thinking skills. I will argue in this paper that the use of children's fiction has also a number of justifications in Primary school EFL instruction. This is especially the case in contexts where academic language proficiency