our language course and strong will for change. My personal and professional dissatisfaction with the situation has led me to possible alternatives, the most relevant one being the proposal of a Competence Approach to Language Teaching, behind which lies my belief that more than enlarging the students both formal linguistic and traditional literary knowledge, the course would become more effective if the students were led to master these eight competences: pedagogical, classroom, linguistic, textual, communicative, cultural, literary, and professional (34).The approaches involve individual decisions and requirements generated by literary conventions. Its three phases are literary theory, English and American Literature.Literary Theory: Literary Competence-in-preparation.When you acquire literary theory you learn about what literature is, what it does to you, and what you do it. Awareness of literary theory prepares you to deal properly with literary conventions. In a very practical way it helps you manipulate literary texts by reading, speaking, discussing, writing, and listening to them. I call them literary tasks. Nunan (1992) defines a task as a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or increasing in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather on form. (p.10)Reading Tasks: Reading is crucial for your literary competence. Reading tasks are planned in such a way that you have the chance to read a list of texts books and articles. They include the four genres: poetry, fiction, play and criticism. Two books on the history of English and American Literatures are important here. Thornley/Roberts s (1986) An Outline of English Literature introduces you into life, works and ideas of British authors. You find in it relevant information and discover important aspects in the contribution to literature of writers like Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Woolf and many others. Likewise, Highs (1986) An Outline of American Literature calls your attention to the kind of literature the American writers have been able to create. For instance, you are informed that people like Hemingway and Fitzgerald belonged to the lost generation and how they, along with others, gave new directions to literature in the country. You also learn that there exists a very promising Black literature, done by names like Wright, Ellison and Morrison. Besides, you are also introduced to theory. Here Tysons (2001) Learning for a Diverse World is the key work. It intends to help you read and write about literature. Have you ever heard of Gay and Lesbian theory? Never mind. Tyson teaches you how you can deal with it. Plus, she introduces you to other theories: reader-response, pyschoanalytic, marxist, feminist, African American and post-colonial.When it comes to the four literary genres, your reading is addressed to Klarers (1999) An Introductory to Literary Studies. He makes a clear and simplified discussion of poetry, drama, fiction and film. Examining it youll find out why poems, novels, plays and movies expose different aspects of text production. Now, is the moment to put the knowledge about the genres provided by Klarers text together with a critical reading of two or three poems, one short story and play. Through the reading youre