Đề tài Presents an overview of what is literature, its values in language teaching and how literature relates to reading

Chapter I: Introduction I.1.Rationale Nowadays, in this industrial world, a person who wants to be successful needs to have a profound knowledge. Thus, much time is spent on learning to widen and deepen the understanding about culture, science, technology as well as social skills. It is not easy if he just stays at home and fills himself up with thousands of books as they are only theory, in order to get practical experiences he has to communicate, in other words, he has to know others and make himself known by others. This can be done only if he speaks the language that they can understand. The solution is he has to learn English. People learn English in different ways, they try their best to master the language skills and as teachers, we try our best to help them attain their goals. Many teachers have spent much time on finding the ways to improve listening skills while the others focus their research on developing students’ speaking skills, etc. Being teachers of English we do want to take part in the teaching method improvement process. The fact in Hai Phong University is that the students have to cope with many difficulties when learning the language especially reading. Most of them think that reading well means they have to know every word in the text and do the exercises correctly, so they spend most of the time looking up new words and doing exercises. However, it is proved that effective reading means there is an interaction between the reader and the text. More specifically, the students not only have to understand the text but also response to it, thus they can get to the bottom of what they read. Fortunately, we had a chance to take part in a course called “Literature in Language Teaching” delivered by Mr. Brad Baurain- an English teacher and researcher. He helps us a lot to realize the values of using literary texts in language teaching. After the course the superficial thoughts about literature disappeared and we know that literary texts are now considered the valuable authentic material, which plays a very important part in students’ cultural enrichment, language enrichment as well as personal involvement. The author, therefore, decides to carry out a study on the integration of literary text in language teaching in order to improve students’ reading comprehension skills. I.2.Aims The focus of this study is on the specific use of literature in language teaching, it aims at: Studying the values of literature in language teaching. Integrating short stories and poems in teaching reading comprehension. Introducing techniques to integrate literary texts reading comprehension class. I.3.Scope Literature field is large, it covers different genres: novels; short/long stories; non fiction; poetry and drama. In this minor study, we just focus on the use of short stories and narrative poems in improving the reading comprehension skills. The short stories are of 3 to 5 page long while the narrative poems are only of 1 to 2 pages long, they are at upper-intermediate level with topic various according to students’ likes such as love, friendship, family etc. I.4.Objects Though literature has certain positive effects on the beginners as it helps students relax while learning the language, however, due to its difficult language and style, literature will work best with students from intermediate and upper-intermediate levels up. Thus, we choose the second year students who are learning at English Department of Hai Phong University as the subjects of this study. I.5.Method. The method applied in this study is quantitative method. All data is collected from questionnaires. Two questionnaires are conducted of which one investigates the students’ attitude toward different genres of literature while the other aims at collecting students’ feedbacks after learning literary text using certain techniques. The former is carried out at the beginning of the study whose result is the base for the author to choose the types of literary texts to teach in class whereas the later is conducted at the end of each lesson using short stories and poems in reading class. The data collected then is analyzed and based on the findings, techniques in teaching reading comprehension integrating short stories and poems would be recommended. I.6.Design of the study. This study is divided into five chapters: Chapter I: Introduction: briefly presents the reasons for doing the study, its aims, scope, subjects as well as the research methodology. Chapter II: Literature Review: presents an overview of what is literature, its values in language teaching and how literature relates to reading. Chapter III: Methodology: studies the reason for choosing research methodology and the description of the setting, subject and instrument for collecting data. Chapter IV: Data analysis and Results: provides data description and analysis with findings. Chapter V: Conclusion and Recommendation: suggests teaching techniques and conclusion. Chapter II: Literature Review The emphasis of this chapter is mainly on exploring some of the issues relevant to the use of literature in language teaching in general and introducing the advantages of short story and poem in ESL classroom in particular. The links between literature and reading are also mentioned. However, as there are many different theories explain literature and the use of it in classroom, the ideas generated in this chapter will not help to pinpoint an only right or correct way to understand what literature is and its roles in improving language acquisition. II.1. Literature II.1.1. Definition Defining literature is not an easy task; different people approach it in their own ways. There are some definitions made by a group of teachers from all over the world. These definitions are introduced by Lazar, 1993: Literature is ‘feelings’ and ‘thoughts’ in black and white. Literature is the use of language to evoke a personal response in the reader or listener. Literature is the world of fantasy, horror, feelings, visions…put into words Literature means …to meet a lot of people, to know other different points of view, ideas, thoughts, minds…to know ourselves better. These definitions seem not scientific enough so the following is three of many definitions defined scientifically by researchers: “Literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotion”- Iris Murdoch, 1978. “Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree” – Ezra Pound, 1981. “Literature is a special use of language which achieves its distinctness by deviating from and distorting ‘practical language’”- Selden, 1989. As far as I understand it, literature is a mean of transferring both entertainment and lesson to the reader. Literature readers can enjoy the language (read, share and response) and learn something from it at the same time as well. II.1.2. Genres Generally, there are three main genres of literature, which are poetry, story and drama. People define them differently and the definitions introduced here, which seem very interesting, are introduced by Baurain (2005). Poetry: “still picture”, showing a meaning. Story: “moving picture”, discovering meanings in actions. Drama: “living picture”, finding meanings in performance and dialogue. II.1.3.What makes literature distinctive from other texts? Literature surely enough involves a special, or unusual use of language. Its language has certain features that you cannot find in any other types of language. Metaphor and simile: a connection made between things which are usually considered to be unlike each other. Eg: I think the idea is to bring Meg in as a new broom – you know, to revitalize the department and get everything going again. Assonance: repetition of vowel sound. Eg: Three grey geese in a field grazing; Alliteration: repetition of consonants Eg: Grey were the geese and green was the grazing. Repetition of word or phrase Eg: A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other. Unusual syntactic patterns (e.g. reversing the order of subject and verb) Eg: Grey were the geese and green was the grazing Double or multiple meaning of a word Eg: Just because we’re deaf, it doesn’t mean we’ve nothing between our ears. Poeticism: poetic lexis Eg: His breast of chicken with tarragon and girolles goes back to the classic French … Mixing of styles/registers Eg: I had expected the usual insertion in the papers: “I, formerly known, called, addressed as…” II.1.4. Literature and language teaching II.1.4.1. Why use literature in language classroom. The use of literature in language teaching had been ignored since people treated it as a mean of relaxation, they just read for fun. The main goal of ESL teachers is to teach the grammar of the language, literature, due to its structural complexity and its unique use of language, does very little to contribute to this goal. However, recently there was a strong reawakening of interest in literature and language teaching. Literary texts are now considered the valuable authentic material, which plays a very important part in students’ cultural enrichment, language enrichment as well as personal involvement. Literature – valuable authentic material Literature on the one hand provides texts of different genres like novels, short stories, poems and plays, which mainly say something about human life. On the other hand, it offers culture and life styles all around the world and more than that it “transcends the time and culture to speak directly to a reader of a different country at a different period of time” (Collie & Slater, 1987). More importantly, while the other texts seem losing their relevance with the passing of time, hardly does literature. Till now, most British like Shakespeare’s plays as much as Vietnamese like Truyen Kieu by Nguyen Du though none of the authors are alive and all the events happened a long time ago. Literature is not written for a specific purpose of teaching. It means that, when reading literary texts the learners are not supposed to learn grammar rules but the way to response to what they read. As literature is often written for the native speakers, there are many different linguistic uses as well as forms that used in their daily life, furthermore, many authentic samples of language such as cartoons, advertisements or articles from magazine, etc are included. Thus, the learners, through the language of literature can be exposed to a kind of genuine language, which is the aim of any language teacher. Literature- cultural and language enrichment It is said that learning a foreign language is to learn a new culture; however, the best way to deepen the knowledge about the culture of the language you are learning is to take a visit or a long stay in the country where the language is spoken. It seems to be impossible for those who cannot afford it, so what is the solution for the problem? The key lies in literature reading because “literary texts can serve as open windows to the target culture” (Sage, 1987). As you read literary texts you can find out much about cultural background information like life styles, customs and beliefs as well. You will know about what people think, feel, believe, fear, like… and how they behave inside doors. Literature is considered as the best complimentary material that helps to increase the learners’ knowledge about the other country. Besides, with rich context that makes vocabulary more memorable, literature plays an important part in the contribution to the learners’ language enrichment. In literary texts there always are different ways of expressing an idea with variety of possible structures, which can improve the learners’ speaking skills. Writing skills are also broadened as literary texts provide various ways of connecting ideas. Many stories and poems have interesting contents, which is very useful for developing intensive reading. More than that, if literature is appropriately introduced and taught it can be used to promote the students’ creativity from lower level to advanced level. So, using literature in language teaching, the teacher can easily find out a new path way to language improvement and make the lessons more interesting. Literature – personal involvement Personal involvement is perhaps the strongest effect that literature has on the language learners. When reading a literary text, the readers are said to live with the characters they like. They response to what characters says and do and keep sharing their emotion from the beginning to the end. Collie & Slater (1987) pointed out that at this time “what individual words or phrases may mean becomes less important than pursuing the development of the story”. In other words, they are absorbed into the book and eager to find out what happens next. It is true that people are really curious, thus if the students are well motivated they’ll be willing to take part in the journey of exploring the unknown language territory. Obviously, this will create the very positive effects on the process of language learning. II.1.4.2. Literature in the ESL classroom Due to a long period using Translation Teaching Method in language classroom, there was negative attitude toward the teaching of literature in foreign language classroom as it was considered far removed from everyday communication and it does not contribute to ESL students’ practical goal of achieving linguistic proficiency. However, it is proved that the interaction of language and literature can lead to numerous advantages in language teaching and learning. It helps increase all language skills, it is the link toward the culture, it gives one awareness and human insight and guides students toward their own creativity. Thus, it obviously is an effective tool in learning a foreign language. II.1.4.2.1. Poetry in the ESL classroom Whenever the word poetry is mentioned there appears a hesitation on the face of both teachers and learners as: The language in the poem is quite difficult (metaphoric and complex). “Beauty is harder to analyze than truth”; “the whole poem or story says something that none of its words say or can say”; “what a lyric poem ‘states’ cannot be found in any of its sentences”; “a lyric tells its story primarily in terms of a single emotional experiences” (J.Adler & Doren,1972). So in order to understand a poem fully and be able to interpret its inner meanings, students need a good knowledge of language and a fine experience of life. However: “the entry into a poem, under the guidance of appropriate teaching, brings about the kind of participation that almost no other text can produce” (Hess, 2003). For her, when we read, understand and interpret a poem we learn language through the expansion of our experience with a larger human reality. Poem can arouse the students’ strong feeling and provoke their positive reaction to what they read. The whole poem is a picture made of words, so if the teacher exploits it appropriately he/she could involve the students into many activities such as reading, as well as active listening tasks and communicative activities intended to make learning fun and memorable. According to Nilsen, 2004: “poetry can contribute so much to making any language class enjoyable, but it has even more to offer the ESL classroom in terms of poetry – centered language activities”. For him, those activities are student – centered and allow students to explore the language in enjoyable ways. Besides, teachers can apply them normally as they often do with prose texts if he/she realizes the values poetry offers and wants to take advantage of that. The learners, as a result, have a relaxed learning environment in the classroom. II.1.4.2.2. Short story and its advantages in language classroom “Short stories are particularly well suited to current instructional trends in ESL classrooms” (Harper, 1993). Most traditional short stories have a plot, it involves a chronological ordering of events and there is a relationship of cause and effect between these events. It provides authentic samples of language use, where the focus is on meaning and not on language form. According to many researchers the reading of short stories, especially the unsimplified ones, in the second language helps to develop vocabulary and cultural knowledge, as well as greater proficiency in critical reading and creative writing skills. Harper (1990) noted that the “original version of a short story evoked more elaborate responses from adult ESL readers”. Besides, the language in a short story is somehow different from other forms of discourse that it sometimes breaks the language norms, so through reading students will have a chance to approach the language outside the classroom, which not only increases the students’ reading skills but also helps solving the problem that a student though learns the grammar rules very well still gets confused when talking to the native speakers. It is said that “short stories are an ideal vehicle for developing automaticity in processing written language through independent, sustained silent reading and for developing critical reading through individual and teacher – directed group interaction with texts” (Harper,1993). II.2. Reading comprehension II.2.1. Reading comprehension and its roles in language learning. Goodman (1971) defined reading as “a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, reconstructs, as best as he can, a message which has been encoded by a writer as a graphic display” In the teaching and learning of reading it is proved that reading comprehension plays a key role as it enhances the students’ skills in extracting the required information from a written text as efficiently as possible. According to Swam (1975) “a student is good at comprehension when he can read accurately and efficiently so as to get the maximum information of a text”. In addition, Richard and Thomas (1987) noted “reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader”. It means that reading comprehension is the process that the readers, as they read, can not only figure out the “graphic display” of the text but also understand the hidden meaning implied by the writer. II.2.2.The reader and the text The reading process is currently seen as an interaction between the reader and the text. The reading of a text is not just to get the information but also to response to what is written. But it was implied that the meaning of a text can never be fixed or frozen because different readers of the same text make sense of it in their own way and there is no correct routine. It depends much on the historical period in which the reader is living, his social position and religious beliefs. For Rosenblatt (1987), the interaction between the readers and the text is “an event in time involving a specific reader and a specific text at a specific time and place, if any of these are changed, there is a different event”. Thus, having an appropriate relationship with the text depends much on the reader’s language proficiency, motivation and interest, the cohesive and the structural qualities of the text; and the readers’ understanding about the topic. The readers have to base on their background knowledge, the clues given by the author and the situational context to work out the meaning hidden behind the text. So, the more knowledge of the world the readers have the more accurate are their inferences and judgments; and naturally the closer they get to the text. II.2.3. Students’ difficulties with reading Students probably have far more difficulties with reading than most teaching staff are aware of. Within the limitation of the study the author just focuses on the difficulties with cultural and background knowledge, which relates to the use of literature in reading. Reading comprehension is said to be a function of cultural background knowledge. It means that if readers possess the schemata, which is the abstract cognitive structure incorporate generalized knowledge about objects and events, assumed by the writer, they will easily understand what is said in the text and also make the necessary inferences about what is implicit. Unfortunately, these schemata differ cross – culturally and researchers have pointed out that readers invariably interpret texts in the light of their own world-view and cultural experience. The result, obviously, leads to many problems in the comprehension of a text. English now is the language of international communication and is taught and learnt everywhere. Vietnam is not an exception; however, Vietnamese students have to deal with many problems in understanding the language because of the differences in cultural background knowledge between European and Asian. Even the advanced language learners feel confused and say they cannot work out the meaning of the text even when they master the meaning of all the single words. For them, learning reading when the cultural background is unfamiliar is really a hard task. II.3. Literature and Reading II.3.1.Some links between reading skills and literary skills Ruth Spack, (1985) “An examination of research on the activities of reading, composing, and responding to literature reveals that these three areas of study, usually taught separately, can be viewed as similar processes”. In the course “Literature in language teaching” we learnt that there exist a relationship between literature and reading. It can be expressed via the following points: Skimming, scanning, and summarizing skills also apply to literary texts, focusing on basic literary elements. Learners remember words in meaningful context, aiding vocabulary acquisition. Figurative language is a bridge from literature to both reading and writing. Reading literature requires imagination which can help develop the prediction skills. Analyzing features such as point of view helps develop the skills of reading between the lines. Discussing about themes helps develop the skills of reading beyond the lines. According to Brumfit (1986) “reading is the most autonomous and individualizable ability in language work, and literature is a rich and widely – appealing source of material for reading”. For him, if reading is to be viewed as an integrated process, the teaching of reading must do more than simply exercise reading in the target language. With literature, the students are not asked to translate the text exactly but in order to understand the text they are required to discuss questions which force them to see the text as a coherent piece of discourse. It in turn helps develop the interaction between the readers and the text. II.3.2. Efferent reading and aesthetic reading There is no one way to deal with a text in the reading classroom. This part focuses on differentiating the two methods: efferent reading and aesthetic reading. According to Rosenblatt (1978) efferent reading is reading in which the reader is concerned with what she will carry away whereas in aesthetic reading the reader’s primary concern is with what happens during the actual reading. The purpose of the former is using the text to gain information while that of the later is exploring the language usage through the relevance to the experience. Thus, to readers in aesthetic reading the enjoyment is attained by interacting with the text, they often relate their world of experience to the text. After reading they might be asked whether something similar have ever happened to them. As a result, they get involve in the text and interact with the text by sharing their feelings or experience. Furthermore, if a reader in efferent reading is supposed to carry the information away, he, in aesthetic reading often makes judgments about the characters or giving his opinion if he was the character. This activity helps him understand the text thoroughly or in other words, he can get to the bottom of the event. It is true that literature to some extents is a key to motivate the students to read. Besides providing an ideal vehicle for illustrating language use, it also offers a mean of introducing cultural assumptions. But with the desire to promote truly aesthetic reading, the using of literature should be approached not efferently, but in a manner which establishes a personal and aesthetic interaction between a reader and a text. Chapter III: Methodology. The study aims at measuring the hypothesis that how effective the integration of short story and poem into reading comprehension class is, so the quantitative research method is used. Theoretically, this method includes using questionnaires and interviews to collect data; however, the author, after considering the specific situation of the university decided to choose questionnaires as: Questionnaires often seem a logical and easy option as a way of collecting information from people (Wisker, 2001). They gather information directly by asking people questions and using them as data for analysis. Questionnaires are often used to gather information about attitudes, behaviors, activities, and responses to events whereas the study aims at investigating the students’ attitude toward the use of short story and poem in developing reading skills and their responses to certain activities carried out in class. So, it is appropriate to use questionnaires. According to Wallace (1998) using questionnaires is more economical and time saving than interviews. There is often a list of questions and respondents can complete questionnaires in timed circumstances and it is a method of gathering large numbers of responses. Furthermore, in the English Department, Hai Phong University both students and teachers do not have the habit of teaching and learning with literary texts, thus if using interviews the answers may be passive and of little use. In order to get reliable responses from students, the author has taken advice from an experienced supervisor and pilot questions thoroughly before carrying out. Following is the description of the university, students and the data collection instruments. III.1.The setting The study was conducted at the English Department, Hai Phong University where the author is teaching. English is only one of the many subjects taught such as Maths, Literature, Physic, Music and Arts, etc. The students have to go through four years learning both background and specialized knowledge. In the English Department, students spend the first two years studying general English which focuses on the four language skills. At this stage, most of students’ time is for practicing the language skills in class under the guidance of teachers. If they pass the tests at the end of this stage, they will spend the last two years on subjects like Semantic, Grammar, Phonetic, Methodology, Translation, and so on. At this second stage, students have to use the language skills they have mastered to read a lot of materials and most of class time devotes to discussion and presentation. III.2.The subjects This study was carried out with the participation of 40 full time students who are learning at the English Dept. of Hai Phong University. As mentioned in the premise, although literature is very interesting and literary texts are really helpful when integrated to develop language skills, they are still not popularly used in Viet Nam, especially in Hai Phong University where the translation approach still dominates the teaching methodology. Except one teacher in the staff who is teaching English literature, others have almost no idea about using literature in language teaching especially the four skills. That is the reason why the author does not include the teachers in this study and she really wants to make a new path way in language teaching in general and in reading comprehension teaching in particular. The students under investigation were in their second term of the second year. They are between 19 and 22 including both male and female students whose background knowledge is almost of the same level. They had all passed the test of the first term and their language level is between the upper-intermediate and advance. Students have English class every weekday and they have five hours for reading skills per week. Within each class, normally 45 minutes long, they learn and practice reading skills such as skimming, scanning, reading for main ideas or for specific information, etc. The reading materials mostly are taken from course books like: Think First Certificate, Reading 2, IELT Reading, Insight and Ideas, etc. Some are downloaded from the Internet or taken from newspapers. III.3.Data collection instruments There are two questionnaires; one investigates the attitude of students toward the literary texts in general and the other aims at finding out the effects of using short stories and poems in teaching and learning reading in particular. In the first questionnaire three questions are given, of which Q1 is to get the rank of different types of literature according to students’ preference. Q2 focuses on the aspects that cause difficulties in reading literary texts and the purpose of Q3 is to investigate the topics that students are interested in. The second questionnaire is a little more complicated, it focuses on activities students do in the reading class. The emphasis of most questions is on the reaction of students toward different activities using short stories and poems in class reading. The questions are for stages in teaching reading like pre-reading (Q1), while-reading (Q2, Q3) and post-reading (Q4). Q3 is specially divided into six smaller ones which aim at finding the effects of activities used with short stories and poems from the first stage to the last stage of a reading lesson. To get extra information, question (Q5) is designed for suggestions and feedbacks from the students. While the first four questions are designed with multiple choices which students can choose more than one, the last question is for open answers with suggestions like : The teacher should…. and : The students should… Thus, the teacher will know what his/ her students think and those suggestions will help teachers adjust the activities more effectively. To prepare for the study, reading comprehension lessons integrating short stories and poems were conducted at the beginning of the term but the data were collected just two weeks before the final exam. By doing so, it was hoped that enough time was given to introduce the new teaching method to the students and they could be confident when they did the questionnaires and knew what to do and how to answer. Chapter IV: Results and Discussion In this chapter, data collected is described and analyzed. Separate findings come after the discussion of each question. IV.1.Students’ attitude towards literary texts (Q1,2,3) IV.1.1 (Table 1) Students’ preference towards certain genres of literature (Q1) Genres Data Reasons Short stories 82.5% - easy to read and understand - interesting, relaxing and time saving Novel 57.5% - romantic, interesting and adventurous - famous, rich content - long, thus take time Poetry 62.5% - interesting & romantic - imaginative, short - hidden meanings, strange words so difficult to understand. Drama 7,5% - very difficult to understand - far from real life, boring, not natural - lots of slang words Short stories seem to be the most favorite kind of literary text with 82.5% of choice. It is because among the four genres, short stories, beside their interesting content and reasonable length, are suitable for the students’ language level. In contrast, drama can attract very few students to read with only 7.5%. According to the majority of students, drama is strange to them; moreover, they are often very long with words that hardly appear in real life. Poetry comes after short stories with 62.5% students’ choice. Although most of students state that poetry is really interesting and romantic, they all agree that understanding a poem is really difficult. They need to be sensitive, imaginative and creative to discover the hidden meaning of the poem or let their mind fly with the pictures made of words. Students also like reading novel (57.5%) due to its rich content. The only reason that prevents students to go to the bookshelf to take a novel is that novel is too long, reading novel is said to be luxurious with students who always complain about lacking time for so many things. From the figures we can infer that it is reasonable to use short stories and poetry in language classroom in general and in reading classroom in particular. The burden now is on the teacher’s shoulders as the choice of texts and the techniques be applied in class play a very important part in attracting and involving students in the lesson. IV.1.2. (Table 2) Aspects that cause difficulties when reading literature (Q2) Unfamiliar vocabulary Cultural differences Literary styles and structures Others 75% 30% 77% Poor knowledge Limited foreign language competence Unfamiliar with reading literature in foreign language It was expected at first, many students would treat cultural differences as a feature that causes the most difficulties in reading literature; the result is that only 30% of students share the idea. Students believe that the cultural differences bring them chances to learn about cultures of other countries, some consider this aspect as one of the factors that promote them to read. According to the majority of the students (more than 70%), literature reading is really difficult when the text consists of too many unfamiliar words with difficult literary styles and structures. They also add up to the list some aspects such as their poor knowledge about the theme and limited language competence. Specially, many students express that they do not have the habit of reading literature, thus they often feel frustrated when dealing with a poem or a short story. This revelation is very important and necessary to teachers who want to exploit literature in the language classroom. IV.1.3. (Table 3) Topics students are interested in Personal relationship (love, friendship,…) 77% People (hero, famous people,…) 52% Nature and animal 62% Social issues (crime, politic,…) 15% Mystery 52% Others Cultures, students’ life Science, adventure The data shown in table 3 indicates that using literary texts of the students’ preference is likely to be more successful than using texts nonselective. Most students like literary texts about personal relationship (77%) while social issues are rejected (only 15%). It is easy to understand why students like reading about love, friendship… more than crimes, politics…; as in the youth’s mind nothing is more beautiful and attractive than love or relationship between friends. They like texts which express their thinking and their ideal dreams whereas literary texts about social issues are often boring and out of their thoughts. Next to the personal relationship is the topic about nature and animal with 62% of students interested in. Topics like the mysterious and people attract quite an equal percentage of students: 52%. Some other topics that students add to the list are cultures, students’ life, science and adventures. IV.2.The effects of short story and poem in teaching reading comprehension. IV.2.1. (Table 1) Things students find most difficult when reading short stories and poem (Q1). Unclear theme 48% Vocabulary 73% Language 75% Cultural background 28% Others implied meaning metaphor and simile Comparing table 2 in 4.1.2 and table 1 in 4.2.1 it can be concluded that students’ difficulties in reading literature generally and reading short story and poem particularly are caused by vocabulary (73%) and the language styles (75%). This explains why most students tend to read literature for fun rather than for improving language skills. Looking up unfamiliar words takes a lot of time and causes boredom. Furthermore, foreign literature writing styles are very different from what they get used to at school. Thus, the carelessness in introducing vocabularies and guiding students with activities often leads to strange feeling in class. IV.2.2. (Table 2) Things students often do when reading short stories and poems (Q2). Take notes 28% Look up new words in the dictionary 28% Just read to understand the plot 50% Response to what the characters say and do 50% Others Find implied meanings Translate it into Vietnamese Guess the meaning of words, idioms. Think of new ideas Imagine to be one character The data in table 2 show that students do different things when reading short stories and poems. They do not seem to be keen on what the author provides. Just 28% note sentences or ideas that they feel interested in when reading. The same percentage of students looks up new words in the dictionary. 50% of students read short stories and poems for gist without caring much about what the characters actually say and do. These students often read very fast, and also forget as fast as they read. An equal number of students answer that they like responding to what the characters say and do. So, most students choose their own way of doing things when reading; this suggests that the teacher should not limit the activities to what is written in the teacher’s book. He/she should spend some time for students doing what they like and help them develop their own creativity. The lesson will therefore be more interesting and its effectiveness will also be enhanced. IV.2.3. Students’ reaction toward activities in class (Q3) This question aims at finding the effectiveness of activities using short stories and poems in reading class. The activities presented here are what the author and her students have done during the term. Each one has multiple possibilities that students can choose according to their own thinking. Space was given to let students express what they really want or like to do, which is very useful for the teacher to improve her teaching method. Following is the result and findings. Activity 1: Guessing vocabularies in the context. The chart shows that though guessing words in context is considered a very good activity and teacher should encourage students to do this in reading class, 10% of respondents regard it a waste of time. It indicates that students have their own way to learn new words, and it may not be effective if teacher carelessly applied it subjectively. Only 18% of the students like guessing words in the context provided by the teacher and then create a context themselves to remember the words. This is a good idea; however teachers have to control the time properly. Some of the students reveal that they work more eagerly when words are put into interesting contexts, especially those related to their life. This finding encourages teachers to be creative in preparing contexts for students. Activity 2: predicting the plot of the story or poem Predicting the plot of a story or poem before reading is an activity that helps students to be more creative. Most students (75%) agree with this and think it is interesting and helpful, some even consider it as an activity to make them get fascinated in the story and understand the story more easily. Only 10% find this activity of no use as they think predicting can distract them from the real story. Other 15% state that they do not care about the prediction, they still read the story whether they can predict the plot or not. The finding suggests that teachers should conduct this activity in class as it is really good to raise students’ motivation. Activity 3: Answering comprehension question From the chart, we can see that students have different ideas about this activity. 64% think that it is good because it helps students know how deep they understand the story. However, 8% consider it boring and useless and 18% think it is of little use. According to these, the comprehension questions are often very easy and students do not have to think much to find out the answers. Another 10% prefer other methods of checking comprehension like acting or reordering pictures which relate to the content of the story. Some others like questions that make them think rather than just looking for answers in the story. This result leads to a conclusion that choosing what questions to ask and how to ask them are very important in teaching reading and that teacher should verify the ways of checking students’ understanding in order to encourage the students’ participation in the lesson. Activity 4: Skimming for idioms and expressions in the full sentence. As can be seen in the chart, this activity is good for applying in class as 72% of students think it is useful for learning and remembering idioms and expressions. Nevertheless, many students (20%) state that teacher should not waste time doing this activity because they can learn those idioms and expressions in a dictionary and remember them as well. Other 8% have the opinion that this activity is a good way to enrich vocabulary and they would like to make their own sentences with those idioms rather than just skimming for them in the text. This finding suggests that instead of bounding to the instructions in the teacher book, teachers should give more consideration to students’ need. Activity 5: Interpreting characters in the short story or figurative meanings in the poem. In the answers to this, none of the students choose to add other ideas. It may be because this activity is new comparing to activities often conducted in reading class. 25% please with understanding the content only while the rest 75% like interpreting, in which 30% give the reason that they can look at different features of one event, other 45% agree as they can make up ideas in their own ways. The problem here is that if the teacher cannot control the students’ imagination properly, the class will get lost with different ideas. Activity 6: The activity I like most in post-reading phase It can be entailed from the chart that students have positive responses to post reading activities. The same percentage of students (27%) chooses to change the poem into a short story or a song or write diary about what they have read. Creating the end of the story or the poem is the activity that students like most (32%). 13% choose other activities, for example, the teacher changes some details of the story and asks students to correct the mistakes or the students work in groups to translate the poem or story into mother tongue. Some others are eager with creating a new story or a new poem basing on the feeling inspirited by what they have read. From this finding, instead of ending the lesson right after the students have understood the story or the poem, teachers should spend some minutes on post activities and ask students to work in groups and give them chance to choose the activities they like. IV.2.4. Students’ reaction after reading short story and poem with activities in the premise (Q4) After reading I find: Percentage My vocabulary is enlarged 65% My reading speed is improved 60% My guessing skill is better 62% My analyzing skill is improved 83% I can answer comprehension questions more quickly 50% I can get to the bottom of the story and poem 90% Others 3% It can be clearly seen from the table that most of the reading skills are improved using activities mentioned in Q3. Happily, 83% of students develop their analyzing skills and 90% of students express that their ability to understand the story and the poem thoroughly is improved. This is also in line with the author’s hypothesis before carrying out the study. Particularly, 3% of students show that they can learn more than just the skills. Some state that reading short stories and poems brings them interesting experiences in life while some others confirm that reading those literary texts has changed their concept of literature in foreign language. To the author, this may be the most surprising achievement. IV.2.5. Students’ suggestions about method of teaching and learning reading with short stories and poems (Q5) The purpose of this question is to investigate student’s needs in order to make a better reading teaching and learning. With the suggestions for both teacher and students, the author receives many interesting ideas which help her to make necessary changes to enhance the effectiveness of the lesson. These suggestions are shown in the following table. Teacher should… Students should… Help students with linguistic problems Choose stories with opened end Sometimes do the translation Relate the knowledge with the experience in real life Create relaxing atmosphere Help students to be confident to reach their own interpretation. Change topics frequently Give homework Provide motivating opportunities for group discussions Be brave to express their ideas in class Work in groups to share ideas Read more at home to enlarge their knowledge Be imaginative and creative Collect interesting stories or poems and bring to class to share Participate eagerly to activities given by the teacher Feel relax when learning Find reasoned clues for their own interpretation. In conclusion, this chapter reflects the work of the author and her students in Hai Phong University in a full term learning reading. During the course, we have worked hard and find experiences in reading teaching and learning integrating with short stories and poems. It proves that the choice of literary texts is worthwhile and we are on the right way to better reading. Chapter V: Conclusion and Recommendation V.1. Introduction The analysis of results and findings presented in chapter IV show that there is a need for some changes in the method of reading teaching. This chapter therefore will present necessary recommendations in the three main fields: Texts selection and evaluation Suggested techniques for integrating short stories and poems in developing reading skills Keys for using literary texts in reading classes These recommendations are based on learning, reading and teaching experience so it is hopeful that readers can find them useful to make the reading lessons more successful. V.2. Recommendations V.2.1. Selecting and evaluating literary texts Selecting text is important as it plays a decisive part in the success of the reading lesson. Before choosing a short story or a poem, teachers should take into consideration the three main factors: the type of course he/she is teaching, the type of students who are doing the course and the language factors connected with the text. Taking the course you are teaching into consideration means you have to ask yourself about the aims of the course, for example, are you teaching English for Academic Purposes or General English? How much time is allocated for the course? or Can you integrate literary texts into the course?... These questions help to direct you how to use literary text in the course. The choice of literary texts to be used in the course is also dependent on the students you teach. First, students’ language level must be considered; usually, most students are of the elementary level linguistically but they are sophisticated in emotion and intellectual understanding. Thus, teachers should select the texts which are linguistically simple but challenging in other ways. Second, the teacher should show his/her consideration for students’ interests as this assists the teacher to choose texts that promote students’ motivation. However, teachers will need to find texts that are suitable for the majority of students in class. Last but not least, factors connected with the text like availability, length and exploitability should also be paid attention to as they help making the 45 minutes lesson more successful. It is essential to focus more on specific criteria for the selection or rejection of text. The following criteria are given after consulting reference books and working with students: Popularity (fame) Variety (genre) Interesting/ relevant theme(s) Open for discussion Appropriate language level Aesthetic/ imaginative force Text evaluation is as important as text selection because it aids teachers to make a suitable lesson plan. Therefore, teachers should definitely spend some time doing this activity before introducing materials in the lesson. To make use of a text, the teacher can base on the quality (excellent, good, adequate or poor) of each criteria listed above. V.2.2.Suggested techniques for integrating short stories and poems in the teaching of reading comprehension skills V.2.2.1. Reading poems The potential value of poetry Despite the fact that poetry is difficult to understand, many learners enjoy it in a foreign language especially when they are encouraged and helped to respond to it imaginatively. It is due to the potential value of using poetry in classroom not only to contribute to the language development but also personal involvement. Normally, if students do an efferent reading, what they get is information; however, reading poetry, also called aesthetic reading, can help to develop the important language skills of identifying and interpreting assumptions and implications. The main objective of using poetry in language lesson is not to teach the learners to write or to read, but to find means of involving the learners in using language skills in an active and creative way. When reading a poem, learners’ emotions, feelings and attitudes are all engaged. Thus, they actively respond to the poem and the language activities built around it. Some may think that using poetry in class is time consuming and thus is not suitable with the limitation of time allowed. The answer is that sometimes using poetry can contribute far more to the acquisition of language and the development of language skills than a total concentration on the presentation and practice of language items. For example, instead of reading a long passage about the slaves’ miserable life, the teacher just presents the following poem: Born on a Sunday In the Kingdom of Asante Sold on a Monday Into slavery Run away on a Tuesday Cause she born free Lost a foot on Wednesday When they catch she Work all Thursday Till her head grey Dropped on Friday When they burn she Freed on Saturday In a new century (Federick, 1984 “old Mama Dot”) Furthermore, this study just focuses on the integration of poems into developing reading skills. Anticipating students’ problems All students in this study find new vocabulary and the language of the poem the most serious problems they have to face. More specifically, unfamiliar words and metaphors/similes or figurative meaning are things that make them fear of reading poems. So, in order to make the lesson go smoothly, teachers have to prepare the solutions in advance. Following are some suggestions for helping students with the new vocabulary and the language of the poem. Firstly, if the poem consists of strange words to students, the quickest way is to provide the explanation next to the sentence that the new word is in. For example: “He was speckled with barnacles, fine rosettes of lime, shapes like roses and infested with tiny white sea-lice,” (From Elizabeth Bishop “The Fish”, 1946) This method really saves time and is convenient to use if the poem is long and there are too many new words whose explanation can occupy time for other activities. However, if time allows and the poem is short enough, teacher should present words which are difficult but essential for uncovering the essential meaning of the poem. An important teaching tip for this is the teacher should not explain a word until he/she first gets the elicitation from the students. This will help the teacher avoid the long boring explanation of something that students have already known. Teachers also need to make sure that the students should understand the word, be able to pronounce it, to spell it and to use it in a sentence. Secondly, helping students with the language of the poem is a bit more complicated. In general, poems chosen to integrate in reading class should not contain too many metaphors or unusual structures because they may change the goals of the lesson. With the unusual structures, teacher may choose to pre-teach them, or put them into readable context and ask students to discuss their usage. Many teachers find explaining metaphors/ similes very difficult as they often have hidden figurative meanings. In this situation, teachers should gradually encourage students to draw the connection between the two objects or concepts. Let’s take the following poem as an example: The gull’s flight is low flat & hard they go to sea to the edge where the day’s fire is lit they go as shift workers to the dawn. (Nigel Roberts, “The Gull’s Flight” in Murray, 1986) In this poem, the metaphor “day’s fire” is used to describe the sun. But in order to help students to infer the meaning of the “day’s fire” teacher should guide them to find out the similar characteristics of the two objects: the fire and the sun; for example, brightness, warmth, etc. Activities using with a poem in reading class There are many activities used with a poem to develop language skills, however, with the aim of developing students’ reading skills the following activities are suggested: Pre-reading phase: In this phase, the teacher’s job is “to create the kind of mental landscape that will ease the students into the poem, and give them enough anticipatory pleasure to afford a natural glide into context” (Natalie Hess, 2003). The activities included in this phase are often presenting pictures, film strips, quotations, anecdotes, or any other device that meet the teacher’s intention and ability. The teacher may ask students to: Predict the theme of the poem from its title or a few key words or phrases in the poem. Discuss or describe pictures or photographs relevant to the theme of the poem. Listen to the teacher reading a poem in their mother tongue related to the theme. While-reading phase: This phase initially helps students catch the glimpse of the poem’s literarily meaning then take the first step into interpreting it. This includes pre-teaching vocabularies and structures, analyzing metaphors/similes, or answering comprehension questions about the meaning of certain words or phrases in the poem. The teacher may ask students to: Choose the best definition for words or phrases. Reorder the jumbled verses of the poem then compare it with the original one. Fill in the gaps (teacher had removed words) in the poem either by themselves or choosing words provided. Read the first verse of the poem then predict what will happen next. Discuss in groups about the meaning of certain words or phrases. Underline metaphors/similes and closely analyze them. Post-reading phase After much reading, it is time to interpret the poem and do further follow-up activities. In this phase, teacher should bear in mind that there must be clues for any interpretation; otherwise flat result is highly expected. The following activities may be carried out in this phase: Students decide whether some given statements about the meaning of the poem are true or false and explain why. Students choose the most appropriate interpretations of the poem and share their ideas in groups, then present in front of the whole class. Students translate the poem into their own language. Students rewrite the poem as another form like a short story (if it is a narrative poem) or a newspaper article, etc. Students read the poem aloud and try to mime it if possible. Students add music and change the poem into a song. Student write diary about their feeling after reading the poem. In a word, integrating poem in the reading class can create the positive effects that you, the teacher, can never imagine. Let’s take a poem collected by a student in the English Department of HP University as the conclusion for this: All my life was a paper Once plain pure and white Till you moved with your pen Changing moods now and then Till the balance was right Then you added some music Every note was in place And everybody could see All the changes in me You decorated my life Created a world Where dreams are part of my heart You decorated my life. (Le Thi Thuy Linh, class 1A_K6, HPU) V.2.2.2. Reading short stories In chapter II, we have seen the advantages of using short stories in language classroom. Thus, this section just focuses on the anticipation of students’ problems and activities using with a short story in the reading class. Anticipating students’ problems One of the main difficulties learners in the study complain about when reading a story is understanding the vocabulary. As the language teacher, it is advisable to take the following things into consideration before providing vocabulary to the students: Select words that you believe are crucial for students understanding of the gist of the story. Select words that are impossible to guess very easily from context. Sect words that students are unlikely to know. Design vocabulary exercises link up with reading activities. Most students in this study also reveal that they lack confidence to reach their own interpretation. It is possibly because their previous learning experience has relied little on the taking of personal responsibility. In this situation, the teacher should not throw students in at the deep end by immediately demanding personal interpretation from them, but gradually introduce tasks and activities which slowly encourage students to become more self-reliant in producing interpretations of their own. For example: At early lessons: tasks and activities focus on checking students’ comprehension. Teacher asks questions of fact about the story. At later lessons: tasks and activities focus on demanding students to infer more information. Teacher may ask students to choose alternative interpretations and give the reasons why or provide their own interpretation based on open-ended questions. One thing the teacher should keep in mind is the activities should guide students from a global understanding to a detailed comprehension of the story. Students’ bad reading habit also creates problems to the effectiveness of the lesson. The fact is that students tend to focus on every word rather than the general meaning. This problem can be dealt with by asking students to provide a summary after finishing each paragraph of the story or put a title for each paragraph. This is also very good for students to slow down and take the first step into interpreting the story. To sum up, anticipating students’ problems and prepare the solutions in advance are really necessary for any language teacher in general and literature reading in particular. Activities for use with a short story in reading class This section focuses on introducing some activities using a short story in reading class. Pre-reading activities: Aims at stimulating students’ interest in the story and pre-teaching vocabulary if necessary. The activities may be: Describing pictures, listening to a song,… which relate to the theme. Group discussion about what the title of the story suggests. Predicting about the story after reading the first paragraph Matching the important words in the story with their dictionary definitions While-reading activities: Aims at helping students to understand the plot, get to know the characters and get used to the language of the story. These following activities are suggested: Helping students with the plot of the story Answering comprehension questions about the gist of the story Providing the title for each paragraph Reorder the jumbled sentences which summary the plot of the story Choosing the best summary of the story Helping students to understand the characters Giving one or more adjectives that most suitable for each character, and give the reason why Ranking the characters according to their preference, and give the reason why Helping students with the language in the story Choosing a section of the story and analyze its effect on reader. Dealing with any particular grammatical problem. Post-reading activities: Aims at guiding students to make their own interpretation and doing the follow-up activities. Teacher may ask students to: Answering debated questions focusing on the point of the story Choosing the alternative interpretations and discuss them Pretending to be one character and say what they do in the situation Creating another ending for the story Role-playing or acting out a scene from the story It is important for teacher to remember that basing on the particular situation in the class to choose the appropriate activities to carry out. The careless selection of activities may not lead to the expected effects, but spoilt the positive aims of the lesson. V.2.2.3. Overcoming cultural problem The cultural references in most of the literary texts are believed the factor that affects the reader’s motivation. This sections, thus, focuses on introducing some strategies to overcome this problem. Providing explanations Teacher provides brief cultural information in a note or gloss. For example: “The little children in Ezeulu’s compound joined the rest in welcoming the moon” (from “Arrow of God” by Chinua Achebe, Heinemann 1964, p.2) A compound: an enclosure in an African village containing a collection of huts where man lives with his wives and children. Making cultural comparisons Teacher gets the students to brainstorm ideas about their own society and then compare them with those in the text. For example, with the extract above, teacher may ask students to think about any particular beliefs in their country relating to the moon, take some notes and then read the rest of the extract and make the comparison. Your country Africa Name of festival Mid Autumn Reason for holding it Making wishes for children Where festival held All over the country Activities Adults give gifts and best wishes to children, go out welcoming the moon and held party out side the house… “The little children in Ezeulu’s compound joined the rest in welcoming the moon. Obiageli’s shrill voice stood out like a small ogene among drums and flutes. The Chief Priest could also make out the voice of his youngest son Nwafo. The women were in the open, talking. ‘Moon’ said the senior wife, Matefi, ‘may your face meeting mine bring good fortune’ ‘Where is it?’ ask Ugoye, the younger wife. ‘I don’t see it. Or am I blind?’ ‘Don’t you see beyond the top of the ukwa tree? Not there. Follow my finger.’ ‘Oho, I see it. Moon, may your face meeting me bring good fortune.’ ” (from “Arrow of God” by Chinua Achebe, Heinemann 1964, p.2) Providing cultural background information as a reading comprehension Teacher gives students a mini-comprehension to read, which provides more information about particular cultural aspects of the text, and then get tem to apply this information to the text they have just read. There still are many other strategies dealing with cultural problems; however these presented ones seem more suitable for applying in a reading class. Moreover, it is not necessary to provide much cultural or historical background for students in a reading lesson. Teacher should also try to select the texts which are likely to pose fewer cultural problems to students as too much cultural explanation will surely make the lesson boring and turn the reading lesson into a cultural lesson. V.2.3. Keys for using literary text in reading classes Reading is the most autonomous and individualizable skill because people can teach themselves to read, they can build their own skill, thus reading can equip students in independent learning. The two keys for this are: Pre-reading activities with literary texts should be topical discussion and link to students’ experience. Literary texts should be very suitable for multi-level classes due to their open-ended appeal and potential for building language skills. Reading lessons in language teaching are about building skills and abilities, not knowledge, therefore: Texts which do not require much background information should be chosen. When using literary texts, a teacher should build on previously learned language skills in order to help students to go from images to ideas. One key goal for using literary texts is to sensitize learners to the convention of literary tradition and language use. Teacher should have the pedagogical sensitivity to the cultural and educational contexts in which a literary text is taught. Teacher should relate literature to other aesthetic experiences such as art and music. Another key goal is to develop an appropriate tolerance for uncertainty or ambiguity. Students need to be comfortable with not understanding the literal meaning of every word or sentence. Instead, they should see the text as a single, coherent piece of discourse. In short, literature especially poems and short stories, with their unique features under appropriate guidance and suitable strategies, bring numerous advantages in teaching language skills in general and developing reading skills in particular. Methodology is like a big ocean and the language teachers are like small fish whose size, color and way are never the same. As a language teacher, I would like to add another color to make the methodology ocean more diversified. V.3. Conclusion Literature is now and forever the land for researchers to dig deeper and deeper steps into its magical world. In this study I have presented the potential values of using literary text in language development in general and how to integrate short story and poem in aiding reading comprehension in particular. From the data analysis and findings (chapter IV) it can be claimed that language teachers should include more and more literary texts into their language lessons. With a variety of unique features, literary texts in general, and short story and poem in particular, can bring both enjoyment and language development to learners. However, the way from theory to fact is long and changeable due to learning difficulties and teaching problems. Thus, solutions and techniques are introduced (chapter V) with the aim of helping teachers to deal with, if not all, some major problems that may arise in the teaching process. V.4. Limitations of the study The limitation of time and also the abilities are the two factors that influence the results of the study. Though referring the method of integrating literary texts in developing reading skills, the study just deals with students of intermediate level, whereas lower level students should also be encouraged to use literature as a way of improving language skills. Moreover, techniques suggested in the study are not actually invented. Some are from reference books after successfully applied in the teaching process. Some are collected during the “literature in language teaching” course and some are from the researcher’s teaching experience. However, this study is carried out with the hope that it somehow brings beneficial ideas to language teachers to make a better reading teaching and learning. V.5. Suggestions for further research Joanne Collie & Stephen Slater. (1987). Literature in the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press. Marilyn Lewis. (1999). How to Study Foreign Languages. Macmillan. Shu Wei. (1999). “Literature Teaching”. English Teaching Forum 37/3, pp. 25ff. Sandra McKay. (1982). “Literature in the ESL Classroom.” TESOL Quarterly 16/4, pp. 98-105. Natalie Hess. (2003). “Real Language through Poetry” ELT Journal 57/1, pp. 19-25. Elisabeth B. Ibsen. (1990). “The Double Role of Fiction in Foreign Language Learning.” English Teaching Forum (reprint) Brian Tomlinson. (1986). “Using Poetry with Mixed Ability Language Classes.” ELT Journal 40/1, pp. 33-41. Paula Willoquet-Maricondi. (1991-1992). “Integrating ESOL Skills through Literature” TESOL Journal 1/2, pp. 11-14. Phoebe Nilsen. (2004). “Poetry in the EFL/ESL Classroom” Modern English Teacher 13/2, pp. 31-39. Gillian Lazar. (1993). Literature and Language teaching. Cambridge University Press. Ruth Spack. (1985). “Literature, Reading, Writing, and ESL: Bridging the Gaps.” TESOL Quaterly 19/4, pp. 703-725. Judith Kay & Rosemary Gelshenen. (2004). Adventures in Literature. New Pathways in Reading. University of Michigan Press. Bell $ Hymar. (1984). Twentieth Century English Short Stories. Cambridge University Press. Brumfit, C.J. (1986). Reading skills and the Study of Literature in a Foreign Language. Oxford University Press. Wallace, J. (1998). Action Research for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press. Wisker,(2001). The Postgraduate Research Handbook . Palgrave.