Other voices, other cultures A Design-of-Materials Proposal to Teach English through Literature in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom

Abstract

Literature has always received little attention in the English as a Foreign Language educational curriculum. The main reason for that has been a favouritism towards other formal aspects of the language including syntax and lexis. Notwithstanding this fact, it may become reasonable to introduce literature in the classroom for the benefits it offers to students. Such advantages may include an enhancement of vocabulary, an understanding of syntactic and morphological rules, a comprehension of sentences within a determined context, an awareness of customs and traditions from other cultures and a personal attachment with the literary texts. For this reason, this project presents a design-of-materials proposal in order to teach English through literature in an English as a Foreign Language environment. By employing three literary works such as The Kite Runner (2013), And the Mountains Echoed (2013) and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2018), all written by Khaled Hosseini, this proposal includes a series of materials based on Carter and Long’s (1991) three model approach which contribute to promote learner’s linguistic, cultural and personal growth competences. As a result, this exploitation of authentic literature could improve learners’ academic performance.