Literature In Modern Times :: essays research papers

CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION1.0 PresentationFrom the very beginning of human species, literature existed stead by side. Human life, in the form of human passions, feelings, loves, sufferings, and human invoice existed in the literatures. Human legends started with the very gem age, recorded in the stone scripts. It was a human need to communicate the past to the future generations. Poetry, as an art form, has been for many centuries praised, contemplated and has continued to affect man. Man has used rhyme to express love and grief, birth and death, innocence and guilt, heaven and hell in a more(prenominal) effective elbow room. In order to procure such a way of expression the poet does not have any other material at his disposal except manner of speaking. However in poetry, this language itself, turns out to be the goal of the poet rather than only an instrument for communication. Her/his way of expressing ideas and emotions summarises the poets craftsmanship and creativity. Wha t the poet does is that he/she illustrates and exemplifies how language can be used to achieve the most effective way of expression. Poems deal with universal themes such as love and hate, birth and death, innocence and guilt, heaven and hell, which are familiar to each(prenominal) readers. For this reason, believing in the importance of literature and the contribution of poetry to language didactics and learning, we have decided to use poetry to act as a means to enrich the language awareness of ELT majors.1.1 Background of the fussUntil the late 60s and early 70s the teaching of literature in foreign and second language classes was an activity whose vindication was assumed to be obvious. Poetry and literature in general became the bury man since then, and this can be ascribed to the advent of communicative language teaching. With the modify emphasis of the study of English for practical purposes, technical or otherwise, as well as an emphasis on the spoken language more than on written language, the role of literary texts in the language schoolroom and the relationship between language teaching and literature teaching in the EFL context seemed to be totally neglected. Looking through TEFL/ TESL writings in the 70s and 80s, one can find teeny-weeny about the teaching of literary texts and hardly anything controversial. Although poetry has been the focus of pertain for ages, it has not got its deserved place in English language teaching.