Literary Genres and Didactic Applications in Foreign Language Teaching
Unit 15: Tales, Stories, and Didactic Applications of Literary Texts
Reading or listening to literary texts is not just a pleasurable activity; it is also a communicative activity in which attitudes, values, and socio-cultural aspects are transmitted. Material such as stories, poems, and rhymes are valuable teaching aids that will help our students achieve communicative competence. Literary texts present language in context, provide authentic language, and are motivating.
In this unit, we will look at the most suitable children’s literary genres, periods, and authors. The best genres to use in the English class are tales, children’s novels, nursery rhymes, riddles, and limericks. We will also list a typology of texts and the criteria used to select them. Finally, we will establish the didactic application of literary texts.
1. Tales and Stories
1.1. Characteristics and Functions
Characteristics:
- Vocabulary and structures are contextualized.
- Natural repetition of words and structures helps the retention of language items.
- Simple grammatical structures are used.
- They are easy to predict.
- They introduce socio-cultural elements.
Functions:
- Stories enable children to make sense of their feelings.
- They develop children’s imagination and creativity.
- They foster social integration in the classroom.
- Stories develop positive attitudes towards the foreign language.
- They encourage unconscious learning of the language.
- They provide the starting point for a variety of follow-up activities.
- They provide an insight into other cultures and the lives of others.
- Moreover, the use of stories develops receptive skills.
1.2. The Early Days of Children’s Tales
- Comenius (17th century): Orbis Pictus.
- La Fontaine: The Grasshopper and the Ant, The Fox and the Crow.
- Rousseau (18th century): Emile, Robinson Crusoe (used as educational material).
1.3. Traditional Tales
- Perrault (17th century): The first important author who wrote for children. He gave form to old tales from oral tradition.
- The Grimm Brothers (19th century): Their style was more poetic than Perrault’s. Example: Hansel and Gretel.
- Hans Christian Andersen (19th century): His style was poetic, but at the same time he offered a true image of life. Example: The Ugly Duckling.
1.4. Modern Tales
They reflect children’s ideas, feelings, and their world.
- Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland.
- Oscar Wilde: The Happy Prince.
- J.M. Barrie: Peter Pan.
- Beatrix Potter: Peter Rabbit.
- A.A. Milne: Winnie the Pooh.
1.5. Children’s Novels
These appeal to older children and often feature adventure.
- Daniel Defoe (18th century): Robinson Crusoe.
- Jonathan Swift (18th century): Gulliver’s Travels.
- Jules Verne (19th century): Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
- R.L. Stevenson (19th century): Treasure Island.
- R. Kipling (19th century): The Jungle Books.
- M. Twain (1835–1910): Tom Sawyer.
- Roald Dahl (20th century): James and the Giant Peach, Matilda.
1.6. A Selection of Today’s Storybooks for Children
- Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
- Bill Martin: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
- Colin Hawkings: Where’s My Mummy?
- Andrew Wright: The Hairy Tree Man.
2. Other Literary Genres
2.1. Nursery Rhymes
They are short and have a marked rhythm.
- Edward Lear: Book of Nonsense.
- Isaac Watts: Divine Songs for Children.
2.2. Riddles and Limericks
Children have to think about what is being described. Their origin is popular, and the author is usually unknown. Example: The History of Sixteen Wonderful Women (19th century).
3. Typology and Selection of Texts
3.1. Classification of Texts
We can classify literary texts according to four criteria:
- Genre: Narrative (tales and children’s novels), Verse (nursery rhymes, humorous rhymes, riddles).
- Content: Traditional tales, fairy tales, fantasy stories, adventure stories, etc.
- Presentation: Illustrated, stories with no text, with bubbles, with flaps.
- Authentic vs. Adapted: Authentic (provides examples of real language, motivating); Adapted (specifically written for the teaching of English as a foreign language).
3.2. Criteria for Selecting Literary Texts
Selection should be based on:
- Students’ age and interests.
- Level of vocabulary and structures.
- Subject matter.
- Illustrations and characters.
- Language content, rhyme, and rhythm.
- Narrative and dialogue quality.
- Potential follow-up activities.
4. Didactic Application of Literary Texts
4.1. How to Use Stories in Foreign Language Teaching (FLT)
Introducing and exploiting storybooks successfully in the classroom needs careful preparation and should cover several lessons.
Pre-listening Stage:
Activities to arouse children’s curiosity and expectations:
- Identify elements in the pictures.
- Explain key words and the context.
- Deduce observations and opinions.
- Predict what they think might happen.
While-listening Stage:
Students are ready to listen to the story. The teacher can either read out the story or play the story on a CD.
Post-listening Stage:
Follow-up activities will consolidate the language presented in the story. These activities also aim at skill integration:
- Describing characters and places.
- Role-play activities.
- Reading the story aloud.
- Comprehension questions about the story.
- Pronunciation practice.
- Sequencing the pictures.
- Dictation of words and expressions.
- Drawings, singing a song, vocabulary activities, and handicrafts.
4.2. Storytelling Techniques
It is important to set the mood. The teacher should make sure that students can see the teacher’s face and the illustrations of the story. The teacher should read slowly and clearly, varying the pace and the volume. The teacher should involve the students actively by asking questions. The teacher must use gestures, facial expressions, and varied intonation. Above all, we must remember that storytelling is an art, and telling stories in a foreign language is not easy. Any teacher needs careful preparation and practice.
4.3. Making the Most of Rhymes, Riddles, and Limericks
Pre-listening Stage:
- Explain difficult words.
- Present the cultural background and pictures.
Listening Stage:
- Listen to the rhyme.
- Stop after each verse.
- Clap as they say the rhymes.
- Use gestures or mime the actions.
Production Stage:
- Imitate the model verse by verse.
- Take turns performing the rhyme.
- Invent new verses.
4.4. Extensive Reading
The use of stories develops receptive skills: listening comprehension and reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is developed through extensive reading. The student has to cope with a text without worrying about understanding every unknown word or structure. The main objective should be to train the students to read fluently in English for pleasure, without the aid of the teacher. To achieve this objective, it is important to create a reading corner in the English class, where students can borrow any type of book.
5. Conclusion
In this unit, we have reviewed the most suitable literary genres to use in the English class. The teacher will have to decide on the type of text to use, according to criteria such as students’ age and interests, and the linguistic and cultural potential of the text. Literary texts offer a great source of teaching possibilities; language is presented in a meaningful and attractive context. If a teacher selects an appropriate text and plans its exploitation carefully, she will be developing the students’ communicative competence, and purposeful receptive and productive skills will be developed.