European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
and Management Studies
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
124-127
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
24 October 2024
ACCEPTED
26 December 2024
PUBLISHED
30 January 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue01 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
The Methods of Teaching
Literature
Abdullaev Maxmud
Termez state university, Uzbekistan
Abstract:
There has been a remarkable loss of interest
in the study of literature among secondary school
students these days. This has been attributed to a
number of factors. Apart from the obvious laziness on
the part of the students and the teachers, there is
observable shift from recreational reading to electronic
chatting generally. This paper reiterates the value of
literature as a school subject appraises the approaches
and methods over the years and recommends
contemporary techniques that are believed will
facilitate the teaching and learning of literature.
Keywords:
Shift, recommends, subject, technique,
learning.
Introduction:
The curriculum of Education is carefully
planned by experts in the various fields of study and
distinguished scholars in the business of education.
Thus, every school subject in the curriculum is a means
of achieving some educational and national goals. Same
applies to literature as a school subject. Perhaps, one
good question to address is why teach or study
literature in schools? When this is justified, it will
become expedient to boost the interest or morale of
those who study it. Rationale for Teaching and Studying
Literature The value of literature is so enormous that its
mention can never be over flogged.
For instance literature;
- Gets one acquainted with the world`s great minds,
personalities and great teachers of all ages. - Aims at
helping one understand oneself as well as others.
- Provides opportunity for development of sensory,
affective, social, intellectual and religious senses or
faculties.
- Provides vicarious experiences to those exposed to it -
Trains the mind and equips the child for independent
work and unbiased judgment i.e in analysis and
criticism. - Helps one operate one`s rationale facilities. It
in fact exposes one to healthy human values and
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European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Management Studies
attitudes, character and behavior and to understand
the complex nature of human being (Rees 1973).
- Helps one in analysis, interpreting and dealing with
the world of reality.
- Helps in the acquisition and reinforcement of the
language skills (Gbenedio 1984). - Imposes a kind of
high discipline on those who are exposed to it. -
Broadens the cultural needs and horizon of the child.
- Exposes the child to the beauty and potentials of
language (i.e the aesthetic value of literature).
- Encourages attempts at creative writing which stems
from understanding a creative processes as well as
appreciating the principal of creativity.
In fact, the nature of literature makes it so sterile that
Moody (1973) says, it offers a vast reservoir of human
experience
and judgment of experience,
a
development of imagination, an entry into human
situations which otherwise might fall outside our ken.
These imply that even though other subjects
contribute to the making of the whole man, literature
has a unique effectiveness in opening the mind and
illuminating it; also of purging the mind of prejudices
and received ideas and leaves it free and active. In
summary literature by its nature moulds the
personality of a child more effectively than other
subjects. Factors Militating Against the Study of
Literature As captured vividly above, literature is a
functional, valuable school subject that has the
capacity of molding an all round personality that is
socially acceptable not deviants and outlaws. Below
are some of the reasons students do not study
literature these days.
Laziness The factor of laziness although sounds
childish, is the fundamental reason why students do
not study literature anymore. The teachers on one part
do not show sufficient interest in reading the
recommended texts in the class. Any teacher who
wants his students to read must be seen reading. The
teacher of literature must practice loud reading in the
class. He or she must model reading so that the
students can emulate. A good literature teacher will
take advantage of loud reading to teach pronunciation,
new vocabulary, correct speech disorders and
consequently develop communicative competence in
the learners. Today, a lot of our children are leaving
secondary school without the aptitude for
independent study neither do they acquire sufficient
proficiency in reading. How would such students
survive the competitive world of academics or world of
work. They choose to be spoon-fed. Instead of buying
and reading the actual recommended text, they would
buy the summarized version with questions and
answers; versions that aid examination malpractice.
Some of the would read the texts at home and
summarize them in the class leaving greater details out
while the nonchalant ones would simply ask the
students to read and summarize for themselves. This is
sheer case of laziness. The teaching and learning of
literature goes beyond story telling. The styles of the
authors, the language aphorisms, diction, vocabulary,
didactics, characterization, gestures and div language
are important components to be discussed in their
relevant contexts while reading the texts with class
participation. When literature texts are read in the class,
the students will develop interest that will be infectious
enough to motivate one another. The more they brand
themselves with the characters in the books, the more
they popularize the books and the subject.
Competing Media and Electronic Chatting among
Students In those days, people whether students or not
irrespective of their discipline would undertake
recreational or leisure reading to kill boredom, relax
their nerves, for fun or for whatever reason. This is
hardly observed days because of competing mass
media. Today, television viewing and precisely movie
watching has become the undoing of most children. This
is so apparent that a professor I know finds himself
drilling his children every morning with the following
chorus, „four things that will destroy you are‟ and the
children will respond while drawing their ears, „film,
phone, friends and fear‟. Students these days are so
engrossed with movie viewing that they throw away
useful time to gratify their obsession. The time they
would have availed themselves to read is directed to
movie watching. Some of them claim that movie
watching is a way of studying literature. This is not far
from being true but the issue is, what type of movies do
students watch? If the literature texts are acted out and
cut into CD it is good but if they watch all manner of
films censored and uncensored with wild and anti-social
didactics at the expense of their recommended texts, it
is their undoing. Furthermore, the new technology
competes with students‟ interest in reading and
studying literature. The social media such as 2go,
whatsApp. Twitter, You Tube, face book to mention but
a few have brought a new dimension to the concept of
talking without noise. Students spend more time
chatting with friends and peers on phone than they are
ever willing to give to their studies.
Concept of Approach and Method In the discussion of
these two concepts, mention will be made of the
concept of techniques for its relationship with others.
These three concepts have been misapplied on many
occasions. That‟s why you hear one teacher say, „I am
using discussion method‟, another says he uses
discussion approach or technique, the question is this,
are they saying the same thing? To answer this, Edward
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(1965) addressed the ambiguity in the use of the three
concepts. In the first instance, he placed them in a
hierarchy with the operational key that techniques
carry out a method which is consistent with an
approach. In his own study, Ubahakwe (1991) also
considers the three as closely related. In his own
ranking, he placed approach on top, followed by
method and then technique. By definition, both
Edward and Ubahakwe agree. For instance; Approach
they see as „a set of correlative assumptions
dealing
with the nature of teaching and learning a subject and
as a theoretical or ideological concept which underlies
a peculiar way of teaching a given subject‟. To them
approach is axiomatic. It describes the nature of the
subject matter to be taught. Speaking further, Edward
says that „approach states a point of view, a
philosophy, an article of faith
–
i.e something one
believes but cannot necessarily prove, often
unarguable except in terms of the effectiveness of the
method that grow out of it. By met
hod is meant „an
overall plan for orderly presentation of subject
material‟ (Edward 1965). Method is systematic and
procedural and to be used by teachers who know it. It
is based on a selected approach. In agreement too,
Ubahakwe (1991) says „method is a s
ystematic,
predictable procedure of teaching‟. According to him,
it includes selection and ordering of teaching contexts,
a specification of the roles of the teacher as well as of
the learners in the classroom encounter, a
specification of the types and functions of the teaching
materials in a given situation. Also, they agree that in
one approach, there may be many methods.
It should however be borne in mind that the essence
of the highlights on the two traditions is that the
approaches in use in our schools are derived from
them. At this juncture, attention will be on the currents
in our schools. One of the approaches that poses
problem in the effective teaching of literature has to
do with choice of texts. The teachers and students
have little or no right to the choice of texts for class
use. This is because the selection is made from the lists
in the syllabus which allows for no appraisal of the
competent level of the teacher, the interest of the
learner and the readability qualities of the text in
question. With this approach in vogue, the teachers
and students resort to use of commentaries or study
guide instead of the actual text which may be
voluminous, difficult and of unfamiliar backgrounds.
This
has
led
to
teaching
literature
using
comprehension approach where the students just
need to understand the story. Furthermore, the
importance attached to examination and certificates
has given rise to another approach. This approach
leads to students‟ persistence on seeking stereotyped
and irrelevant responses to literature. Because in
literature, it is believed that good performance means
good teaching, teachers succumb to giving ready-made
answers derived from students‟ „notes and model
answers‟. The students‟ attitude become that of tell us
what we are expected to say and we shall learn to say
it‟.
When this is the case, students become passive readers
of actual texts. The sense of actual reading, creative
thinking and judgment of evidence is lost. Then they
develop blank mind which leads to „blind assimilat
ion
instead of appreciation, acceptance and critical
judgment‟. Moody (1978) frowns at this approach and
advised that „students should be discouraged from
giving rehearsed response Instead of their own
responses to literature‟. Another approach that has
killed the interest of learners is the inadequate
opportunity to act plays in secondary schools. Plays are
meant primarily to be acted but because of the
emphases placed in the theoretical answers in literature
examinations, the teachers have resorted to the
approach of reading drama texts and de-emphasize the
practical performance. This has made the supply of
facilities for play acting in schools inadequate and even
unnecessary. But it should be borne in mind that acting
roles helps readers understand and appreciate the play
better. Lack of interest in the study of literature has
given rise to lack of linguistic, communicative and
discourse competence among students and graduates
of nowadays. In the cradle of education and in the
ancient times, the study of literature particularly poetry
and rhetoric was of paramount importance.
Accordingly, the ancient system produced strong
orators who were proficient in all sphere of endeavor;
administration, politics and legal to mention but a few.
Today, little or no attention is paid to poetry as a genre
of literature.
CONCLUSION
Given the numerous goals the study of literature is set
to achieve in the students, teachers ought not to
dampen the interest of the students by employing
approaches and methods that are not challenging to the
students. Also in selecting a text from the list, the
teacher, as much as it depends on him, should consider
all the readability qualities of a text as well as the
interest of the learners. They should also discontinue
the idea of writing „Study Guides‟ in form of „Model
Questions and Answers‟ for the students (Ezekoli 1980).
The WAEC Moderation Report of 1978 criticized the
approach of teaching literature as a „Comprehension
Course‟. This implies that teachers should teach
literature using appropriate literary terms and ensure
that students could identify them in their subsequent
reading activities. Some techniques as audiovisuals i.e.
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music, films, slide sets be employed in the teaching of
literature. Authors however should endeavour to
provide clear explanations and illustrations of obscure
or archaic words and expressions, unfamiliar and
difficult words as well as allusions contained in their
texts. Finally, given the good approaches and methods,
other problems in the teaching and studying of
literature are bound to thin into insignificance.
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