And Now for Something Not Completely Different: An Approach to Language through Literature

Abstract

It is claimed that second-language (L2) learners are often given an experience of literature which is completely different from that intended by the authors & from that which they experience in their first language (L1). They are often asked to study texts rather than to respond to the literature in them & this often leads to a reinforcement of their tendency to read studially in the L2 & to aim for total comprehension. This in turn can lead to an emphasis on low-level linguistic decoding & to unidimensional representation of the texts that they are asked to read. It is argued that what we should be doing instead is to encourage learners to establish experiential reading as their norm & sufficient comprehension as their goal & to help them to achieve a multidimensional representation of literature which can facilitate language acquisition, stimulate a willingness to read, & develop the confidence & competence required for successful extensive reading.