Digital Literacy

1. Using literature as a resource offers teachers possibilities for basing language learning activities on
materials that can stimulate greater interest and involvement than is the case with other texts
(Carter and Long, 1991: 3). Duff and Maley (1990: 6) formulate three types of justification for using
literary texts: linguistic, methodological and motivational. Linguistically, the use of literary texts is
justified on the grounds that they offer genuine samples of a very wide range of styles, registers, and
text-types at many levels of difficulty’. Metodologically, they offer opportunities for genuine
interaction between learners because of their openness to multiple interpretations. Motivationally,
they deal with matters that are likely to engage learners in a personal response from their own
experiences.

Literary texts enrich the language input in the classroom and stimulate language acquisition by
providing meaningful and emorable contexts for processing and interpreting new language’ (Lazar,
1993: 17). The multiple levels of meaning of literary texts provide opportunities for developing
inferential and interpretational skills that students need for understanding all kinds of
representational materials. As literary language is patterned creatively and ‘words and structures are
not intended to be read literally’ (Carter, 1997: 59), the interpretation of literary texts involves
students emotionally, awakens their imagination and creativity, and requires personal response and
reaction.

Using literary texts in the language classroom can make the students more aware of the language
they are learning, help them develop skills and strategies they can apply in many different situations
and contexts, increase their interest and motivation, and make the learning of the language a more
enjoyable and worthwhile experience.

2. Teachers can exploit literary texts in a large number of ways in the classroom. Classroom work with
literary works may involve pre-reading tasks, interactive work on the text and follow up activities.

Pulverness (2003) provides some useful advice: Maximise pre-reading support.

Teachers can introduce the topic or theme of the text, pre-teach essential vocabulary items and use
prediction tasks to arouse the interest and curiosity of students.

• Minimise the extent to which the teacher disturbs students' reading.

• Draw attention to stylistic peculiarity.

• Help students to appreciate the ways that writers use language to achieve particular effects.

• Provide frameworks for creative response.

• Invite learners to step into the shoes of the writer or invite them to modify, extend or add to
a text.

In the rest of this section you will find ways in which you can develop your ability to use literature
in the ELT classroom through reading articles and books, attending workshops and courses,
visiting websites, and joining Special Interest Groups and discussion forums.

3.

a. Diction
The analysis of diction involves answering a series of questions, all relating to the use of vocabulary:
its origin, its effect, its grammatical categories. These could be questions such as:

Is it simple or complex?

Latinate or anglo-saxon?

Abstract or concrete?

Neutral, evaluative, emotionally charged?

Formal or informal?

Vulgar or refined? Any particular sociolect? Any jargon (subject-specific language)?

Appropriate or inappropriate in the context?

Are words used in unusual combinations?

Which lexical categories are used frequently and which are used little or not used at all: nouns, verbs,
pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, auxiliaries, and so on.

What rhetorical devices are used on the levels of individual sound or word?

Most important of all remains the question: What effect does the use of diction have in this
particular text?

In classical rhetoric styles were classified into three main levels: the grand style, the middle style and
the low (or plain) style. Certain types of diction were thought appropriate for certain stylistic levels.
This was called the principle of decorum, which was an influential concept well into the eighteenth
century. John Dryden, for example, famously agonised over the appropriateness of the word
‘marjoram’ (the herb) for the middle style (he eventually decided it was too low a word). Poetry,
perhaps more than other types of literary texts, tends to use words or phrases that are not current in
ordinary conversation, so-called poetic diction.

b. Syntax

Just like the analysis of diction, the analysis of syntax involves answering a series of questions relating
to the use of sentence structure. These are questions such as:

What kind of sentences are used?

Simple or complex?

Long or short?

Paratactic or hypotactic?

Statements, exclamations, questions, or commands?

etc.
Is there a type of clause that is preferred?

Relative clause?

Adverbial clause?

Interrogative clause?

That-clause?

Finite or non-finite clause?

etc.

How are sentences linked (sentence cohesion)?

Are there cross references and what type?

Are sentences connected with logical links? Or are they purely associative?

Are any particular sentence structures repeated?

Are any particular words repeated which create cross references?

What rhetorical devices are used on the sentence level?

Once again, the most important question is: What effect does the use of syntax achieve? There are
no fixed answers to this question. The effect of stylistic devices will differ from text to text and within
texts, depending on the immediate context.

4.

a. Teacher Read-Alouds.

A teacher read-aloud (Stephens and Brown, 2000) is a prepared selection that the teacher has
practiced and that meets the objectives of the lesson. Its purpose is to create interest and curiosity
about the selection among students.

The selection to be read can vary in length, style, and content as long as it fits within the lesson.
Teachers also use read-alouds to interest students in independently reading books related to a particu
lar topic or theme. They read a short excerpt that leaves the student wanting to know more and then
say, «Anyone who wants to know what happens next may borrow this book from me. (Stephens and
Brown, 175)

Read-alouds are effective tools to use with literature circles to introduce the available books to the
students. In this use it is important to choose chapters or shorter selections from all the books that
will elicit interest in the students.

An alternative approach is for teachers to spend a few minutes daily to read a whole book with the
class. For example, an acquaintance recently related an experience from when she was in fourth
grade. Her teacher read Bridge to Terabithia aloud to the class. She and her classmate felt the shared
grief of Leslie's death. She said she had read the book herself before and was saddened by the death,
but hearing it and experiencing her classmates' surprise and unhappiness heightened the experience
for her. The community of sharing makes the affective dynamic more intense, just as the cognitive
aspects of a reading have more of an impact when they are experienced and discussed immediately.
b. Readers'Theater.

Readers' theater is an activity in which students select or are assigned a part from a script based on a
book or story (Brown and Stephens, 1995). They read their parts and convey meaning primarily
through voice inflection. The process of readers' theater is one that requires a close and critical
reading of a work. In this technique, either the teacher or students turn a story into a script for
students to read aloud. Commercially prepared scripts are also available and popular with many
teachers. Students must be involved and listen closely so they read when it is their turn (Shanklin and
Rhodes, 1989).

When she spoke at the ALAN Workshop on November 21,2001, author Karen Hesse was asked how
she would like teachers to use her latest novel, Witness. Her immediate response was that she would
like students to experience the book as readers' theater. This historical novel follows her approach in
Out ofthe Dust, a novel written in blank verse. Witness is a complex story with eleven different
narrators who relate the story of the infiltration of the Ku Klux Klan into Vermont in the 1920s.
Readers' theater would allow students to hear the voices of a community rife with bigotry and
intolerance as it struggles with an awakening conscience. Each of the eleven narrators is different
and distinct and hearing them will make those differences come alive for students.

The process of readers' theater is one that requires a close and critical reading of a work. While the
poems of Witness lend themselves to this format, teachers would have to create scripts for more
traditional works to be read in the classroom in order to capture the dialogue and emotion between
the characters. Through the use of voices and interpretative body movements, the readers seek to
convey an understanding of the book.

c. Listening Logs Used With Audio Books.

Providing students with the opportunities to hear books or selections from books being read by
professional actors helps even reluctant readers. Books on tape are frequently read by a single actor
who changes his or her voice to take on each character. In a few cases, such as the Redwall series,
the author Brian Jacques is joined in reading his books by a cast of readers who assume the roles of
all the characters. Victor Martinez is another author who reads his book, Parrot in the Oven, MiVida,
on audiotape, but most often actors read the books for audiotapes. Recently two students were
discussing Louis Sachar's Holes; one had read the book while the other listened to the tape. By
listening to how they talked, the listener was able to sort out the characters more quickly than the
reader. Other students have reported enjoying following the text as they listened to the tape.

Audiotapes can be used in various ways in the classroom. One effective method is to focus on
specific elements of a work. For example, I have several short selections from Will Hobbs' Jason's
Gold that I use to help my students gain a greater appreciation of the vital setting he creates.

Listening to books helps students to understand the development and evolution of characters and
the interrelationships among them. For example, Ellie in Joan Bauer's Squashed deals with her
personal struggles within the context of the public competition of the giant pumpkin growing
contest. Students have indicated that they enjoy the humor of this book even more by hearing it on
tape or reading it aloud. Bauer deftly juxtaposes humor with life lessons in her books, and students
seem to enjoy these two elements as they listen to the books. Another book that presents powerful
voices ofits characters is The Sisterhood ofthe Traveling Pants, a first novel by Ann Brashares. In this
book, four girls, lifelong friends, spend the summer before their sixteenth birthdays separated for the
first time ever. The "Traveling Pants" represent the magical bond among these friends as each faces
changes and challenges. Listening to this book on tape, students experience the friends' unique
voices by hearing and sharing the girls' joy and grief.

Each of these approaches-teacher read alouds, listening guides, readers' theater, listening logs-
provides students with a heightened involvement with literature. Realistically, with the pervasive role
that the mass media play in our lives, people spend more time listening or listening and viewing than
in any other language activity. The more effectively students learn to listen, the more effectively they
will process ideas and solve problems.

5.

a. Pre Activity

In pre-activity, the teacher tells the objective of the study that they are going to learn. They will
practice speaking by having performances through authentic literature. Then, the teacher informs
the title of the authentic literature which they are going to use.

b. Whilst Activity

In whilst activity, there are pre-speaking, whilst speaking and post speaking. First, in pre-speaking,
the teacher gives the authentic literature in form of narrative text that is short story. Then, the
teacher asks the students to read the story carefully and also asks the students to make a group.
Each group consists of ten students.

Second, in whilst speaking, they are asked to discuss the content of the story given by making an
outline or draft. After they finish doing the outline or draft, the teacher asks the students to develop
their outline into paragraph for the presentation and dialog for the role play.

Third, in post speaking, based on the paragraph and dialog they have made, the students are asked
to make performances, those are presentation for the second meeting and role play for the third
meeting. However for the first meeting the students are only asked to discuss the first text given and
deliver it orally by raising hand.

c. Post Activity

In post activity, the students submit their paragraph of presentation and dialog of role play to the
teacher. Then, the teacher gives the additional explanation and asks the students’ difficulties in doing
their speaking.

6.

a. Independent Learning

Ask students to read many reading sources according to their interests and level of understanding
online. After that, students write their own stories with the same topic as they read and upload it on
wattpad. Permatasari et al. (2020) show that Wattpad as a technology application has contributed to
the improvement of students' reading skills which has an impact on writing skills as well.

b. Teacher is a Counselor

The first step is deciding what genres to concentrate on. The teacher have to decide what kind of
literary text that suits best since not all types literary texts are suitable to be used as the material in
reading comprehension teaching. There are short stories, songs, and poems because, unlike novels
and dramas, they will not take a long time to read and provide variety in ideas and themes. We also
have to be sure whether the students are proficient enough to understand the language of the text.
After that, ask students to tell the message of the text and read the evidence. The next activity is
students give their opinion about the message in pairs and teacher monitoring them.

7.

a. Building Knowledge of the Field

At this stage, all the activities undertaken to lead the students to interpret the text they read is called
Building Knowledge of the Field (BKOF). According to Gibbons (2009, p.116), all activities that
support learning content can be categorized as BKOF. Based on the observation, the writer did five
meetings for BKOF stage. In this phase, the lecturer explained prose class syllabus, introduced two
novels entitled Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Tess of D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy,
described the characteristics of prose, asked students to select reading texts, asked students to read
a selected novel, explained the concept of writing in literature class, GBA concepts, and concept of
theme analysis.

b. Modeling

In this modeling stage, the lecturer shared two examples of essays or literary response text regarding
the analysis theme. Both of these essays were then analyzed by the students to get the similarities in
terms of writing organization and structure or grammar. The students were also asked to determine
which text was better. To do this, students worked in groups. They were asked to mark the texts with
a colored pen, for example, words for the conjunction striped, red-inked words for connectives, and
so forth. After that, they discussed with other groups with guidance from the lecturer. The results of
their discussion were then compared again with the literary response text suggested Feez and Joyce
(1998) and Gibbons (2009).

c. Joint Construction

Joint construction was done by dividing the students into groups consisting of 4 to 5 people. Then
the student got a blank sheet of paper on which they wrote. At this stage, students in one group,
together, tried to write literary response text in accordance with their capability after getting
modeling phase. What they do was talking about what would be written and the language used for
writing. The task of the researcher here is to monitor each group’s work and to give feedback to their
shared writing. This is in line with Derewianka (2000, p.8) who states that in the phase of joint
construction, the text could have been constructed throughout the class, groups, or by lecturer and
students during the conference. Derewianka also said that the purpose of is to guide, provide
questions and give advice (p. 9). In this phase, the researcher also encouraged the students to use
their first language, Indonesian, when having difficulties expressing their ideas in English. This
motivation will greatly assist students in writing (Butt et al, 2000: p.267).

d. Independent Writing

Independent writing is the last cycle conducted after the lecturer believed that the students have
been able to write individually. Independent writing was done in one meeting and the results of
independent writing became the documentation of this study. At this stage, the lecturer shared a
form of independent writing, asked students to write in the classroom, asked students to see notes
and handouts them back when writing text individually, motivated students to use assignment sheet
on analysis of themes and its related quotation which had been worked out in different sheet,
responded to several questions from the students.
8. Poor learning environment, acute shortage of textbooks, low language proficiency, misconceptions
about the value of literature, heavy workload, and lack of parental support. Some schools do not
have literature teachers. The biggest obstacle, however, is lack of textbooks.

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