TOPIC 15

ÉPOCAS, AUTORES Y GÉNEROS LITERARIOS

MÁS ADECUADOS PARA SU APLICACIÓN
DIDÁCTICA EN LA CLASE DE INGLÉS.
CONTENT
 1. INTRODUCTION
 2. PERIODS, AUTHROS AND GENRES SUITABLE TO BE
USED IN THE ENLGLISH CLASS
 2.1.HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 2.2.STRATEGIES TO EXPLOIT LITERATURE IN THE
ENGLISH CLASS
 3. TYPES OF STORYBOOKS
 INTRODUCTION
 Teaching English does not simply consist of instructing our
students in the development of linguistic skills, but it deals
with HAVING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENT
STUDETS.
 Effective communication inlcudes also development of socio-
cultural aspects.
 In this topic we will concentrate only on LITERATURE and
its introductiion in the ESL class.
2. PERIODS, AUTHROS AND GENRES SUITABLE TO
BE USED IN THE ENGLISH CLASS.
THE POSITION OF LITERATURE IN ESL.
BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURAY
THE GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD PLACED LITERATURE
IN A PRIVILIGED SITUATION.

MID OF THE 20TH CENTURY

WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRUCTURALISM, LITERATURE
WAS DOWNGRADED TO A SECOND POSITION IN LANGUAGE
TEACHING,

70-80 OF THE 20TH CENTURY

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH KEPT ON REFUSING LITERATURE

90-S OF THE 20TH CENTURY

NOT UNTIL THE RECENT TIMES THAT THE TEACHERS INCLUDED
LITERARY TEXTS IN THEIR CLASSES.
2. BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.
2.1.MIDDLE AGES
1. CHAUCER´S CANTERBURY TALES
The plot: a group of people belonging to very diferent social strata who
go to Canterbury on piligrimage. They set off on an April morning with
the rain dripping from the branches, and in order to make the long
journey short they told each other stories.

Several adaptations for children are available.

THE CANTERBURY TALES

BY SELINA HASTINGS
This is a retelling of seven of Chaucer's
"Canterbury Tales", which aims to capture the
spirit of the originals while making them
accessible to the young reader.
 2. THE TALES OF ROBIN HOOD
 It was written in 1450 but still popular among the young
learners.

 3. KING ARTHUR LEGENDS

 Thomas Malory´s Le Morte dArthur is a story of noble knights,
colourful tournaments and fateful love, set in a courtly society
which is outwordly secure and successful.
 An adaption of the legend was done in 1958 by Terence
Handbury White. This book was called THE ONCE A FUTURE
KING. The first part of the book (THE SWORD IN THE STONE)
is the inspiration of theWal Disney´s movie (1963).
A masterful retelling of the saga of King Arthur
is a fantasy classic as legendary as Excalibur and
Camelot, and a poignant story of adventure,
romance, and magic that has enchanted readers
for generations.
2.2. RENAISSANCE PERIOD
 1.WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR
 Difficulties:
 Language: specific adaptations for children are available.
 Might seem boring: select attractive, motovating passages and
exploit them in entertaining way.
 Adaptations:
TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE by Charles and
Mary Lamb (1807)
The book reduced the archaic English and complicated
storyline to a simple level that children could read and
comprehend. However as it noted in the Preface,"his
words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring
them in."
Shakespeare:The Animated Tales

is a series of twelve half-hour

animated television adaptations of
the plays of William Shakespeare,
broadcast on BBC 2 between 1992
and 1994.
The show was both a critical and a
commercial success. The episodes
continue to be used in schools as
teaching aids, especially when
introducing children to Shakespeare
for the first time.
 2. CHARLES PERRAULT
Laid the foundations of the fairy tale in France.
Many of his tales were translated into English.
18TH CENTURY
 This is the period in which the novel appeared.
 Adventure stories and novels with young boys as protagonists
emerged.
 They were not intended for children, but traditionally
associated with children´s literature.

 DANIEL DEFOE
 HENRY FIELDING
 JONATHAN SWIFT
 1. DANIEL DEFOE´S ROBINSON CRUSOE

The topic of the novel quite

suitable for kids.

The novel tells the story of a

young Robinson Crusoe, a
son of a merchant who
suffered a shipwreck and is
left alone on the shore of an
island. The rest of the novel
describes his struggle for
surviving.
 2. HENRY FIELDING´S TOM JONES
The plot is fairly basic and can be
presented to students to be familiarised
with the structure of the novel.
Tom Jones is an orphan, brought up by a
wealthy man, Allworthy. It causes jealousy
on the part of his nephew and heir Mr
Blifil. When Jones falls in love with Sofia,
daughter of a neighbour, Blifil’s calumnies
lead Allworthy to throw him out. After
some comic difficulties, everything end
happily.
 3. JONATHAN SWIFT´S GULLIVER TRAVELS.
 The novel will delight young lerners as it is full of adventure
and fantasy.
 It is the most famous example of Swift´s satirical work.

 1st part Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon on a merchant ship,

relates his shipwreck on the island of Lillput.
 2nd part v Gulliver is accidentally left ashore on
Brobdingnag (the inhabitants are as tall as steeps, and everything
else is in proportion).
 3rd part is occupied with a visit to the flying island of
Laputa. Satire against philosophers, men of science, historians.
 Gulliver’s Travels
Swift’s evolution is paralleled by the hero’s progress in the novel

Lilliputans he becomes wary, slowly

awakening to their pride
and vanity
The giants of make him realize
Brobdingang corruption, lost of pride and
self-esteem
The inhabitants of human’s nature can’t be
Laputa reformed
The Yahoos country Swift’s aversion to mankind
19TH CENTURY
 MARY SHELLY’S FRANKENSTEIN
 CHARLES DICKENS A CHRISTMAS CAROL
 OSCAR WILDE THE HAPPY PRINCE AND THE
NIGHTINGALR AND THE ROSE
 THE BROTHERS GRIMM and HANS CHRISTIAN
ANDERSEN
 LEWIS CARROLL ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN
WONDERLAND
 ROBERT LOIS STEVENSON TREASURE ISLAND
 RUDYARD KIPLING THE JUNGLE BOOK
 LOIS MARY ALCOTT LITTLE WOMAN
 MARK TWAIN THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER
 MARY SHELLY’S FRANKENSTEIN

 Stands a landmark because it portrays the modern man, the

modern Prometheus. Apart form this, the frightening
atmosphere and the different film adaptations make of the novel
an appealing tool to be used in the English classroom.
 CHARLES DICKENS A CHRISTMAS CAROL
 Is well known due to his ability to portray the suffering of the
lower classes in theVictorian England.
 A CHRISTMAS CAROL is a novel that can be exploited at
Christmas time in order to deal with celebrations in English
speaking countries.
 Scrooge performs the role of an avaricious and heartless man,
showing no feeling for the Christmas spirit. After he is visited
by the ghost of his former business partner, he sees visions of
the past, present and future that inspire him to become a better
person.
 OSCAR WILDE THE HAPPY PRINCE AND THE
NIGHTINGALR AND THE ROSE
 THE HAPPY PRINCE: tells the story of a prince’s statue who
gave his own jewels to help poor people.
 THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE: the nightingale gives
its own blood in order to provide the red colour to a rose that a
young boy wanted to give to his loved one.
 THE BROTHERS GRIMM and HANS CHRISTIAN
ANDERSEN

 The Brothers Grimm - writing down and preserving oral

traditions in Germany:
 Snowhite
 Rapunzel
 Hansel and Gretel
 Hans Christian Andresen:
 The Little Mermaid
 The Snow Queen
 The Ugly Durkling
 ROBERT LOIS STEVENSON TREASURE ISLAND
 Wrote a classic pirate adventure novel.

 RUDYARD KIPLING THE JUNGLE BOOK

 A collection of stories about a boy who lives in the jungle with animals.

 MARK TWAIN THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER and

THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN.
 A good tool for raising cultural awareness in students.
20 TH CENTURY
 L.FRANK BAUM THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ
 BEATRIX POTTER THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT
 KENNETH GRAHAME THE WIND IN THE WILLOS
 J.M. BARRIE PETER AND WENDY
 C.S. LEWIS CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
 TOLKIEN THE HOBBIT AND THE LORD OF RINGS
 ROAL DAHL CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
 J.K. ROWLING HARRY POTTER
 EOIN COLFER ARTEMIS FOWL
 L.FRANK BAUM THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ
(1900)
 It was the subject of a stage play in 1902 and a film in 1939.
 It is one of the best-known stories in American culture.
 The protagonist of the story tries to find her way back to
Kansas. On her way back she has to solve a set of problems.

 J.M. BARRIE PETER AND WENDY

 Peter Pan magically refuses to grow up and spend his never
ending childhood in the small island Neverland.
 TOLKIEN THE HOBBIT AND THE LORD OF RINGS

 The Hobbit follows the quest of the home-loving Baggins to win

a share of the treasure guardered by the dragon, Smug.
 The Lord of Rings refers to the story’s main antagonist who had
created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power as the
ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of
Middle-earth.
21 century
 EOIN COLFER ARTEMIS FOWL (2001)
 Starring a teenage criminal mastermind named Artemis Fowl II.
Artemis Fowl is a ruthless and extremely intelligent young
criminal whose main goal is the acquisition of money through a
variety of often illegal schemes.
PERIODS, AUTHROS AND GENRES SUITABLE TO BE USED
IN THE ENLGLISH CLASS
 2.2.STRATEGIES TO EXPLOT LITERATURE IN THE ENGLISH
CLASS
 2.2.1. Educational and follow-up potential
 Learning English language and culture
 Learning about other subjects
 Learning about the world
 Learning how to learn
 2.2.2. Using storybooks in the classroom(Ellis, Brewster, 1991):
 Provide a context for the story and introduce the main characters
 Provide visual support
 Explain the context in mother tongue if necessary.
 Identify your linguistic objectives.
 Relate the story with other subject areas.
 Decide in which order to introduce or revise the language necessary
for understanding the story.
 Decide when you will read the story.
 If necessary, modify the story to make it more accessible.
 Include rhymes or songs to reinforce the story.
 Decide about the follow-up activities.
 In order to exploit literature we need to develop some specific
strategies (Duff and Maley, 1999):
 Flexibility: any text can be approached in a different way
depending on the aspect you chose.
 Similarity: all texts have feature in common.
 Developing ides:
 Picture stories: the emphasis is on creation and transformation.
 Discussion activities: the emphasis is on the student’s personal involvement
with a topic.
 Specific strategies or procedures:
 Reconstruction: texts are incomplete or in a defective form.
 Expansion: to add given elements to a text.
 Replacement: remove certain elements and replace them by others.
 Matching: finding correspondences.
 Media Transfer.
3. TYPES OF STORYBOOKS.

 3.1. Criteria for selecting storybooks.

 The texts should always be appropriate to the age, interests and
goals of our pupils.
 Pupils need to be able to read at a reasonable speed (200 words
per minute for extensive reading).
 With our youngest students we should use short, simple texts
with illustrations.
 3.2. Difficulties for the reader

LINGUISTIC DIFFICULTIES

STYLISTIC DIFFICULTIES

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
 LINGUISTIC LEVEL

The vocabulary and Idiomatic language

syntax of the text should be kept at a
should be within our minimum.
pupils’ grasp.
 STYLISTIC LEVEL

It is useless to choose Style analysis should be based

texts of great stylistic on the linguistic features with
complexity for early which our pupils are already
stages. familiar.
 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The understanding of a text can also be

hindered by the lack of the background
knowledge of the English-speaking
countries culture.

Social conventions and customs, attitude and values,

religious and political ideas, geographical features, diet
and dress, historical background, etc.
 To use literature in the class:
 Pupils should be able to infer the meaning of the most unknown
words from the context.
 We must also bear in mind complex structure.
 Both sentence structure and vocabulary must be at a level they can
understand in order to use classic masterpieces.
 To find out if the text is suitable from the linguistic point of view we
can use a cloze test (Hill, 1986).
 Take an extract from the text and delete words from the passage
on a regular basis (al least 50 deletions). I
o More than 57% correct - pupils can read on their own
o Between 44 -57% - can read with the dictionary help.
o Below 44% - cannot read the text.
 3.2. Types of texts.
 Ellis and Brewster (1991) have classified the storybooks
under 3 headings:

 Narrative features
 Content
 Lay-out
 According to narrative features:
 Rhyming words
 Repeating structures
 Cumulative content and language
 Interactive
 Humorous
 According to content:
 Everyday life
 Animal stories
 Fairy tales
 Fantasy
 According to lay-out:
 Flap
 Cut-away pages
 Minimal text
 No text
 Speech bubbles
 3.2.1. Authentic vs. non-authentic texts

 The main text typology is the one that distinguishes between

authentic and non-authentic texts.

 Authentic material are those which have been produced

for purposes other than to teach language.
 A non-authentic text is the one that has been designed
especially for language learners.
 The question of levels
Naturally certain texts will lend themselves more easily to certain levels.
At lower levels some possibilities include leaflets, timetables, menus, short
headline type reports, audio and video advertising, or short news broadcasts.
The task should be simple and relatively undemanding, and it is important to
pre-teach key vocabulary so as to prevent panic.
At more intermediate levels this list could be expanded to include longer
articles, four or five minute TV or radio news reports, a higher quantity of
shorter items, or even whole TV programmes, if your copyright agreements
allow it. Again pre-teaching is important, although your students should be able
to deal with unknown vocabulary to some extent.
At higher levels it's a case of anything goes. At an advanced level students
should have some tactics for dealing with new vocabulary without panicking,
but it's still useful to have a few quick definitions to hand for some of the
trickier stuff!
 Advantage and Disadvantages of Using Authentic
Materials
Advantages Disadvantages
 They have a positive effect on  Often too culturally biased,
learner motivation. difficult to understand outside
 They provide authentic the language community.
cultural information.  Vocabulary might no be
 They provide exposure to real relevant to the student`s
language. immediate needs.
 They relate more closely to  Too many structures are
learners ' needs. mixed so lower levels have
 They support a more creative problems decoding the texts.
approach to teaching.  Special preparation is
necessary, can be time
consuming.
 Non-Authentic Material
Non-authentic materials are those that are specifically
designed for the language learners. They are either
adapted or simplified or written keeping in mind
the language proficiency of the learners in question.

Edited materials can be classified into simulated

authentic and artificial.
 Simulated authentic texts are those that appear to
be a authentic.
 Artificial texts are made to illustrate a particular
language point.
 To foster the acquisition of communicative
competence texts must at least be simulated
authentic.