Teaching Language through Literature to Tertiary Level Students: A Study on English Language Teaching in Cumilla Region of Bangladesh

English has become a global language in the present world. Teaching English language is not a new issue in Bangladesh. It has become a challenge to teach English language to the non-English speaking countries including Bangladesh as the demand of this language has increased after the World War II. The researchers have been developed so many ways of developing teaching and learning foreign languages. Literature in teaching language plays a vital role in developing the concepts and ideology of the language teachers and learners. The students can develop their consciousness regarding language use as well as building their good communication skills in order to achieve the foreign language. This study focuses on examining the great resources in language teaching including literature, film and others. The researcher tries to evaluate on how literature can be termed as a great resource in teaching for developing different skills of the students such as Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. It also includes the distinct areas of other skills. For example: Vocabulary, Pronunciation and Grammar. In Bangladesh English language is taught in different ways at different levels. This study is a mixed method approach conducted in the Cumilla region of Bangladesh. Data has been collected from the students and teachers of three different institutions located in Cumilla through the questionnaire method. The researcher has taken interviews from the experienced faculty members. After analyzing the data the researcher has found some problems and probable solutions to these problems. Based the outcome of this research, the researcher has given some recommendations for this specific field of teaching language through literature in the EFL context in our country Bangladesh.

To reexamine the benefits of using literary texts in language classroom. To find out the interest of the students for studying literary texts to develop their language skills. To find out the problems and probable solutions of teaching language through literature.

1.3: Research Questions:
Why literature is important for the students to develop their language skills? What are the benefits of adopting literary texts in their task and how does it help the learners to develop their proficiency? Why are the students backward in reaching the great literary resource in their way of developing their target language?
What are the problems of teaching English through literature and probable solutions to it?

1.4: Significance of the study:
Language teaching is truly an important matter in the present world. In the 21 st century people are much aware about modern Science and technology. Most of the activities like education, business, and international communication of the present world occur in English. Nobody can deny the importance of English in the present world of communication and technology. Teaching English to the students of other languages like Bangladeshi students has become a matter of study. Most notably the researchers are finding a better way of developing English in this country as well as other nonnative speakers of English. Teaching language through literature is also a new approach for our country Bangladesh. In this study it has connected the present issue and the best way of developing the targeted language.

1.5: Limitations of the Study
The sample of the study is small in size which has been taken from only Comilla, an ancient city of Bangladesh. It would be better if the sample is chosen from the whole country as well. Here more teachers and students could be included in this study to reflect the total ratio of the country. Because of the time limitation and budget, the study could not be conducted throughout the whole country with a large group of teachers and students. It is really a matter of limitation for the researcher to conduct this study within the deadline. That's why it has been conducted shortly in Comilla. However, some teachers are very much interested in providing data while others are afraid of giving proper information.
Chapter 02: Literature Review 2.1. Related works in Teaching Language through Literature: McRae (1994) says that literary texts are representational rather than referential. Referential language is very informational and as a result, less appealing. On the other hand, representational language appeals to one's emotions and this is extremely interesting. Referential language appeals to the imagination of students and makes them empathetic towards the society as a whole. Rote learning can be replaced by participative learning. Students can be encouraged to participate in skits, one act plays, presentations, etc. once they have a good command over the prescribed literary texts. Literature expands language awareness. Asking learners to examine sophisticated or nonstandard examples of language (which can occur in literary texts) makes them more aware of the norms of language use (Widdowson, 1975quoted by Lazar 1993.
Literary texts may be selected based on interest and relevance to students. The level of students should be checked thoroughly before prescribing any literary texts. It is suggested that the texts be slightly shorter so that the students make optimum use of them before the stipulated time. Meticulous planning is necessary to ensure that the learners get literary texts that are culturally appropriate.
Duff and Maley (2007) raise a wide variety of questions to analyze the congruity of suggesting certain literary texts for students. Some of the questions are: 1. Is the material really interesting for the learners? 2. Is the literary style comprehensible? 3. Is it possible to complete the text within the schedule? Duff and Maley (2007) also propose easy tasks to stimulate the interest of students. One should proceed gradually from easy tasks to difficult tasks. Teachers can completely exploit the material by conducting brainstorming sessions, pre-reading tasks etc. for the benefit of students.
Pulverness (2003) offers valuable advice for teachers to make learning English language a joyful journey. In order to draw the attention of students, teachers are expected to pay a lot of attention to pre-reading tasks, icebreakers etc. Students can be encouraged to modify the texts, change the ending etc. using their creativity, ingenuity etc.
The discourse that literature can be helpful in the learning of foreign languages has evoked divergent views.
Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.13, No.2, 2022 It is widely believed that the study of language has to be in accordance with and with special reference to the needs of the language learners. There have been different points of views about the place of literature or literary texts in the foreign language or second language curriculum.
Prof. Charles Blatchford of the Department of English as a second language at the University of Hawaii (1972) opines, "The study of English literature is a luxury that cannot be indulged during the limited amount of time allocated to English". Culture and language learning studies prove that linguistics and literary studies touch at various points. As professor Blatchford argues: "the linguistic interest of culture learning is broader, its approach more scientific and pragmatic, but there is no reason why it should not include in its scope the literary uses of language". (Blatchforld 1972) According to Collie and Slater (1990:3), there are four main reasons which lead a language teacher to use literature in the classroom. These are valuable authentic material, cultural enrichment, language enrichment and personal involvement. In addition to these four main reasons, universality, non-triviality, personal relevance, variety, interest, economy and suggestive power and ambiguity are some other factors requiring the use of literature as a powerful resource in the classroom context.

Related works in Bangladesh:
Teaching language is not a recent issue in Bangladesh where Teaching Language through literature has become a very recent issue to be noticed. It is to be mentioned that many researchers tried to find out the issue in their research. It is viewed that not much research on teaching language through literature has been conducted. Only recently it has begun to get some significance.
Nusrat (2012) tried to find out the gap between literature and language in teaching. She also explained the use of literary resources in the classroom activities as well as developing language proficiency. The objective of this research was to explore the possibilities, problems and solutions of using literature of the students at undergraduate level. It is thus expected that this empirical research will directly connect us with the actual condition of our language class for implications on how literary resources can be exploited. She conducted the survey in 2012 on approximately ten private and public universities, twenty English teachers and two hundred students at random under four different sets of survey questionnaires from the capital city, Dhaka.
Prof. Matiur Rahman (2015) in his article titled "Language in the study of Literature" views, "Language after all a skilled based subject where Literature is not. Unfortunately, many of us tend to forget the basic differences between two and mix-up or confuse one with the other." Accordingly, he also mentions" Language learning is technical in nature whereas literature is not mainly because it involves a considerable amount of intellectual exercise including language proficiency." Prof. Dr Syed Manzurul Islam (2013) in an article named "Problem of Teaching English Literature in Bangladesh" says "Without a Proper understanding of the language literature can never be appreciated and without some literature content language studies tent to become a matter of mass communication". He also says "It is good that we are finally realizing the problems of language gaps that exist in our literature students and also among students and we are doing something about it". Alam (2007) in his long analysis of ELT, critiques the Western ELT experts, readymade formula for EFL/ESL learners to justify the usefulness of using literature 'their way' and their constant changing of teaching methods, e.g., from Grammar-Translation method to the present day CLT approach. Although he mainly speaks for secondary and higher secondary levels, he does not specifically mention teaching approach of tertiary level. His paper points towards a very important issue of using South Asian Literature in English or Translations which are more relevant to our students' experience. He also provides an interesting list of literature written in English from Bangladesh and West Bengal and how they can be exploited in the English classes.
Shahidullah (1991) focuses on the potential of teaching literary pieces to develop English skills. His lesson plan and class activities on the poem "Crabbed Age and Youth" by William Shakespeare are prepared for Foundation Course (FC) language students. The activities made are not aided to involve students of English Major (EM) for critical analysis or cultivating interpretative ability on specific linguistic features of the literary text. He points out how literature as resource material can facilitate language use. However, he does not provide learners with any tool or checklist for developing critical appreciation of form and content, themes and techniques.
Yeasmin, Azad and Ferdoush (2011) conducted research at ASA University Bangladesh on the specific field. Their aim was to emphasize the effectiveness of using literature in EFL classes through a case study on the project "Readers Development Program '' of the British Council, Bangladesh. They focused on the concept of teaching language through literature implemented through various classroom activities from the simplified version of classic texts in English. It reviews the arguments for using literature in the language classroom. They found that literary texts provide wide scope to explore multidimensional use of the language. Literary pieces, especially stories are more attractive and fascinating than other teaching materials and allow group discussions and individual explorations. They offer real language use, which creates a feeling for the language in the students. In their study, tasks were designed for the students based on literary texts which provided ample opportunities for developing Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.13, No.2, 2022 13 and practicing speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Why is literature useful in language learning?
There are three main criteria that justify the use of literature as a second language teaching tool (Duff and Maley 1990: 6). In the first place, the linguistic criterion defends that literature should be used in language teaching, because it provides the learner with genuine, authentic samples of language, and also with real samples of a wide range of styles, text types and registers. It is extremely important for foreign language learners to be trained in a variety of registers, styles and genres and to be able to discern the function of each of them. These different manifestations of language are not only distinctive linguistically, but also socially, they all have a social communicative function (Sanz and Fernández 1997). This has to do with the notion of adequacy. It refers to the fact that a message needs to be linguistically correct and situationally appropriate, as regards not only its content, but also its form.
The second criterion is methodological and refers to the fact that a literary text has multiple interpretations, these generate different opinions among the learners and this leads to real, motivated interaction with the text, with the fellow students and with the teacher (Widdowson 1983). Interaction is one of the bases of the communicative approach which defends that it is by interacting, by communicating, that the language is learned (Sanz and Fernández 1997).
From the methodological point of view, further aspects that favor the use of literature in the language classroom are the active role of the learner and the literary text as the central focus of attention. Learners become active, autonomous, and central to the learning process. One aspect of special importance within the communicative approach, and that is magnificently reflected in the poem at stake, is the idea of literature supplying the learner with cultural information about the country whose language they are learning (Lazar 1993: 16). Poetry is fictional and, therefore, we must be very careful when treating this point in the classroom, for sometimes its relation to the real world is rather lax. Our response to the cultural aspect as reflected in literature should be critical (Lazar 1993: 17).
Finally, the motivational criterion is of great relevance because the literary text shows the real feelings of the writer and this generates a powerful motivation in the learner. With the literary text the student accesses this personal experience, if she is touched by the theme and provoked, she will be able to relate what she is reading to her world, to what she knows and feels. Designing stimulating activities that motivate the learners is the greatest challenge for language teachers, and literature has a strong motivating power due to it calling on personal experience.

2.4: Literature
Literature is an umbrella term giving information on every business. (Moody: 1971). Literature is the most important branch of knowledge where the author exposes his or her philosophy to give information as well as the true view of the society. It is such a form of knowledge which gives immense pleasure to the readers and audience. The main purpose of literature is to instruct and to give pleasure. Pramoth Chawdhury, a Bengali famous writer, says "The main purpose of literature is to give pleasure and get pleasure". Actually, in language teaching literature is mostly important because it makes the classroom work very interesting and beneficial to the language development. According to Mathew Arnold, "Literature is the criticism of life".
It enriches the way of interpretation of life. Literature is a body of written works. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter. Simply, literature represents the culture and tradition of a language or a people.
country Bangladesh at tertiary level, this study has been conducted through the questionnaire and interview within the students and teachers. The researcher has collected data from three different universities namely Comilla University, Bangladesh, Britania University and Victoria Collage, Comilla (National University). Therefore, the questionnaires are prepared for both the Teachers and Student, where the questions are mostly close ended. This study also included the interviews of the language teachers who are working as language teachers at different public and private universities.

3.2: Sample Design
This research is conducted in Comilla, Bangladesh. The data has been collected from three different universities. The Participants are chosen from the undergraduate level students and their respective teachers. The number of student's responses is 200 and teachers' responses are 20. From the twenty teachers, ten are chosen from the field of ELT (English Language Teaching) and ten are chosen from EL (English Literature). Hence, all the participants both the teachers and students willingly participated in the research. The responders are assured by the researcher that this data would be used only for research purposes.

3.3: Research Instruments
The researcher has used questionnaire methods for the students and for the teachers including Interviews to the Teachers as the instrument of collecting data. To find out the answers to the questions, data has been collected using questionnaire technique. Questionnaires are distributed to the students and teachers in order to find out the actual scenario of the teaching and learning as well as finding answers to the research questions.

3.4: Survey
The researcher has conducted the survey in the methodology of the Questionnaire along with the Teacher's Interview. Here the study formulates two questionnaires one for the students and another for the teachers. As the questionnaire data is more popular and effective to conduct a survey. The researcher has chosen this appropriate mythology for this study. As it is a questionnaire form of data collecting process, the students and the teachers feel comfortable to provide their opinions regarding the study. Accordingly, the participants also get some ideas and pleasure for the current concerning issue in language teaching. Here the researcher has given the questionnaires to the students and teacher for filling up the questionnaires. Then they asked to provide their response regarding the questions. Here the Likert Scale has been used for collecting data from both the teachers and students by the researcher. They are: Categories Always Sometimes Neutral Seldom Never No. 1 2 3 4 5

3.5: Interview
For collecting more evidence, the researcher has taken Interviews from the teachers who have experiences in teaching language and literature. To get some suggestive information regarding the problems and the solutions to this problem, the interview is a very common and easy way to collect data. However, the researcher has asked about ten questions related to the topic and taken some footnotes. In this way data has been collected.  Vol.13, No.2, 2022 skills of the students of the tertiary level in Bangladesh. According to the response, most of the students think that using literary texts is essential for them to improve their language skills. As Van (2009) in his research also views that the use of literary texts in EFL classrooms makes it more effective and more enjoyable.
In addition, the large number of students always loves reading short stories, poems, or novels where others also prefer sometimes which is found in the study. As it shows that a significant portion of students prefer literary texts, there is a possibility to develop their language through literature. By studying literature the students can enhance their knowledge about different culture and tradition as well as the different history of the world. Accordingly, it also helps students to develop their understanding of philosophy and ideology.
Furthermore, it has been found that most of the students think studying literature can provide a great opportunity to build up one's language proficiency. They can improve different vocabularies and enrich their range of using low frequency words in their writing skill which certainly provide competency in language. Listening stories from the literary texts from the teachers and friends can also build up their listening skills.
Moreover, studying literature makes ones aware of using grammar in various contexts. The students can have the benefits of knowing different structures and use them in their everyday communications. It also helps them to know many expressions of targeted language which in fact give opportunity to improve speaking skills.

5.2: Discussion based on the Teachers' Response
In response to the number one question to the teachers, the study has found that most of the teachers think using literary texts is important while the lowest number of the teachers seldom think so. There is no teacher found to say never here. Accordingly, the second question also provides a vivid result regarding giving pleasure to the students. Here, it is also found that the highest percentage of the teacher always thinks that literature gives language proficiency. Additionally, the response of the third question is also important as it shows that the highest number of the teacher sometimes tells stories from the literary texts. The response of the fourth question represents the highest number of teachers who always instruct their students to write summary and critical comment where the fifth question represents the majority who think that literary texts improve one's ideology and philosophy.
In response to question number six, it is seen that most of the teachers think that language and literature are interrelated and interconnected which 60%. The fewest teachers seldom think that they are so. After the response to question number seven, it also illustrates that 70%, which is in fact the most amount, inspire their students to study literature. Accordingly, the response of question number eight also provides a strong support on watching and listening which improves the students' listening and speaking. However, the last response of question number ten also gives support that 65% teachers always think that studying literature increases the student's vocabulary which is the highest amount of the percentage of the survey.
Finally, in an open-ended question regarding the problems of teaching English through literature are found greatly where the teachers have commented differently in respectively. The research has already mentioned these problems in Section Four in paragraph 4.2. After all, the study has found that there are so many problems teaching language in Bangladesh but there is a great possibility of teaching successfully through literature. There should be some pragmatic approach and proper outline for teaching language through literature in this country Bangladesh. This finding of the research generally proposed the recommendation to the teachers, students as well as to the authority of the tertiary level education in the country.

5.3: Discussion based on the teachers' interview:
In response to the interview question number one most of the teachers agree with the statement that they think teaching language through literature is possible. In the second and the third question they reply that literary texts are helpful materials and they always suggest their students to read various literary texts to improve their reading skills. In response to question number four, they negatively answer and say that because of the lack of the well equipment in the classroom they cannot use electronic devices in the class. In answer to question number five they elaborately explain about the benefits of using literary texts in the classroom. They say that literary texts are great resources and these can be a great use in the language teaching classroom. The response to the other questions the researcher also has some important indications to developing the study. They say that for developing different skills in language, the literary texts are really helpful and they propose that selection of the literary text is a great challenge. So, in selecting the texts, the curriculum builders of course should follow the needs of the students and contents as well.

5.4: Discussion based on the research questions:
First of all, there are four research questions of the study. The first question is regarding the importance of literature for developing language skills. The study finds that there are a lot of benefits of using literature in the language classroom. Because the response of the research shows that it centrally develops speaking, listening, writing and reading. So, the answer is mostly positive in the case of using literature in the language classroom.
Secondly, the next question is also about the benefits of adopting literary texts in the language classroom activities and how it helps the learners to develop their proficiency. In answering the question this study also finds that using literary texts improves grammatical range, vocabulary, expression, as well as new culture. It can be said that the proposed study reflects and rethinks the present teaching techniques and methods. Finally, the third question is about the reasons for the backwardness of the students in literacy resources. To find the answer, the study can focus on the problems of teaching language through literature mentioned in section four in the open-ended question's answer of the teachers. Here, the study finds some problems between the teachers and the students as well as the authority too. So, by following the recommendations of the study, the backwardness can be solved and an appropriate approach towards literature may be developed.

5.5: Some problems of teaching language through literature:
The problems those are found in the last open-ended question are given below: The Curriculum of our country is not supportive of using literature in language classrooms. The teacher has an important role in teaching English through literature. First, he should determine the aim of language teaching in relation to the needs and expectations of the students. Giving a questionnaire or interviewing with the students orally, the teacher can set up the aim and the objectives of the language teaching. Second, he should select the appropriate language teaching method, teaching techniques, and classroom activities. Then, the teacher should select the literary texts relevant to the aim and the objectives of his teaching. While selecting literary texts to be used in language classroom, the students' language proficiency, interests, age, sex, etc should be taken into account in order not to bore students with inappropriate materials. At elementary levels, for example, students should be given simplified or specially written stories. At advanced levels, however, students are given literature in its original form so that they can develop their literary competence in the target language. To put it another way, students learn practically the figurative and daily use of the target language in the literary texts and encounter different genres of literature (i.e. poems, short stories, plays, etc.) at advanced levels. Observing how characters in a play or a short story use figures of speech, such as simile, metaphor, metonymy, etc. so as to express their communicative intention, students learn how to write English more clearly, creatively, and powerfully.
Literary texts include cultural uses of linguistic expressions such as stylistics, pragmatics and semantics. This social communication reflects the usage of different language aspects in the literary texts. Moreover, in the study of language and culture, literary study can make a valuable contribution in tracing the development of the language in all its components and skills. What is more important is that, non-native students need to be exposed to various literary texts in order to be able to consider the others' culture in their international communication. Therefore, the non-native learners' curriculum should include teaching literary texts or literature to facilitate such international communication for the students. Furthermore, literature consists of some lexical items and expressions, which cannot be found in the linguistic texts. Literary texts and literature texts contextualized and socialized language items and lead naturally to the use of actual words and expressions in real situations.
Literary texts are found to be a good resource to facilitate language teaching and learning. In this study, classic stories used with the Tertiary Level students in three renowned Colleges for the purpose of teaching English are found beneficial. The texts provide authentic materials and offer rich context of language use. The literary texts help the students to learn the language in context and they feel comfortable and free. Students go beyond the surface meaning and dive into the underlying meaning.
The universal issues discussed in literature expand the horizon of knowledge of the students and promote cultural enrichment. Literature fosters empathy, tolerance and awareness of global problems. Working with literature involves the students to use their interpretive ability which also instigates multidimensional development of the skills of language by stimulating imagination, broadening their mind.