Teaching Language through Literature to Tertiary level students: A Study on English Language Teaching in Cumilla region of Bangladesh

Abstract

English has become a global language in the present world. Teaching English language is not a new issue in Bangladesh. Because of the growing demand for English after World War II, teaching English to non-English speaking nations, such as Bangladesh, has become a challenge. The researchers have devised a plethora of methods for improving foreign language teaching. 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 research evaluates on how literature can be terned 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 including 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. To conduct the research, interviews from the experienced faculty members have been taken. After analyzing the data, some problems have been figured out proposing probable solutions to these problems. Based on the outcome of this research, some recommendations are suggested for this specific field of teaching language through literature in the EFL context in Bangladesh.

Key Words: Literature, Language, Culture, Literary resources, Language Skills, ELT, EFL, Literary texts.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-2-02

Publication date: January 31^st 2022