Failure of Exploiting Literature in English for Today for Developing Language Skills at the Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels of Education in Bangladesh: Exploring Reasons

Abstract

Literature is a productive and viable medium in the language classroom. The English for Today textbooks at the secondary and higher secondary levels of education in Bangladesh have significant number of literary works for being used for achieving linguistic skills. But unfortunately, things in the real ELT classroom are utterly frustrating. Both teachers and students try to avoid the literary contents included in the textbooks. Thus, both of them are being deprived of the pleasure ?and possibility of exploiting literature for acquiring language skills. Again, most of the researches carried out in this field in our context have avoided this issue and have gone through the possibility of using literature in ELT class, not considering the practicality. This study has shed light on the practical ELT field and tried to find out the causes of avoiding the literary contents included in the textbooks and suggest the language policy planners of Bangladesh in this respect.

Keywords: English for Today, literary contents, language skills, teachers, learners etc.