How Literature Might Be Useful in Developing Reading Skills in ESL Classroom - Term Paper Example

Introduction In 1991, Carter & Long stated that English is an important communication tool and laying emphasis on literature readings helps to evolve the reading mechanism. Many debates and studies have been conducted in the same direction which highlights the different methods and mechanism through which literature reading can benefit ESL learners and the manner through which students can benefit. One area of research includes the manner in which literature helps to transform the way in which fluency is achieved and shapes the learning mechanism for ESL students. Students learning English encounter certain difficulties as grasping the language becomes difficult for them. The magnitude of the problem magnifies when fluency and connotation of different words is to be studied. This brings forward the importance of literature reading for foreign students learning English. There have been different proponents who have proposed different views regarding the importance of literature readings and the manner in which literature helps to develop reading skills in ESL classrooms. The students learning ESL have a generalized idea about the mechanism in which literature can help to develop reading skills and a more integrated approach will help to improve the reading skills. Continued research in the field of literature reading and the influence it has on ESL learning has highlighted the different areas that need to be worked and developed so that ESL students are able to achieve maximum results and helps to bring about the required transformation in the learning skills. After reading through various articles, I have identified the different areas which will facilitate reading skills. Most of the previous research focused students belonging to a particular country and didn’t look towards bringing students from different countries together which would have ensured better results and would have developed reading skills. The significance of this study is that it will help to identify the different literature according to the requirements of the students. Identifying the correct literature will facilitate the teachers to ensure that their effort are directed in the correct direction and helps to develop the required reading skills in ESL students. Research Question My research question includes: 1. Will students who use literature review will be able to develop their reading skills? 2. The different mechanism which will help ESL learners to develop their reading skills? 3. What are the students’ reactions towards the proposition of using literature for ESL development? Literature Review There are numerous views on the manner in which literature influences English Learner language and the different approaches being taken by different studies bring forth different results. An experiment carried by Salvin & Cheung (2005) over the comparison between bilingual and English only reading programs brings forward a different connotation. The study states that 13 respondents favored elementary reading skills for students from the Spanish origin. Another 9 favored bilingual approaches and 4 respondents showed no difference. This study stresses forth the point that having bilingual teaching mechanism through English and native language helps to increase fluency and helps to develop the learning skills of a student. The importance of this methodology multiplies when students are told to read literatures which help to build the required communicate skills thereby enabling fluency. A doubt regarding the success of English language learners across all students will be cleared by further studies in the same direction as it will highlight the changes and the manner different languages influences the readers. Fluency in reading is an important criterion which helps to ensure whether the reader is able to understand and decode the sentences. A study shows that repeated reading helps to develop prosodic and syntactic knowledge (Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2010). The value of reading multiplies when a student is able to decode the message as the time when he is reading it. The value multiplies when students read literature. Choosing the correct literature helps to build students interaction with other group members by focusing on experiences and language development (Kim, 2004). This can be developed by ensuring that students gradually move from the books having easy language to the more sophisticated ones (Dunkelblau, 2007). Doing so ensures that the students prepares for the tougher words and helps to build fluency with basic knowledge about the language. This develops the response towards personal connections, cross cultural themes, interpretations, and evaluation of text (Kim, 2004). Literature reading helps to create a halo effect as visualized in Vietnam where ESL learners were able to comprehend message better as they were able to understand the words fluently. This was substantiated by a study across 30 students which demonstrated similar tendencies and improvement in their reading skills (Gorsuch & Taguchi, 2010). A weakness of this study is that it was concentrated mainly on onel country and didn’t cover the feeling and perceptions of people elsewhere. An area to work out here which will improve future learning skills is by conducting a study on different section of people from different countries to see whether a same effect is created upon a group or not. The above mentioned problem was mitigated to a certain extent where students from different background, having different reading experiences, differences in culture, ethnic and other form expressed similar problems with regard to reading and were unable to understand the questions put across them (Dunkelblau, 2007). This provides certain knowledge in the same direction but still lacks the required study to identify the effect literature had on students and the manner it has helped to develop the reading skills. This brings forward another question regarding the books that will help to develop the reading skills. It was found that books that increase public interest and helps to develop the required spark that will help in developing reading skills (Ponder, Marshall, Rafeld & Maus, 1995). I also feel that using the appropriate books based on the experience and skiils of the students helps to provide the appropriate results and guide the students towards picking up tougher books. This is further developed when the students start to read the appropriate literature for adults. The value of literature reading multiplies when the readers are able to visualize pictures and have a copy of the same that can be used for future references (Ponder, Marshall, Rafeld & Maus, 1995). Along with it; while choosing a literature it is important to ensure that the literature creates interest in readings and encourage the students to speak with his family regarding the same so that he is able to develop a personal connection. Thus, the mere fact that literature reading helps to develop relations; increases the likelihood of students gaining from reading the correct literature. This has been supported by a reading which brings forward the fact that having the correct literature that helps to develop an interaction between the reader and text develops personal interest (McKay, 2007). This is supported by a study which brings forward the fact that literature helps to improve ESL learning (Hismanoglu, 2005). This was seen in a classroom setting where students who read the Alchemist to begin the language learning process were able to gain immensely. The book invoked interest and interaction between the reader and the text thereby making the students to use it appropriately and increase their curiosity and learning experience (Dunkelblau, 2007). This makes the role of teachers to multiply as they need to concentrate on the minute of details to ensure that literature fosters better learning skills. Having the correct literature helps to ensure that vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation improves. This goes in a long way to improve the understanding of the language. Literature also contains different genres of poetry, novel, and drama which helps to build interest and develops the required framework which invokes interest for the students. This highlights an area which needs to be researched further. It brings forward a research question as to the effect different genres has on different students. This increases the importance of using the correct literature; which has the correct genres and matches to the requirements of the students. A research carried out in this direction will help to find out the different genres which has an effect on students from different regions; which will thereby increase the relevance of literature reading for ESL learning. Some findings in the same direction bring forward a different perception and mechanism which will help to improve the relevance of literature review. This has been tested on a classroom setting where including different pedagogy in the learning mechanism; helps to bring popularity of literature reading for ESL learners. Using the Story Grammar and Reader Response ensures that a rationale approach is developed where different facets of the learning are stressed upon (Amer, 2003). The genres which students prefer help to develop the required interaction between the reader and the text (Carrell, 1984). This helps to develop an expository prose for native language and builds the required knowledge bases that will facilitate reading habits. This helps to develop a conceptual approach toward literature readings and helps to find a mechanism through which the different genres used by students can be identified and worked upon. This will help the students accept literature reading easily and will facilitate the required changes in their reading mechanism. This creates a question in my mind and the manner in which the required genres will have an effect on students from different regions like Spain, Arabia or China. Some studies in this direction bring forward different results in relation to rheotoric patterns in non-native readers. This creates a situation where students from different regions have a liking towards different genres and identifying the correct prose according to the requirements of the students is a difficult aspect.It also raises another question about literature review and the manner in which it has an influence across all readers. Some studies demonstrate that the difference in perception has a large effect on the benefit students’ gain from literature reading. Students learning ESL is of the view that literature are meant for higher level studies (Ghasemi, 2006). This is a wrong connotation and identifying the correct prose that matches the students’ requirements helps to develop students even at the early stages. An area which further needs to be researched in the same direction is the degree to which literature learning has an effect on ESL learners. The case specifically needs to identify for students who are new to the course and have little experience in literature reading. Identifying the degree to which literature has an influence on new learners will help to improve the understanding and mechanism through which learners of ESL are able to develop their learning skills. This was a factor which had little or no relevance in the 70’s and 80’s as literature was hardly used for ESL learners. The restructuring in the learning pedagogy brought about a major change in the way teaching was imparted. Using literature reading as a part helped to ensure that ESL students were able to understand better and develop the required knowledge and skills that would shape their language. This was done through a study which brought the result that using literature helps to develop communicative skills as it contains literary works and article which a student can use and develop his communication (Ubukawa & Ishida, 2003). Changing the volume of literature according to the association of students with the foreign language helps to bring the required changes and makes it easy for them to confront with the changes and requirements of a new language. This has a slight drawback as using it upon different customs and perceptions of people is unidentified and the effect it will have is still to be studied. Using the correct literature; based on the experience of the students ensures that they are able to use it in composition writing. This increased the use of literature for ESL students and is seen to be included in the ESL programs (Spack, 1985). Some readings point out that using extensive literature readings in the ESL classroom helps to develop the required interactive level among students but needs to be applied in the most orderly way so that the chances of error and boredom reduces (Gajdusek, 1988). Using an orderly approach towards literature helps to build the required knowledge base in students and develops them; by using the literature along with the ESL theory thereby enabling to bring the required crosses cultural awareness. Reading the literature helps the students to learn different terminologies which bring professionalism to their writing. It thereby helps to improve the relationship between the reader and the text and helps to develop the students’ vocabulary. The increased use of literature brings about the intellectual transformations and helps the students to build their developments around it. The findings highlights the strengths possessed by the study as it brings forward the notion that using literature reading in classroom develops the students desire towards the words and builds them to take up tougher words. This brings to a discussion where using literature readings only for the native language or foreign language or integration of both the language helps to develop the required skills among students. Some findings in the same direction suggest that using the correct perception, content learning and the integration of language helps to improve the relevancy of literature readings (Liang, Mohan & Early, 1998). A study which shows the growing importance of literature readings shows that foreign universities teaching ESL students look forward towards using more authentic literature in classrooms (Fogal, 2010). Using the three needs to be decided carefully so that the interracial and intercultural relationship between the two languages develops; and helps the students to understand the language better. Universities are laying stress on using more authentic literature to ensure that benefit fromreading literature magnifies and will help to bring about the required changes in the learning pattern. This also brings forward a finding which shows that students are more supportive towards using literature in their studies which helps to develop their basic understanding of language. This will thereby help to build the required necessary framework which will help to ensure that students are able to develop their learning skills. After reading the different articles on the way literature helps to develop ESL learning I found certain gaps in the research. I found that most of the articles were stressing on the mere fact that using literature helps to bild the rquired communicative skills among students. An area which I feel needs to be looked into; is the manner in which literature reading has a bearing on students and using it in a setting of students from different cultures and countries help to develop the required reading skills. This will help to find out whether a particular literature suits all the students belonging to different cultures or changes need to be done to ensure that they are able to gain from it.Most of the findings conducted previously was based on students from a particular community or region so bringing together all the students having different age and experience profile will help to understand the underlying fact that motivates students towards reading literature and will help to ensure that the sample data is wide and varied which will provide more consistent results. Expected Result / Significance The study will take place in a classroom setting where students belonging to different culture and race will be brought together. Special care will be given to ensure that people have a different native language and different age so that the relevance of the study increases. The entire batch of students will be treated as one so that the deviations if any can be ascertained. Further to ensure that the results provide the expected significance special care will be taken to ensure that students having different age profiles and experiences are taken and the experiment is conducted in a classroom setting so that the result can be tested for different factors in the classroom. I expect that the group will produce the required results and the gap will be filled. I expect that the entire batch of student will help to identify the manner in which different literature has an influence on different readers belonging to different races. This will help to identify the influence culture has and will make it identify the kind of literature preferred by a particular group of students in comparison to others. Along with it the study will help to demonstrate the way literature reading has an influence on different age and experiences thereby providing more concrete results which can be used across different classroom setting. I also expect that the above study will help to identify the manner in which literature has an influence on different age group based on their experience with the foreign language. This will help to provide the required direction that will help to find out the appropriate literature based on the requirements for each culture and experience. On the whole I expect the result to show the required result and throw light on the important findings that can have an influence in using literature for ESL learning and the manner through which it will provide maximum gain. Conclusion The readings from different reviews and studies bring forward different findings in different directions which help to highlight the mode in which literature influences ESL learning. Using the appropriate literature based on the experience and requirement of the students makes it easy to ensure acceptability within the students. To ensure maximum efficiency the role of the teachers multiplies as they have to identify the different mechanism which will help to find out the literature for each student. Also using different mechanism like students’ requirements, fiction and drama helps to build the required interest and develops the students towards using it for ESL learning. Reading literature helps the students to develop the communicative skills by ensuring that they are able to read fluently. Reading the correct literature will help to shape the perception of the students and will ensure that communicative skills is developed which will help the students to take use of extensive literature to build their future. There are still some grey areas which need to be worked upon and further study in this direction will help to provide the necessary impetus to literature reading. An area which needs to be worked upon is the relevance of literature on the reading skills of people from different countries having different perceptions. This will help to find out the correct literature which will help to develop the reading skills of students belonging to different countries. This will enable the teachers to guide the students in reading the correct literature which will help to build the fluency required in ESL learning. It will thereby ensure the required transformation in the readings skills and will help the ESL learners to improve their understanding of the language. References Amer, A. (2003). Teaching ESL/ESL Literature. The Reading Matrix, 3 (2), 63-73 Carrell, P. (1984). The effect of Rhetorical Organization on ESL Readers. Teachers of English to Speakers of other Languages, Inc (TESOL), 18 (3), 441-469 Dunkelblau, H. (2007). ESL Students discover the Rewards of Reading through Reader Response Journals. Education for meaning & social justice, 20 (2), 50-56 Fogal, G. (2010). ESL Literature Studies: Students feedback on teaching methodology. Asian EFL Journal, 12 (4) Gorsuch, G. & Taguchi, E. (2010). Developing reading fluency and comprehension using repeated readings: Evidence from longitudinal student reports. Language Training Research, 14 (1), 27-59 Ghasemi, P. (2006). The role of Literature based Program in the ESL Classroom. Islamic Azad University, Roudhen Branch Gajdusek, L. (1988). Towards wider use of literature in ESL: Why & How. TESOL Quarterly, 22 (2), 227-257 Hismanoglu, M. (2005). Teaching English through Literature. Journal of Language & Linguistic Studies, 1 (1), 53-66 Kim, M. (2004). Literature Discussions in Adult L2 Learning. Language & Education, 18 (2), 145-166 Liang, X., Mohan, B. & Early, M. (1998). Issues of Cooperative learning in ESL classes: A Literature Review. TESL Canada Journal, 15 (2), 13-23 McKay, S. (1982). Literature in ESL Classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 16 (4), 529-536 Ponder, N.. Sarah., Marshall, M., Rafeld, R. & Maus, L. (1995). Watching a light go on: Exploring the use of authentic literature with Adult Learners. Kent State University, Washington DC Slavin, R. & Cheung, A. (2005). A Synthesis of Research on Language of Reading Instruction for English Language Learners. Review of Educational Research,75 (2), 247-284 Spack, R. (1985). Literature, Reading, Writing, and ESL: Bridging the Gaps. TESOL Quarterly, 19 (4), 703-725 Ubukawa, E. & Ishida, Y. (2003). Using Children’s literature in the EFL Reading Classroom. Read More