Materials for Developing Language Skills through Literature

Abstract

This paper throws light on the need for the selection criteria of literary texts. While such criteria are essential, it is very rarely that a teacher is allowed to choose books for the class. We could say that the prescription of literary texts is one of the necessary “evils” of our curriculum. It is essential because the availability of a larger corpus of literature for selection is not to be expected or possible for each teacher, and even if it was; it is doubtful whether each teacher would be willing or able to exercise a sophisticated choice for his or her learners at all times. It is an “evil” because it is the prescription of such texts for examinations that have brought about a form of teaching that ignores the needs, problems, and progress of the learner. By focussing on the book as content, note-taking, and rote-learning are encouraged, rather than the appreciation and the interpretation of texts and the activity of meaning-making by the learner.