Using Literature to Learn and Teach Language: The L3 Approach

This accessibly-written textbook uses the intrinsic appeal of a story to engage students with language, and provides teachers with the background knowledge and the skills to use literature to construct lessons for their classes which integrate all four skills plus language awareness in an enjoyable way. Although a number of books and studies have examined the value of using literature to learn language, literature remains under-represented as a language learning resource. The author argues that the accumulated body of literature represents a bottomless pit of potential material, just waiting to be recognised and enjoyed. From a teacher’s point of view, a lesson based on a literary work can provide an integrated approach to language development which few other approaches can match. A piece of literature can be used to develop all four skills, both receptive and productive (reading, writing, listening speaking) as well as production skills and language awareness. This book willbe an essential resource for pre-service and in-service teachers, teacher trainers, students and scholars of Applied Linguistics, Language Education, TESOL and related subjects.

​Carol Griffiths is Professor of ELT at Girne American University in North Cyprus. She has been a teacher, manager and teacher trainer of ELT for many years. She has taught in many places around the world, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, China, North Korea, Turkey and the UK. She has also presented at numerous conferences and published widely, including her books Lessons from Good Language Learners, Developing Teacher Autonomy through Action Research, The Strategy Factor in Successful Language Learning, Individual Differences in Successful Language Learning and The Practice of EMI around the World. Her major areas of research interest include individual differences, teacher education and support, English as a medium of instruction, English as a lingua franca, action research, and using literature to teach language.