© 1992 by Oxford University Press
Articles |
Why not teach non-native English literature?
I. S. Talib is lecturer at the Department of English Language and Literature of the National University of Singapore. He holds an MA degree from the National University of Singapore, and a PhD from the University of East Anglia. His main research interests are in stylistics and in the relationship between language and literature, including the use of literary works in language teaching.
Literary works chosen in ELTare often those written in native or standard varieties of English. This article suggests that in a country where a particular non-native variety of English is spoken, wider functions in ELT can be served by the use of a literary work written in that variety. Using the Singaporean writer Catherine Lim's ‘The Taximan's Story’ as an example, I will explain that the integrative goal in language teaching, which involves the enhancement of the students' sociocultural awareness, sense of selfidentity, and communicative competence within the community they live in, is more easily achieved with a literary text written in a variety of English which the students understand or can empathize with, than with that written in a native or standard variety. I will briefly suggest that such texts can also be used for the betterment of the students' command of the standard language itself.