LITERATURE EXPOSURE IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Abstract

Teachers often regard literature as inappropriate to
the language classroom. Teaching literature in foreign
language classroom becomes essential if teachers are
concerned with the meaningful foreign language learning
activities experienced by the students. It is not sufficient to only
emphasize on acquiring mastery of structure andform but also
involves acquiring the ability to interpret literary discourse in
all its social and cultural contexts. Accordingly, this study
focuses on literature exposure in English language teaching
and learning. This study which is a descriptive qualitative
study was endorsed the data from two sources: namely is the
English lecturer and the students of the English Department of
UMM The instruments used included interview and
questionnaire. The result of the analysis indicates literature
exposure has an essential role in English language learning
because it is beneficial to the learners' linguistic development,
create opportunities for personal expression as well as
reinforce students' knowledge of lexical and grammatical
structure. Moreover, it becomes important for English teacher
to consider cultural contexts into their English language
teaching. Students should be given the opportunity in the
selection of materials and classroom activities that can expose
and enhance students' literary knowledge and understanding.