Literature in English Language Teaching and the Challenges Encountered by EFL Learners

Reading Literature: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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Reading Literature: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Introduction
This essay will describe and explain a one hour reading and comprehension lesson plan that is geared towards deepening and developing broad competence in reading literature among Asian students in an international school. The class of EFL learners is mainly composed of students between the ages of 13 and 14 with speaking and listening skills that are slightly below those of their UK counterparts in year 8 of the UK national curriculum. All students aren’t native speakers of English as the institution’s language of instruction but are required to acquire a strong command of the language before they can attain the proficiency levels required to succeed in a British educational environment. The course is intended to improve learners’ ability to construct meaning from written text in a comprehensive manner by activating prior knowledge, enhancing the student’s understanding of the language used in the text, and increasing awareness of the context in which the text is read. It is hoped that the reading literature lesson will increase students’ competency in facing various literary genres in terms of ability to read fluently, comprehend the text in an effective manner, and apply the implications of the text in a meaningful manner.
The text chosen for the proposed lesson is Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which is widely regarded as a suitable addition to a junior high class in British literature. The novella provides an intriguing plot about the wildly contradictory behavior of Dr. Jekyll from the perspective of Mr. Hyde, to illustrate the interplay of good and evil. It also contains graceful writing, intense characters, and deals with important themes in a stimulating and relevant manner. Students are introduced to the strange case of Jekyll and Hyde through the eyes of the good-natured Mr. Utterson who slowly reveals the relationship between the lawyer’s friend, Dr. Jekyll, and the hideous Mr. Hyde. The class is geared towards increasing students’ understanding of the novella and ability to engage with the various linguistic facets and themes presented in the text. The students’ linguistic capacities are developed enough to begin addressing literary aspects such as themes and ideas contained in the book.
Literature in English Language Teaching (ELT)
The role of literature in language instruction dates back to the Formalists and Structuralists era, when ELT was synonymous with the teaching of literature. During this period, before the world war, literature enjoyed a successful spell in schools and was considered a model of first-rate language application and a basis for moral instruction: literature was considered as a subject matter that should underpin the language syllabus. However, the end of the colonial period saw literature lose its special status and proponents of the Functional Approach argued for the removal of literature from ELT (Luukka, 2019:8-10). T...