Using Literature to Promote Language Learning: Issues and Insights for Implementation in Armenian Settings (A qualitative study)

| September 8, 2013
Title
Using Literature to Promote Language Learning: Issues and Insights for Implementation in Armenian Settings (A qualitative study)

Keywords: Literature, suggestive practices, response, reading and writing, motivation, Armenian EFL settings

Author
Arpine Sargsyan
Yerevan State Linguistic University America

Sivakumar Sivasubramaniam
University of the Western Cape, Africa

Bio
Arpine Sargsayan is an instructor of Testing and Assessment at the Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov and an instructor of General English at the American University of Armenia. She holds an MA in the History of International Relations from Yerevan State University and an MA in TEFL from the American University of Armenia. Her research interests include student- centered pedagogies, literature and language assessment.

Sivakumar Sivasubramaniam is currently Associate Professor and Head of the Language Education Department at the University of the Western Cape, Republic of South Africa. He also serves the Editorial Board of the Journal of English as an International Language (EILJ) as Chief Editor and the Editorial Board of the Asian EFL Journal (AEJ) as Associate Editor. He has been a foreign language (FL)/second language (SL) educator for nearly thirty years now and has taught in India, Ethiopia, Thailand, Bahrain, Armenia and U.A.E. His research interests include response-centered reading/writing pedagogies literature in language teaching, second language advocacy, narratives in language education, text-based approaches to reading and writing in EAP.

Abstract
This study investigates literature as a resource for teaching English by focusing on the following questions: How can the use of literature in the Armenian EFL setting affect the teachers and the students? Can the use of literature promote reading and writing skills and learner-centered pedagogies? The findings gathered at school and university settings indicate that using literature as a resource for EFL teaching can offer numerous benefits to Armenian EFL teachers and learners. It is a useful means to carry out student-centered pedagogies and a reliable resource for language teaching, which promotes reading and writing skills in multiple ways. When used in classroom pedagogies and practices, literature can make significant contributions to the Armenian educational system and open up new horizons for suggestive and open-ended practices in Armenian EFL teaching.
[private] See page: 38-80
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Category: Main Editions, Volume 15 Issue 3