Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number2 June 2021 Pp.330-347
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no2.23
Literature in the Algerian EFL Bachelor of Arts degree: Reading Literature
Yamina BELAL
Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages
Mohamed Ben Ahmed University
Oran, Algeria
Ghania Ouahmiche
Department of English, Faculty of Foreign Languages
Mohamed Ben Ahmed University
Oran, Algeria
Received: 1/13/2021 Accepted: 5/31/2021 Published: 6/24/2021
Abstract:
Given the acknowledged and undeniable advantages of literature in language education, it has been integrated into EFL curricula for undergraduate students as an essential subject. In the Algerian English departments before the reform introduced in the last two decades (the Licence, Master, doctorate system), literature used to have a privileged status in terms of the number of courses and number of classes or tutorials. However, after the reform, the importance of literature and the lion’s share that it used to have in the EFL Bachelor of Arts course regressed in favor of more specialized subjects. Such a reform has only worsened the state of the art of EFL literature teaching, which was already in a deplored state according to the will be cited studies. This article aims at pointing at the primary defects or malfunctioning of the first-year literature course by answering the question: what are the main flaws of the first-year EFL literature course? In order to answer this question, the article starts with a review of the whole literature course package, i.e., objective, content, methodology, and assessment. More importantly, to go beyond mere evaluation and criticism, the article ends by suggesting an alternative course that adopts task-based language teaching as a methodology. The proposed task-based literature course attempts to overcome the observed weaknesses or the inefficiencies of the actual course by matching the course objective, content, methodology, and assessment to students’ needs and aptitudes.
Keywords: EFL learners, EFL literature course, language proficiency, literary competence, task-based language teaching
Cite as: BELAL, Y., & Ouahmiche, G. (2021). Literature in the Algerian EFL Bachelor of Arts Degree: Reading about Literature or Reading literature, the Relevance of the Task-Based Approach in Teaching Literature. Arab World English Journal, 12 (2) 330-347.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no2.23
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