Literary Texts: A Means to Promote Language Proficiency of Upper-Intermediate Level EFL Students

Abstract

In communicative language teaching (CLT) authentic texts have been emphasized, as they were taken fromreal life and could, correspondingly, be used for real communication. On the other hand, literary texts aresimultaneously authentic (not created for educational purposes / language learning) and exemplary (written byauthors very highly qualified in language). Due to this, authentic literary texts are essential tools of thedevelopment of language proficiency; thereby, literary works have been supported in language classes as theyprovide authentic materials. Literary texts were used in Grammar-Translation Method as samples of appropriatelanguage. However, with the communicative methods, for a certain period, such authentic texts as newspapernews, advertisement, touristic brochure, etc. have taken the floor and have withdrawn literary texts to theperiphery of language teaching / learning. Nowadays, there is a certain revival of interest towards literary texts asa medium to engage in linguistic forms and speech communicative functions. The use of literature for languageteaching can provide an avenue for advantages in language proficiency. Literature is a potentially worthwhilesource for coming to good terms with an extensive range of enrichment in linguistic knowledge for successfullanguage acquisition. This study argues for an emphasis on a preference for incorporating literary texts intoforeign / second language teaching in order to enable language learners at upper-intermediate level to applylanguage resources skillfully. The study also compares the application of literary texts with that of simplified textsand endeavors to reveal which text type benefits more language learners.