Literary Texts and Grammar Instruction: Revisiting the Inductive Presentation

Abstract

Abstract: This article outlines an approach to explicit grammar instruction that uses literary texts as comprehensible, meaning-bearing input. In this approach, which employs strategies from the teaching of grammar and the teaching of reading, literary texts serve as the basis of the inductive presentation of new grammatical forms and as a springboard for communicative practice of these forms after explicit instruction. The goal is to provide learners with meaning-bearing input to assist their acquisition of grammatical forms, to raise students' consciousness about the target language, to encourage meaningful communication among learners, and to develop skills and strategies in the reading of literary texts. The presentation of the proposed technique is followed by an example of teaching French relative pronouns based upon Prévert's (1949) poem “Le Message.”