Article
Literature in the Algerian EFL Bachelor of Arts degree: Reading Literature
Arab World English Journal
(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
Disciplines
Publication Date
Summer June 15, 2021
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol12no2.23
Citation Information
Yamina BELAL & Ghania Ouahmiche. "Literature in the Algerian EFL Bachelor of Arts degree: Reading Literature" Arab World English Journal Vol. 12 Iss. 2 (2021) p. 330 - 347 ISSN: 2229-9327 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/arabworldenglishjournal-awej/1143/