Reading Films and Watching Literature: the Literary Text as a Language Teaching Tool

Abstract

[eng] This paper is about exploring the use of literature as a foreign language learning tool, not only as a tool to improve language skills but also as a means to discover the culture of the target language. This paper intends to find ways to engage and motivate students to perceive literature as a way of entertainment and a source of transversal knowledge outside the classroom. To try and awaken this interest in students, I have posed a didactic proposal where students will be exposed to literature through film. This proposal consists in watching movies that are based on literary works and use literature as a language learning tool. Throughout this paper we will see what the role of literature has been in foreign language learning during several periods of foreign language teaching and we will discuss different approaches to dealing with the use of literary works in foreign language courses and how can we use literature to improve the linguistic competence of students and contribute to their intercultural competence. We will explain the use of cinema in ESL classrooms and discuss its benefits as a teaching tool. Lastly, we will also discuss the methodology used to try and achieve this goal.