Language Skills and Literary Skills: Some Pedagogical Implications of Considering Literature as Language

Abstract

In the context of an ongoing debate about the relation of literary study to English language teaching in universities in the Arab world, this paper begins from the assumption that literature is basically a use of language. From this it follows that aspects of linguistics and language—particularly pragmatics and discourse analysis—can profitably be applied to reading and teaching literature, with the result that both students’ ability to use the English language and their skills in analyzing literature will improve. Similarities between reading literature and other language skills are examined in terms of the nature of texts as discourse, the identity of the assumed reader, how the authority of a writer is asserted, and the phenomenon of intertextuality. Specific examples of literary and non-literary texts are considered as illustrations. Finally, some suggestions are made for how language and literary skills might be more effectively integrated in degree programs. ‘It would be a ludicrous mistake to identify literature as language.’ (Obeidat 1997:36) ‘Great poets can speak to us because they use the modes of thought we all possess.’ (Lakoff and Turner 1998; as quoted in Bailey 2003:2).