Use of literature in EFL classes: benefits, difficulties and techniques

الملخص EN

Literature plays an important role in language teaching since it provides wide scope to explore multi-dimensional use of the language.

Literary texts, in general offer a rich source of linguistic input and can help learners to practice the four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing), beside to exemplifying other language areas such as grammatical structures and presenting new vocabulary.

In addition, it can be claimed that the use of literature in language classes encourages more thoughtful and purposeful language learning.

In this respect, the learners are not only exposed to the real use of language , but also they become critical thinkers.

This paper aims to debate the reasons behind the use of literature as a significant tool for language teaching .

In addition, factors for choosing appropriate kinds of literary texts in such classes and advantages of various kinds of genres of literature to language teaching and some issues faced by language instructors in teaching language via literature are considered in the present study