Teaching Literature Through Stylistics: A Link Between Linguistics And Literary Criticism

This paper examines ways in which the traditional canon of teaching literature can be expanded to foster both students’ literary appreciation and greater language understanding and to encourage students to think creatively and independently, to appreciate not only the stimulation, but also the enjoyment derived from the study of literature. As a teacher of literature, I was concerned with how to help the learners overcome the greatest difficulty, namely that of interpreting and understanding the symbolic nature of literary texts and it’s cultural, historical, and social dimensions. FL learners’ inability to read and respond to literary texts is a serious issue. Thus, this paper first reviews some issues underlying the literary pedagogy in our universities. In response to the problems identified, some suggestive accounts are made for a pedagogic change.