Acquiring English in EFL Classroom: Role of Literature | Uddin | English Language and Literature Studies | CCSE

This paper deals with how English literature can help EFL learners acquire English like ESL speakers. EFL learners usually learn English by learning its vocabulary and grammatical rules from books. ESL speakers, on the other hand, pick up the grammatical rules and vocabulary of English by directly getting into the environment where English is the medium of communication and acquire the language like the native. ESL speakers can speak English with native-like fluency and express their ideas in English like the native, but EFL learners, despite being capable of writing and speaking grammatically correct English, most often fail to speak with native-like fluency. Words seem to get stuck in their throats, and they often fumble and falter when speaking because their vocabulary remains poor in content. Nor can they express the true spirit of their ideas in their cultivated, grammatical English because they learn it in isolation without seeing how a native uses it. This paper argues that by studying English literature, EFL learners can grow awareness of the culture of the English and see how the English speak, feel, dream, and express their heart in English, and thus they can learn English like ESL speakers.