Using Literature and Multiple Technologies in ESL Instruction

Abstract

Many instructors are using literary texts along with language structure books in English as a Secondary Language (ESL) classrooms. Since literature is often written to portray a particular cultural or authentic experience, the material presented may not be familiar to ESL students. Also, the students may find such texts structurally complex and impossible to understand. To overcome these challenges, instructors need to implement strategies that will make the literary materials relevant and useful to student learning. The current study describes how multiple technologies were successfully employed in the presentation of Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart. In addition, ESL students’ reactions to the integration of technology in instruction were explored. Findings from this study have pedagogical implications for instructors who plan to incorporate literature and technology into their ESL curricula.