The previous section discussed the role of the English language teacher and the personal matters that affected the respondents’ choices of literature. In this section the role of the English teacher is examined through the previous methods of foreign language teaching and learning in Finnish society which have prevailed over the past decades. Consequently, the use of English literature within these methods is examined to understand its current role in Finnish society. Additionally, in order to understand English language teaching nowadays in Finland, the past methods of foreign language teaching methods can be examined for the English teachers to develop their teaching (Richards and Rodgers 2001, 16).
In Finland there have been several language teaching methods which have affected foreign language teaching and learning over the past 100 years. These methods have contributed to the understanding of language proficiency since during each method what has been considered as valuable knowledge has formed the goals of language learning (Richards and Rodgers 2001, 3). Not only have the teaching methods reflected the changes in theories of language, the nature of language and how languages have been learned, the role of the teacher and the role of the instructional material have varied (ibid.).
According to Richards and Rodgers (2001, 16), a method defines the important teaching content and how particular skills are taught within the method. In the method, the role of the learner, teacher and instructional material are taken into consideration (ibid., 24). The instructional material is largely defined by the objectives, contents, learner activities and the learner and teacher roles within the instructional system (ibid., 29). Furthermore, a method consists of procedures which are a set of
techniques used in the classroom (ibid., 19-20).
In Finland, the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) was nearly the only teaching method used to teach English at schools until the 1970’s (Jaatinen and Saarivirta 2014, 36). In the GTM method the goal of language learning was to gain knowledge of grammar (Richards and Rodgers 2001, 8). Notably, the goal was to enable pupils to read literature which was written in the target language (Das 2014, 10). Considering the Finnish point of view, pupils practiced translating English texts into Finnish and studied the grammatical rules of language while acquiring vocabulary (Jaatinen and Saarivirta 2014, 36). Not surprisingly, traditional literary texts were used extensively since they were considered as the illustrations of grammatical rules which pupils adhered to (Saparguland and Sarto 2010, 27). However, traditional literary texts usually contained nonstandard language which was difficult for the pupils to
comprehend (ibid.). Furthermore, the teacher’s role in this method was heavily authoritative since the teacher was responsible for the pupils’ learning (Jaatinen and Saarivirta 2014, 36).
Although the GTM was used in foreign language teaching and learning for a long time in Finland, the globalization of the world emphasised developing
communication skills which the GTM did not stimulate (Saparguland and Sarto 2010, 27). Therefore, the GTM lost its popularity in the 1970’s and the audio-lingual method became prevalent in Finland (Jaatinen and Saarivirta 2014, 36). The main goal in the audio-lingual method was to learn how to produce language through listening, reading and responding (ibid; Richards and Rodgers 2001, 63). Even though grammatical knowledge was no longer the goal of education, it was still considered the requisite for foreign language learning (Jaatinen and Saarivirta 2014, 36.) Moreover, the audio-lingual method was based on behaviourism and language learning was regarded as habit formation (Jaarinen and Saarivirta 2014, 36). In the Finnish educational contexts, the pupils required a stimulus, for example a text or an audio-visual material, which they imitated. The teacher’s task was to observe, correct and reinforce the pupils’
response so that it became habitual. Hence, the teacher’s role was still strongly authoritative, as it was in the GMT. (ibid.) However, the appreciation for literature in language teaching lost its popularity (Richards and Rodgers 2001, 8), and several educationists questioned the role of literature as a tool for developing language skills
(Das 2014,11). Yet textbooks and printed material were still used mainly to provide dialogues, drills, and exercises which the pupil practised upon (Richards and Rodgers 2001, 63).
In Finland during the 1980s, the communicative approach prevailed in foreign language teaching methodology (Jaatinen and Saarivirta 2014, 36). The communicative approach method emphasised the importance of developing the pupils’ communicative competence (ibid.). Hence, pupils learned specific isolated elements of language through pre-communicative activities (ibid.). In addition, the purpose was to gain knowledge on how to communicate assuredly and to learn how to produce meaning, keeping in mind the linguistic forms of foreign language (ibid.).
Therefore, the pupils were encouraged to communicate with one another, and the teacher could also take part in the communicative action (ibid.). In this way, real
communicative situations were established within the classroom and the teacher’s role was not as central as before (ibid.).
However, the role of literature as a pedagogic tool for learning languages was removed from the classroom since the there was no interest in using literary texts in language learning due to the increased communicative practices (Das 2014, 10).
Despite this change, in the middle of the 1980’s there was a comeback in the interest of using literary texts in foreign language learning (ibid., 12). More precisely, interest was due to the acknowledged role of literary texts as valuable communicational sources. Hence, the instructional material had a role in offering various” to develop learners’ communicative skills “through different activities and tasks” (Richard and Rogers, 2001, 30).
As Jaatinen and Saarivirta (2014, 36) argue, the communicative approach is further significant, since it still affects language learning strongly today in Finland.
During the 2000s, foreign language teaching was no longer considered as teaching about language since there were other elements involved as well (Jaatinen and Saarivirta 2014: 37). Hence, language teaching was considered as language education, in which the personal growth of the pupil was taken largely into account (ibid.).
Learning a foreign language was not only learning about grammar and communication, it was also learning to value other cultures and languages, as well as relating to
otherness and foreignness in human encounters (ibid.). Therefore, in the present
research it is acknowledged that literary texts offer various encounters for the pupils to develop language skills and foster their emotional and social growth (Duff and Maley 1990, 6).
To conclude, various English language teaching methods have highlighted the changing role of literary texts in foreign language teaching. The function of English literature has changed over time in addition to the role of the English language teacher which have related to the language learning goals at certain times. However, in today`s Finnish society, literary texts can be considered to offer various opportunities to be used as a resource to develop the pupils’ linguistic, cultural, emotional, and social development adhering to the language learning goals of developing communicative competence (see chapter 4.2.).