What is literature?

Literature as Problem
Of the set of problems facing literary instruction in foreign language depart-ments, the most recurring ones stem from the specific status and the role of literature, and its relationship to the teaching of language. In this country, as well as elsewhere, there has been an increasing concentration on pragmatic methods of communicative approach to foreign language teaching that sees literature as one of the mediums through which a language can be taught. In an almost canonical book, Literature in the Language Classroom, Collie and Sla-ter (1987) claim, as do most teach…