Abstract:
Foreign language education seeks a variety of innovative
approaches to enhance language skills of the learners continuously. In this
context, literature plays a vital role. The study employs in exploring the
impact of integrating literary work into foreign language education. The
focus is on teaching German as a foreign language to learners of German as
a foreign language at University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. The objectives of
the study are to examine the influence of integrating literary work to
enhance the foreign language acquisition. The sample group consisted of 40
undergraduates of German as a foreign language at University of Kelaniya
who pursue the Bachelor of Honors degree in their 3rd academic year. The
literary Text: Perfume- Story of a Murderer served as the literary text for
the data analysis of the study, with its complicated grammatical structures,
vocabulary and cultural aspects. A mixed approach was used in the study to
collect qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data were collected
through pre and post assessments distributed among the students whereas
qualitative data were gathered through analysis of the activities, classroom
observations and student feedbacks. The findings show a significant
improvement of language skills including vocabulary, grammar, writing
accuracy, coherence, and text comprehension, speaking skills, critical
thinking, historical knowledge and cultural awareness. Further it shows that,
selecting culturally, historically and linguistically challenging literal texts
along with a suitable curriculum to integrate the literary work can
encourage a holistic approach to foreign language instruction by promoting
not only the language skills but also the cultural and intellectual
competencies of the language learners.
