Abstract:

Among the many genres of writing, expository type of essay is the most widely used in college. Due to teachers’ common misconception that literature is difficult to understand, teachers avoid using the topics and teaching materials derived from the literary and art works to teach writing skills. From the different kinds of literary genres, short story genre is one that can be used for teaching expository essays. Several things need to be considered while choosing the topics and teaching materials for writing class. They are: the length of the story, the difficulty of grammar and vocabulary, the level of complexity of the story-line and the subject matter. The author shares the teaching materials of an expository writing course, discusses the stages of teaching writing via literary and art works, gives tips on how to choose fiction as well as dwells on the problems that may arise. The author considers the criteria that are used for choosing short stories suitable for the purpose of the writing class as well as discusses three stages of learning: the preparatory stage, pre-writing, and writing phases to be followed while teaching writing skills via short stories and works of art. A survey was administered to rank the materials of the expository writing course. The results of the student questionnaire have been displayed in a bar chart.

It is important for writing lecturers to constantly innovate strategies for teaching writing to make it interesting for students. Expository Writing Course based on literature can both establish an intellectual setting where connecting, applying, and/or synthesizing is encouraged and teach students how to enact those integrative learning skills. The students learn the bridging of multiple contexts and pieces of evidence together into one synthesized understanding, e.g. the comparison of father and son relationship in Pamuk’s “My Father’s Suitcase and Baldwin’s “Notes of a Native Son”, and the discussion of failed husband and wife relationship in Lahiri’s “A Temporary Matter” lead to the synthesis essay about the role of communication in building up warm relationship between the two. Art can serve as a productive strategy to conduct perception and interpretation exercises. By pushing the students to have close contact with art, and afterwards interpret the emotions or feelings they have generated in their brain or soul keeps them stay inspired and motivated.

The use of literary works sharpens the students’ language skills and their ability to think critically. Incorporating the works of literature and art into an expository writing course can be a valuable strategy, as literature is a visible embodiment of the language itself. Literature and art can become a bridge to teach expository writing at the tertiary level if teachers select literary works in accordance with the purpose of teaching. When used properly and planned carefully, the use of literary and art works presents an interesting challenge for both the teacher and the students.

Keywords:

Innovation, incorporation, literature and art, teaching strategies.