Use of Literary Texts in Foreign Languages Teaching at the University: A task-based Approach in the Course of Translation of Prose and Poetry: Bachelor of French Language

In the teaching of foreign languages, the choice of educational content has always been important. Throughout history, different teaching methods have chosen their educational content according to their approach to language use. Nowadays, in addition to the usability of the foreign language, it is important to know the different cultural and social layers of the target language community. Concerning the teaching of literature in foreign language classes at the university as well as in institutions, there has always been some hesitation from method designers and textbooks as well as foreign language teachers. It can be said that the use of literature in the language teaching class has undergone many changes throughout history. Considering that literature education has always had its supporters and opponents with regard to the discussion of culture transfer in foreign language classes, in this research we seek to answer the question of the role and place of literature as an educational content throughout the history of foreign language teaching. What has it been and how and at what level can literature be used as educational content in language classes? The purpose of this paper, while studying the link between literature and language teaching, is to propose a work-based teaching approach based on the functional approach to language teaching. In this way we place poetry as a body of work. We hypothesize that this method can enhance students' literary and analytical ability in the face of literary texts. . After performing context-based class exercises, the students, as representatives of the French group, participated in a student-cultural conference at the Foreign Languages ​​Association of the unit, sharing their experience and understanding of comparing the two Persian and French poems with audiences interested in the field. They left. The results obtained from the responses of the students in the experimental group who were trained with this proposed method and comparing it with the control group students through covariance analysis test indicated that the proposed method had a positive effect on the use of literature in the foreign language classroom. While working on the linguistic elements, this method provided students with the opportunity to reach important results and understandings in the field of bilingual culture by working on the concepts of a French poem and comparing it with a Persian poem. Concepts such as death and life, work and war in different cultures have different meanings. They also shared their findings with others and discussed and exchanged views on Persian and French poetry. Using this approach, which relies on multiple ethical, aesthetic, scientific, social and cultural axes and enhances linguistic, cultural and sociological competence of language, is suggested in literature-based language classes. Curriculum planners, writers and designers of educational books can also take advantage of this suggested approach. Finally, we note that repeating this assignment and pursuing its impact on students' writing, speaking, and intercultural skills in foreign language learning can be a good subject for future research.