what’s the difference between english and literature

what’s the difference between english and literature

The Importance of English and Literature in Education

1. The Distinction between English and Literature

In some places, English is paired on a relatively equal basis with the study of that nation’s own literature. Following this concept of equal presence in the curriculum, English as a subject becomes the study of the formal structure, persuasive history, theoretical origins of composition procedures and written language concepts, and similar aspects of writing that are usually the focus of an English curriculum. On the other hand, the literature classes are charged with introducing students to the writings recognized as dominant symbols, creators, and representatives of some culture’s aesthetic experience. Travelers to Syria, for example, study classic deserts as a fundamental aspect of aesthetic experience, while literature students might read the relevant portions of the One Thousand and One Nights. It is then important for an educator, in contending with the title “English teacher,” to cast into proper focus whether the English in question pertains to standard language mechanics, the formal structure of roughly standardized written English, or the historical and cultural function of the English language as a symbolic creator and transmitter.

One important distinction should be made as we take up the matter of English and literature, especially in their roles as elements of education. The term English, as it refers to a school subject, has nothing to do with the adjective English, as it refers to the nation, people, or language. English as a school subject refers to the study of English in its written form. In our culture and in most of the world, English functions as a written language. While it may possibly take generations for a newly written language to crystallize into a uniform form of expression with agreed-upon spelling, it must ultimately become a written or literary language if it is to attain any permanence.

2. The Significance of English Education

The mentioned action is about reading from an early age. Currently, reading is not always a routine task of modern life, and books are generally often considered meaningless. However, a long tradition of books exists and this was a part of society. Let’s ponder the book of ancestor. Books that are accumulated are a way to trust and regularly bequeath us intelligence, wisdom, minds, and human emotion. Reading classifies and seeks the world’s new knowledge and is influential enough to change the world. Reading is a complicated process of understanding the world: learning to interact with the source of information and develop the skills and imagination required to explore oneself as a human being. Do I wish my child to learn in addition to this? Emotional development has expended time building intimacy. Animals, such as humans, make the greatest efforts in the skill of experiencing, and as a consequence, animals begin to love and empathize.

The phrase “Anything but English!” is often heard in public spaces. It is true of a society’s worry that our spoken language standard is different and often ends with English. But in education, is the importance of English based on the concept of a universal language and overcoming the limits of strong nations? It seems that it is difficult for adults to build intimacy with English words like our mother tongue, but the reason for this unkind word stems from the lack of education of English from the early stages. Thus, we need to make English class, the foundation of our language skills, good. And when is it best to begin? Consider one action which would improve children’s brains, allow them to communicate broadly, and make them larger to the point of the world. Education could never urge parents to act unless what is beneficial for children was recognized certainly.

3. The Value of Literature Education

Literature presents historical context. Discussing literature with a historical background provides an understanding of customs, events, geographic landmarks, food, socio-economic aspects, languages, and customs from the past. Literature allows students to travel beyond people’s limitations, promote empathy, and provide a different perspective. A good example of the benefits of literature is the rich context and personal connection that can be obtained. This was finally developed after the journey to discover the process of writing and marking in the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Another good example is the exploration and discussion of the theme of death, grief, and World War II, during Philip Matra’s diary project.

We wouldn’t be human if life were always predictable. Students visit literature at the Library of Congress to read letters from special collections to explore life in their time with a thinking and talking tour of The Thomas Jefferson Building. Students read works by authors who learn characters and see how literature shows how life can change and people can transform. Elementary, middle, and high school students also explore the bibliographies of American literature from many centuries through a storytelling project with the Washington and Lee University Op Hero Library.

4. The Benefits of Studying English and Literature

Cinema, music, the press, periodicals, journals, weblogs, social networks, forums are examples of artifacts that diachronically cross youth’s linguistic and cultural panoramas with stories, articles, comments, testimonials, emails, and forum contributions, and testimonies, both in English and in many other languages, such as, for example, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Dutch, among others, or even the multiple languages of virtual logic, islands of knowledge craftsmanship. Therefore, when one thinks of studying English literature, the approach suggested is inseparable and interconnected by the educational project with that slice of reality, and all the historical projects and cultural interventions inter and in loco in any reader postured by his/her time. Therefore, what is suggested in this article, which we have already presented, demonstrated, and defended, are moments of challenges for the reader-interlocutor DN in critical reading, before the texts, be them from literature or not, because the meaning, be the sea or the writing a text, be the fiction or the reality that the sailors want to arrive, or build, always leaves the port in new glories for the new navigation, historical project involved.

One of the best ways to question and understand a new world is by studying literature, and one of the best ways to debate, analyze, form, communicate, and interact with texts, new knowledge, ideas, concepts, and outcomes of investigations, and other people’s opinions, including their concepts about the same reality in which we all coexist, is to study English. And this is because the two areas are united in the sense of building meaning of a reality, which seems to be the main activity of a student and of any denizen of the world in search of a successful understanding and agreement with the world in which we live. English prepares you for all areas of knowledge in which human issues are reflected, the majority of texts to be debated and analyzed are in this language. Literature brings the question of the truth to be sought, problematized in various genres, many of which, such as fiction, fantasy, and imagination, are also part of the sailor’s journey, captain of his own boat, towards the island of truth, which is a multidimensional aspect of the realities that we all chisel before us, always in the clues of shared historical projects of world transformation.

5. Conclusion: The Synergy between English and Literature

In conclusion, an English medium university such as ours can no longer shy away from the fact that English texts are key sites at which inequalities and possibilities predominantly associated with development reside. In addition, if learners and their educational institutions are not equipped to engage effectively with English and its technological applications across the curriculum mosaic, it further accentuates existing poverty and inequality. Given the aforementioned introjective perspective, clearly English curricula and pedagogical approaches have to be co-generated, consistent with recommendations by multiliteracies’ educators and researchers. In showing how one can do so through the university’s lecturers, and how a student teacher may receive literacy education in becoming literate that is relevant for South African communities, this study underscores the synergy between English and literature.

The reality of education today, more so than ever before, is multiple – especially because of the introduction of a host of complementary and alternative perspectives on literacy and literary education. Encouraging imaginative staff development programmes – like partnership analyses of the various forms of dialogue that describe the myriad physical courses written in the departments involved in literary studies or components of models of reflection (account and inter-subjective relationships), and interaction (cultural and traditional artistic productions) – will no doubt prepare the ground for improved clarity through coherent pedagogical practices. After all, like polyphony and genre labels, skewed pedagogies, which are brought to bear by multiple critical literacy perspectives, demand literate and well-informed pedagogical practices. An increased reception and application of such practices will thus ensure that literary education is not only a utopic ideal, as described by the thousands of scholars, but also one held in high probability for the future.