Using Literature to Improve Writing Skills at B1 Level. A case study in Italy

In the second language classroom, literature has been employed through different methodological approaches. Some of them view literature as a means for deepening language knowledge, while others regard it as a resource to raise multicultural awareness and critical thinking. The purpose of this article is to show that it is possible to enhance students’ writing skills by using literary excerpts as language models. Moreover, in a holistic approach, literature can develop students’ motivation by offering them emotions, reflections, and social contexts they can relate to for meaningful learning experiences. This is demonstrated through the results of a case study conducted with Italian high school students. The novelty of this research is a course syllabus designed for the purpose of using literary excerpts of several genres including articles and songs as a source of language to teach English