Research article | Open Access
International Journal of Language and Education Research 2026, Vol. 8(2) 149-170
Approaches to Teaching Fiction to Advanced EFL Learners
pp. 149 - 170 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23668030
Publish Date: August 30, 2026 | Single/Total View: 0/0 | Single/Total Download: 0/0
Abstract
This study on literary analysis explores the demands of a successful teaching of fiction particularly the literary genre The Novel in an EFL environment. The study stemmed from the problematic challenges observed from many teachers of English while teaching texts in Upper secondary schools in Burundi. A lot of teachers do not have in mind the pedagogical protocol that should indicate the different stages to follow while teaching a text. Lessons are prepared with much entanglement where parts are blurred; important elements that drive the meaning of a text are dropped out and the teacher only conducts the analysis of a text on less engaging points that impart superficial knowledge to the learners. In many cases, teachers do not introduce nor conclude such particular lessons due to a lack of adequate expertise in literary analysis. All that they do—they simply teach. Lessons are conducted haphazardly without a clearly defined trajectory that shall bring them to explore successfully the text message. Such teaching results in a lacunar transmission of knowledge and learners become victims. Being a qualitative exploration in all its facets, this study consisted in a methodical reflection on the tools that shall constitute an architectural structure of a lesson of literary analysis of a text. In all, the study generates a set of methods and techniques that a teacher shall mobilise while teaching to achieve a successful textual analysis.
Keywords: textual/literary analysis, narrative fiction, the Novel, literary elements, author, teacher
APA 7th edition
Bashirahishize, L., & Nibafasha, S. (2026). Approaches to Teaching Fiction to Advanced EFL Learners. International Journal of Language and Education Research, 8(2), 149-170. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23668030
Harvard
Bashirahishize, L. and Nibafasha, S. (2026). Approaches to Teaching Fiction to Advanced EFL Learners. International Journal of Language and Education Research, 8(2), pp. 149-170.
Chicago 16th edition
Bashirahishize, Leon and Spes Nibafasha (2026). "Approaches to Teaching Fiction to Advanced EFL Learners". International Journal of Language and Education Research 8 (2):149-170. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23668030
Achebe, C. (1964). Things Fall Apart. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Armah, A.K. (1968). The Beautyful Ones Are not yet Born. London: Heinemann:
Educational Books Ltd.
Bell, J.S. (2004). Write Great Fiction: Plot and Structure: Techniques and Exercises for
Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s
Digest Books.
Bronte, C. (1972). Jane Eyre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bronte, E. (1988). Wuthering Heights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dickens, C. (1981). Great Expectations. New York: Oxford University Press inc.
Forster, E.M. (1998). Aspects of a Novel. Lincoln, Nebraska: Cliff Notes.
Franklin, B. (2004). Poor Richard’s Almanac. New York: Palgrave.
Gicheru, M. (1979). Across the Bridge. London: University of Minnesota Press.
Gordimer, N. (1980). July’s People. New York: Russell and Russell.
Hemingway, E. (1977). A Farewell to Arms. Barkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press.
La Guma, A. (1978). The Stone Country. London and New York: Routledge.
Lawrence, D. H. (1990). Sons and Lovers. London: University of Minnesota Press.
Microsoft® Student 2009. (2008). Encarta Dictionaries. Redmond, WA: Microsoft
Corporation.
Morrison, T. (1987). Beloved. New York: Norton Publishers Ltd.
________(1977). Song of Solomon. New York: Norton Publishers Ltd.
________(1973). Sula. London: Heinemann: Educational Books Ltd.
Ngugi, J. (1999). A Grain of Wheat. Albany: State University of New York Press.
_______(1994). The River Between. London: Methuen.
Paton, A. (1984). Cry, the Beloved Country. London and New York: Routledge.
Shakespeare, W. (1997). Macbeth. Heinemann: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.
(1992). Hamlet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
________(1983). King Lear. New York: Oxford University Press inc.
Wesker, A. (1990). Roots. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
