Toward an integrated curriculum: Maximizing the use of target language literature

This article presents an approach to literary texts that develops students' language proficiency, content knowledge, and analytical skills through the interweaving of three content areasFliterary analysis, stylistics, and cultureFat the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of the foreign language curriculum. Consistent with recommendations from the recent Modern Language Association (2007) report on foreign languages in higher education, this integrated approach develops students' translingual and transcultural competence by examining target language narratives from multiple perspectives. To ground this method, we review relevant research on literature in foreign language instruction and then present a sample lesson plan for teaching the Spanish-language text Apocalipsis [Apocalypse] (Denevi, 1974) at the intermediate instructional level. The article concludes with suggestions and strategies for modifying the lesson plan for beginning and advanced levels.