Lifting Silent Voices Through the Use of Narrative in EFL Writing Classroom

Abstract

Although many people have identified the potential benefits of narratives, their use in academic world is not pervasive, and in some conditions questionable. My intention here is to provide a backdrop on the significance of narratives for the teaching of EFL writing. I will begin the paper by providing arguments on why narratives need to be integrated in the writing curriculum. This understanding is indeed crucial since there is still a shared belief among teachers and even students that narratives are not 'academic and serious'. Thus, many teachers and curricula are reluctant to allocate a slot in their curriculum for narrative writing. The section that follows will describe the pedagogical benefits students will get from narratives. As there is no one perfect approach, pedagogical challenges of using narratives will also be examined. The paper will end with some considerations for teachers when using narratives in EFL contexts