The role of literature as a teaching and learning tool in English as a Foreign Language has long been acknowledged. Literary texts offer teachers opportunities to provide students with authentic materials to heighten their motivation by involving them in challenging Task-Based activities in which they interact with authors and learn about features of these authors’ society. The purpose of this research study was to   investigate the role of literature as a pedagogical tool in the EFL class and see how this can be advantageous in fostering learners’ language skills and intercultural awareness.  The sample population encompassed 26 sixth-semester students enrolled in a Reading course who are completing their BA in Foreign Languages at a public University in Colombia. A semi-structured questionnaire and a Reading Guide were designed to elicit information from students who were asked to read an unabridged English language fiction novel. The findings show that the participants’ motivation to complete the Task-Based Reading and Writing Project was high as well as their language skills. Keywords. EFL, ESL, Task-Based Approach, Literature, intercultural Communicative Competence

Este artículo presenta los hallazgos de una investigación realizada en el año 2004. El objetivo del estudio era diseñar una unidad instruccional basada en la selección de canciones pop como herramienta para mejorar las habilidades de escucha y producción oral de estudiantes de octavo grado de inglés, después de haber determinado la efectividad de este tipo de canciones en el aprendizaje del inglés, a través de diferentes talleres en las que se utilizaron dichas canciones. Los datos del estudio se tomaron de dos encuestas aplicadas a un grupo de estudiantes de octavo grado y una encuesta aplicada a los dos profesores de inglés de un colegio público monolingüe de Cali, Valle. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que las actividades del taller de música pop fueron motivantes para los estudiantes porque estas respondían tanto a sus necesidades como a sus intereses y que ellos sí mejoraron sus habilidades de escucha y producción oral. Se concluye que la incorporación de la música y las canciones pop en la clase de inglés no sólo constituye una  forma de mejorar la competencia de los estudiantes  en inglés, sino también una manera de mejorar la calidad de las clases.

The challenge and satisfaction of being a teacher is doubled when one has the precious task of being a teacher trainer, as our practices replicate exponentially, touching the lives of people we do not even get to meet. Accordingly, this article presents the analysis of a process that brought tensions to a teacher training program because of the need to comply with the guidelines of the National Ministry of Education while considering pre-service teachers' needs. Thus, a descriptive analysis was done, through a questionnaire, with the objective of portraying pre-service teachers' perceptions about the curriculum that underlies their teaching training program, and characterizing their contributions in the face of a new curriculum design. The gains obtained out of the participants' insights were key in understading their feelings and provided a good source of information for the new curriculum. The results suggest that pre-service teachers' perceptions broaden teacher trainers' horizons and enrich curriculum planning as a step towards meaningful and inclusive learning.