Literary text is the main source of aesthetic and linguistic information. Let’s consider what methodological perspectives can be opened by the use of a fiction text as a teaching material in a French lesson.

It is impossible to dispute the fact that the textbook has always been the main teaching material in the classroom. Any quality textbook is organized logically and is aimed at the development of four types of speech activity. Vocabulary development usually takes place through the study of a text, most often of a journalistic style, in the process of reading which students learn new vocabulary by immediately observing its use in a sentence. Nevertheless, a fiction text as a unit of learning contributes not only to the activation of the learning process and the development of lexical skills, but also to the education of students. Artistic text and analysis of the means of expression contained in it is an effective and relevant way of learning a foreign language (in particular, French), forming communicative, linguistic skills, country knowledge, introducing the young generation to the richness of the French language and classical French literature.

When teaching a foreign language, reading is considered as an independent type of speech activity and occupies one of the main places in terms of its importance and accessibility. The teacher’s task is not only to teach students to read and understand texts in the target language, but also to instill a love of reading. To this end, we try to familiarize our students with reading fiction in a foreign language.

The use of foreign literature is an important and integral element in teaching a foreign language in a quality and engaging way. Authentic fiction texts help students develop important language skills, contributing to the development of linguistic and intercultural competence. They expand vocabulary, knowledge of grammatical structures, improve oral and written language skills, and develop language acquisition.

In addition, works by foreign writers familiarize students with specific aspects of foreign-language culture and enrich their cultural background. For students, reading authentic works can also serve as an excellent means of developing independence. Therefore, in our opinion, the reading of foreign literature that is feasible for students should become an integral component of the whole pedagogical process of teaching foreign languages.

The ability to read foreign language literature is one of the key skills acquired in the process of learning a foreign language. Today, the choice of teaching materials for foreign language teachers is quite large - from ready-made methodological developments and teaching aids to accessible and authentic publicist materials and fiction. However, when choosing a strategy for teaching specific students, the question arises about the appropriateness of using fiction texts in the teaching program, as well as about the degree of their authenticity or adaptation.

Traditionally, Uzbek teaching methodology is quite favorable to the inclusion of fiction texts in foreign language teaching programs. The subject “Home reading”, which allows to give the aspect of reading fiction additional attention, is often included in the programs of schools with advanced study of a foreign language and higher educational institutions. Domestic methodologists see the following advantages in it:

1. Reading fiction allows us to move away from standardized educational texts and introduce students to modern “living” language (Pirogova, 2014).
2. Working on a fiction text allows to develop language skills - lexical and grammatical. Allows to overcome the language barrier, giving the student the opportunity to express his/her opinion about what he/she has read, evaluating situations, characters, events. Thus, reading a fiction text stimulates speech activity (Ermakova, 2016; Morozova, 2016; Pirogova, 2014).
3. reading a work of fiction covers the linguo-country studies aspect - gives information about the social, cultural, structure of a foreign-speaking society, allows to expand the general outlook of students and instill aesthetic taste (Pirogova, 2014).
4. Reading a fiction text forms skills of independent work - to process semantic information, to systematize and analyze the read, to work with a dictionary. (Odintsova, 2007; Perlova, 2014).
5. Fiction is a means of formation of secondary language personality, which “implies the ability of a person to communicate in a foreign language, actively interact with representatives of other cultures, to represent their culture at the international level” (Pirogova, 2014).

Foreign methodologists and practicing teachers who apply literature in the process of teaching a foreign language face the following objections:

- Literary reading does not meet the criteria of academicity and, accordingly, does not fit into the framework of the teaching process (Meloni, 1994; Tatsuki, 2016).

Literary text is complicated by its grammatical structure and is culturally incomprehensible (Tsvirko, 2014), and may contain unnecessary lexical units that make comprehension difficult (Berardo, 2006). However, for some practicing teachers, the grammatical and cultural complexity of the text is a motivation to study the text in depth.

Thus, proponents of literature in teaching practice explain the use of fiction text for the following reasons:

1. Linguistic: literature is authentic material that is a source of “unaltered” language, syntactic, lexical and grammatical patterns that can be used for teaching purposes (Berardo, 2006; Clanfield, 2016; Meloni, 1994; Tatsuki, 2016).
2. Cognitive: literature helps to develop critical thinking skills, encouraging students to express their opinions and thoughts, to defend their point of view (Meloni, 1994; Tatsuki, 2016). Literature also helps to create interaction among learners when the material read is used for further discussion and debate (Clanfield, 2016).
3. aesthetic: reading a fiction text helps to see the beauty of the target language at its best. Literature provides samples of descriptions of events, places, characters, relationships written by the best authors. (Clanfield, 2016).
4. General educational: reading increases the outlook and establishes relationships with the world around us (Clanfield, 2016)
5. Motivating: A literary text is not only a set of grammatical rules and cultural facts, reading arouses interest in further study of sociocultural factors beyond the framework and educational process (Berardo, 2006; Wallace, 2006).
6. Psychological: literary text meets the needs of students, makes the learning process more creative and attractive, increases students’ self-esteem (Ermakova, 2016).

The teacher’s tasks include an adequate and justified choice of literature.

Firstly, the texts should be feasible and age-appropriate. In addition, the selected fiction should meet the interests of students to awaken in them a positive motivation, the need to read in a foreign language.

Secondly, the success of using foreign literature is largely determined by the correct selection of vocabulary. The teacher should be ready to give explanations in order to maximize the elimination of difficulties arising in the process of reading fiction. However, the teacher’s assistance should not interfere with the development of students’ linguistic and contextual guesswork.

The material of works of fiction texts can be expanded with additional information about the writer, his biography, historical background, information about the epoch, about the events that formed the basis. This will significantly broaden students’ horizons and contribute to the development of their country studies competence.

So, the use of foreign fiction makes it possible to achieve a number of didactic goals:

- teaching: formation of reading skills, monological and dialogical speech, expansion of students’ vocabulary;

- developing: development of linguistic guessing, linguocultural competence, enrichment of outlook, familiarization with the works of foreign writers;

- Educational: fostering a tolerant attitude to the culture and traditions of the country of the target language,

- motivating: increasing interest in learning a foreign language, formation of sustainable motivation, development of cognitive abilities of students.

Modern teachers strive to choose from the variety of methods and techniques of teaching foreign languages exactly those that would maximize the effectiveness of work, make their lessons unusual and memorable. One of such methods can be the use of foreign fiction in foreign language lessons, which gives students the opportunity to take part in testing, quizzes, contests, Olympiads, correspond with peers from other countries, participate in conferences.

For successful learning to read in a foreign language, it is important that the texts are interesting and easy to understand. However, it should be borne in mind that easy material that does not require mental strain, does not arouse interest in reading. At the same time, the difficulty of learning material and learning task increases interest only when this difficulty is feasible, surmountable, otherwise interest quickly falls. One of the important criteria for the selection of material is novelty, while learning new things should be based on the student’s existing knowledge, both linguistic and extra-linguistic. Reading material should be selected and structured in such a way that the student finds points of contact with his/her own life experience, as it is important to rely on one’s own cultural baggage when entering a foreign world. Of course, it would be desirable to take into account the interests of students as much as possible, but this requirement is complicated by the fact that these interests may differ not only among students of one university, faculty, one group, they change both with age, due to the acquisition of new life experience by students, and with the general and professional development in the course of education. Learning activity is not just the accumulation of knowledge and professionally relevant information, but also the formation of a number of important competences, including sociocultural competence. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to look for topics that relate to the elementary experience of “human existence”, which contributes to the formation of the foundations of universal human experience, constituting the prerequisites for successful intercultural communication.

In this regard, reading fiction is of special importance in the intercultural concept of teaching foreign languages, because a literary text, touching the world of human feelings, has an emotional impact on the reader not only due to the figurative depiction of reality, but also due to the author’s reflection of his or her vision of the world, with which the reader relates his or her system of values. The need to interpret someone else’s world in a literary text encourages students to activate elements and structures of their own world. Thus, an artistic text is not only a material “product” of the author’s creative activity, but also a source of ideas and emotions that stimulate the reader’s cognitive activity.

Before performing tasks on the study of stylistic figures on the material of a work chosen by the teacher, pupils should learn about it, about the main characters, about the problems touched upon in the work, if it is unfamiliar to pupils. By presenting a literary work to students in an interesting way, the teacher arouses their interest and motivation to perform further tasks related to the study of the text and stylistic figures. There are many ways to present a work of literature to students. Let us consider several possible and most productive ways:

1. The teacher can present the work using a multimedia presentation as a modern method of visualization, making sure to include information about the author, introducing the main characters of the work and identifying the issues raised in the work;
2. The teacher can offer students to prepare information about the work on their own, using an individual or group form of work;
3. the study of the work can be carried out in the course of a language extracurricular activity;
4. The teacher can develop an educational text with brief information about the work. In this case, the teacher should supplement the developed text with various tasks that will demonstrate to the teacher how much the text has been understood by the students.

Thus, the way in which a work is presented to students depends directly on the skill and creativity of the teacher. According to the age of the students and their level of knowledge of French, the teacher should choose the most appropriate way of work. After studying the work, it is necessary to pay special attention to the discussion of its important components, namely the characters, the themes touched upon, and the problems, as this contributes to the formation of learners’ communicative competence in a foreign language lesson.

Before starting to study stylistic figures on the material of the text in French, the teacher should explain this phenomenon with examples in the native language, so that it would be easier and more interesting for students to see the same phenomenon in the foreign language being studied. It is also worth drawing the students’ attention to the fact that means of expressiveness are a traditional way of enriching the text in both Russian and foreign languages. To study the characteristic features of the main means of expression in the language can be different ways, which is an opportunity to realize the creative approach of the teacher. Possible forms and methods can be, for example, various author’s methodological developments of the teacher, verbal explanation of basic concepts and terms, creation of creative work, visual and demonstration materials, search and research activities of students and many others.

Particular attention should be paid to the possibility of developing students’ listening skills on the material of an educational fiction text. Many classical works (poetry and prose) are presented in audio and video recordings on various platforms. The use of an audio recording of any part of a work with the performance of various tasks after listening to the text will contribute to the development of the above-mentioned type of speech activity underlying the process of speech communication.

When organizing the proposed learning activity at the lesson, the teacher can define the following planned results:

Subject outcomes (communicative skills in the main types of speech activity):

conduct a dialog-exchange of opinions, initiate and support a discussion, ask and answer questions;

understand the main content of the heard text, correlate the content of the heard text with personal experience;

express their own point of view in writing;

read with the aim of fully understanding the content and identifying the means of expression in a text;

extract cultural and historical information from a read text;

make a selective translation from French.

Metacognitive outcomes

Development of meaningful and exploratory reading skills, including the ability to identify the theme and main idea;

development of communicative competence and skills of logical reasoning;

mastery of linguistic means;

mastery of reflexion skills.

Personal results

Creation of a holistic picture of a multicultural world;

familiarization with the values of world culture;

cultivation of aesthetic culture;

moral consciousness and behavior based on the assimilation of universal values.

Summarizing the results, we can conclude that the study of a fiction text in a foreign language and the various means of expressiveness available in it is not only an effective means of forming students’ linguistic competence, but also contributes to their general development.