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Teaching Literature

Objectives

- Develop advanced literary literacy and communication skills and the ability to apply these in appropriate contexts, including the ability to present sustained and persuasive written and oral arguments cogently and coherently;
- Determine which literary texts are appropriate in the foreign language classroom;
- Master the four basic areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing through literature;
- Develop the ability to handle information and argumentation in a critical and self-reflective manner.

General characterization

Code

722171273

Credits

5.0

Responsible teacher

Carlos Francisco Mafra Ceia

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - 140

Teaching language

English

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

Bassnett, Susan, and Peter Grundy. Language through Literature: Creative Language Teaching through
Literature. London: Longman, 1993.
Brumfit, Christopher J., and Ronald A. Carter, eds.: Literature and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford UP,
1986.
Ceia, Carlos. The Profession of Teaching Literature: A Portuguese Professor Reflects on the Pedagogical Goals / A Profissão de Professor de Literatura, The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, Queenston e Lampeter, 2013.
Durant, Alan and Nigel Fabb: Literary Studies in Action. London: Routledge, 1990.
Lazar, Gillian: Literature and Language Teaching: A Guide for Teachers and Trainers. Cambridge: Cambridge
UP, 1993.
Marckwardt, Albert H: The Place of Literature in the Teaching of English as a Second or Foreign Language.
Honolulu: The UP of Hawaii, 1978.
Showalter, Elaine: Teaching Literature. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.

Teaching method

Course time is devoted to group work, class discussions, demonstrations, workshop tasks, microteaching sessions, readings and critical writing.
Students are expected to read relevant critical texts before they are discussed in class.

Evaluation method

Available soon

Subject matter

1) Using literature in the language classroom:
- What is distinctive about the language of literature;
- The reader and the text. Characteristics of literary texts. Teachers and students as dynamic and informed readers;
- Literary competence and the language classroom: the limits of subjectivity;
- Literary texts as tools for meaningful communication: how discourse can be affected by the literary mode;
2) Selecting literary texts. The literary canon and the literary experience of the teacher:
- Perspectives for interpreting meaning: deconstructing the universal question: "What does it mean?"
- Taking decisions on controversial literary theories;
- Reading in class and reading at home: intensive reading vs. extensive reading;
- Complete works vs. extracts;
- Canonical authors vs. writers on the margins.
3) Teaching short stories: how stories and the act of storytelling impact our lives?
4) Creating the Literature Portfolio