Teaching Literature

ORTIZ, MATRIX JAMINE P.

BSE - CA ENGLISH

Blooms Taxonomy
Cognitive

DEFINING LITERARY TEXTS

The How of Literary Texts
How does literary texts help a learner learn the language? What does it do?
What and how are not distinct It is for this reason that literary works cannot
be satisfactorily paraphrased or explained by any single interpretation: to do so
is to recast their essential ambiguity into the definite shape of conventional
statement. The basic problem in the teaching of literature is to develop
in the student an awareness of the what/how of literary
communication and this can only be done by relating it to, without
translating it into, normal uses of language.
--Widdowson, 1975

DEFINING LITERARY TEXTS

The How of Literary Texts
The fact that the how and what are not distinct makes literature
valuable for extending learners awareness that how they say
something is important in two ways:
1. How something is said often contributes to speakers achieving their
purpose in communication.
2. In deciding how something is said, speakers often communicate
something about themselvesthey establish their voice.

Literary Texts and the Reader

Rosenblatt (1978):
A text is merely an object of paper and ink until a reader interacts with it.

The question of defining literary texts does not depend on

examining how literary and non-literary texts differ, but
considering a readers kinds of reading.
Aesthetic and Non-Aesthetic (Efferent) reading

Literary Texts and the Reader

Aesthetic: (Stylistics) Focusing on the text/language and
style, primary concern is with what happens during the
reading process
Efferent: (L. effere to carry away) the reader focuses
on the message of the text

Literary Texts and the Reader

(Widdowson, 1975; Carter, 1996) Stylistics or literary text analysis can be
of great value to language learners for the following reasons:
Stylistics provides students with a method of scrutinizing texts, a way in to a text,
opening up starting points for fuller interpretation
Basing interpretation on systemic verbal analysis reaffirms the centrality of
language as the aesthetic medium of literature.
Non-native students possess the kind of knowledge about the language which
provides the best basis for stylistic analysis. In many respects, therefore, nonnative students are often better at stylistic analysis than native speakers.

Literary Texts and the Reader

The students operate on the text rather than let a poem or novel
speak to them (Gower, 1986)

Practical Stylistics: to stimulate an engagement with primary texts,

to encourage individual interpretation while requiring that this
should be referred back to features of the text (Widdowson, 1992)

USING LITERARY TEXTS

TO DEVELOP LANGUAGE
Comparing Two Short Stories
To encourage aesthetic reading, the initial discussion of the stories
should focus on having the students talk about what they enjoyed
or didnt enjoy about the story, what it means to them, how it
relates to their own experiences, and so on.
Widdowsons Practical Stylistics (1992)

Characterization
To encourage students own
responses to the stories, a teacher
might begin by having students
describe Rachel and William.
The task should encourage the
students to return to the text to
justify their interpretations.
Teachers can then encourage the
students to examine the language of
the text. Know the characters
through their thoughts.

Characterization
Williams own
words, thoughts,
and actions

How other
characters see
William
WILLIAM
WILLIAM
SAROYAN
SAROYAN

Descriptions of
William by the
Author

Your ideas about

William

Point of View by Fowler (1986)

ELEVEN

What they dont understand about birthdays and what they never tell
you is that when youre eleven, youre also ten, and nine, and eight, and
seven, and six, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake
up on you
OUT OF ORDER

Longfellow High was not strictly speaking a high school at all. It was
the seventh and eighth grades of grammar school, and its full name was
Longfellow Junior High School. The Longfellow in question was of course
the Mr. Longfellow, or Henry Wadsworth, although nothing much was
ever made of that.
It was in ancient history that I first astonished my class into an awareness
that here was a truly original mind. It happened that this was the first
class of the very first day.

Point of View
Psychological Point of View
MOST FREQUENTLY REFERRED TO IN LITERARY ANALYSIS AND INVOLVES IN
THE QUESTION OF WHO IS PRESENTED AS THE OBSERVER OF THE EVENTS
OF A NARRATIVE, WHETHER THE AUTHOR OR A PARTICIPATING CHARACTER
INTERNAL EITHER THE STORY IS TOLD FROM FIRST PERSON POINT OF VIEW
BY A CHARACTER WHO SHARES HIS OR HER FEELINGS ABOUT THE EVENTS
AND CHARACTERS OF THE STORY, OR IT IS TOLD BY SOMEONE WHO IS NOT A
PARTICIPATING CHARACTER BUT WHO HAS KNOWLEDGE OF THE FEELINGS
OF THE CHARACTERS (OMNISCIENT)
EXTERNAL THE NARRATOR DESCRIBES THE EVENTS AND CHARACTERS
FROM A POSITION OUTSIDE OF THE MAIN CHARACTER WITH NO ACCESS TO
THE CHARACTERS FEELINGS AND OPINIONS

Point of View
Psychological Point of View
SOME OF THE QUESTIONS A TEACHER MAY ASK TO HELP THE STUDENTS
RECOGNIZE HOW THE TONES DIFFER IN EACH CHARACTER:
ELEVEN:

Who does they refer to? Why do you think the author chose to use
they than a specific reference? Who do you thing you refers to?
Why do you think the author chose to use you?
What effect does the author achieve by having Rachel list all of the
years of her life, rather than just saying When youre eleven,
youre also all the other years of your life?

Point of View
Psychological Point of View
SOME OF THE QUESTIONS A TEACHER MAY ASK TO HELP THE STUDENTS
RECOGNIZE HOW THE TONES DIFFER IN EACH CHARACTER:

OUT OF ORDER:
William is in seventh grade yet points out the first and middle names
of Longfellow. Why do you think William Saroyan (the adult author of
the story) has William, the seventh grader, point this out?
What kinds of things astonish you? Why do you think Saroyan chose
to describe himself as a seventh grader using that word? Why do you
think Saroyan chose to describe himself as a truly original mind?

Point of View
Spatio-Temporal Point of View

REFERS BOTH TO THE SENSE OF TIME THAT THE

AUTHOR CONVEYS BY USING SUCH TECHNIQUES AS
FLASHBACKS OR THE INTERWEAVING OF THE STORIES
(THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION) AND TO THE MANNER IN
WHICH THE AUTHOR DEPICTS ITEMS SUCH AS OBJECTS,
BUILDINGS, AND LANDSCAPES IN RELATION TO ONE
ANOTHER (THE SPATIAL DIMENSION)

Point of View
Spatio-Temporal Point of View
ELEVEN
WHOSE IS THIS? MRS. PRICE SAYS, AND SHE HOLDS THE RED
SWEATER UP IN THE AIR FOR ALL THE CLASS TO SEE. WHOSE?
ITS BEEN SITTING IN THE COATROOM FOR A MONTH.
OUT OF ORDER
MISS SHENSTONE FLUNG HERSELF AT ME WITH SUCH SPEED
THAT I WAS SCARCELY ABLE TO GET AWAY. FOR HALF A
MOMENT SHE CLUNG TO MY HOMEKNIT SWEATER, AND
DAMAGED IT BEFORE I GOT AWAY.

Point of View
Ideological Point of View

CLOSELY RELATED TO CRITICAL LITERACY OR READING.

KRESS (1985); READERS SHOULD APPROACH ALL TEXTS
WITH THREE QUESTIONS IN MIND:
Why is the topic being written about?
How is the topic being written about?
What other ways could the topic have been written about?

Point of View
Ideological Point of View
TO PROMOTE STUDENTS ENJOYMENT OF READING LITERARY TEXTS,
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES SHOULD ALWAYS BEGIN WITH HAVING
STUDENTS INDIVIDUALLY OR IN SMALL GROUPS SHARE THEIR
PERSONAL OPINIONS AND REACTIONS
TO DEVELOP THE STUDENTS AWARENESS OF HOW THEIR
INTERPRETATION OF THE TEXT HAS BEEN INFLUENCED BY HOW THE
STORY IS TOLD, CLASSROOM TASKS SHOULD ENCOURAGE STUDENTS
TO GO BACK TO THE TEXT TO SUPPORT THEIR INTERPRETATIONS
THE TYPES OF CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES WILL DEPEND ON THE
FEATURES OF THE STORY

Using Literary
Texts to
Integrate Skills

Reading
Listening
Speaking
Writing

Using Literary
Texts to Develop
Cultural
Awareness

Advantages and Disadvantages

Disadvantages:
If instead of encouraging the students to read and enjoy
literary texts, they were
Wrong information can be transferred to the students
(Wikipedia)

Suggested Activities:
1.

Select a short story that you believe would be engaging for a group of language
learners you are familiar with. Then design one of the following:
a. An activity that encourages students to draw on the text to support their opinion of
a particular character in the story.
b. An activity that encourages students to explore how the text would be different if
told from different point of view.
c.
A series of activities tat involve the development of all four skillsreading,
writing, speaking, and listening.

Suggested Activities:
2. Select a piece of literature that involves several cultural schemas. Begin by
analyzing the cultural schemas that exist in the text, listing specific details that
contribute to each schema. Then describe how you would make those schemas
accessible to a particular group of language learners.
3. Select a second language textbook that uses literary texts as content. Review the
follow-up activities that are included in the text and discuss whether you believe
the activities contribute primarily to students aesthetic reading of the text, their
efferent reading of the text, or both.