SE1309: Teaching Literature through Language

School Language and Communication
Department Code ENCAP
Module Code SE1309
External Subject Code Q100
Number of Credits 20
Level L6
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Dr Joanna Thornborrow
Semester Autumn Semester
Academic Year 2013/4

Outline Description of Module

In this module students will learn about how language models and theories can be applied to the analysis of literary texts. You will build on your theoretical knowledge of language and develop practical experience in the application of linguistic knowledge to a range of literary genres and texts. Students will learn about the value of using a stylistic approach to literature in both first and second language teaching settings, and about some of the problems. They will be given the opportunity for hands-on, practical work with texts, as a basis for understanding the rationale behind such an approach, and for developing analytic skills using literary texts as linguistic data. It is particularly useful for students who intend to go into teaching English as a career, either in UK primary and secondary education or EFL.

On completion of the module a student should be able to

On completion of this module, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of:

  • The historical background to the study of literature and the development of the canon in English;
  • The nature of  stylistics as a discipline, and as an approach to the study of literary texts;
  • The advantages and disadvantages of stylistics as a method for studying literature; and for studying language through literature;
  • Different theories of reading and interpretive strategies; reading as a social practice.

 On completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate awareness of:

  • The ‘poetic function’ of language, including theories of deviation and foregrounding in literary texts;
  • The basic principles of semiotic, structuralist and ‘reader response’ approaches to texts; 
  • The distinction between ‘open’ and ‘closed’ texts;
  • The forms and functions of non-literal language, and the structures of metaphor;
  • The role of language in the development of literary styles
  • The ways in which language teaching activities can be built around literary texts, and ways in which literary texts can be ‘read’ using linguistic techniques.
  • The references to, and implications of, knowledge about language in the National Curriculum for English at Key Stages 3 and 4

How the module will be delivered

Timetabled sessions include2 lectures and 1 seminar per week. During seminars, you will be required to participate in a variety of activities, discussions and debates.Lectures are usually supplemented with PowerPoint slides and handouts summarising content at a reasonable level of detail. These are usually made available on Learning Central immediately after the session. Video data isused in this module. Transcripts are provided where the visual texts are analysed in detail or are a core element of the lecture or seminar.

Skills that will be practised and developed

Traditional intellectual skills:

  • Analysis and synthesis of information
  • Flexible thinking and the ability to make connections between different types of information
  • Comparison of theoretical explanations and application of different methodologies to literature as data
  • Sustain a logical argument and reach a conclusion that can be defended as reasonable

Discipline/module specific:

  • Analysing literary texts using linguistic models
  • Identifying and describing ‘poetic’ devices in texts
  • Constructing and administering a task/activity based around a literary text
  • Applying theories of discourse analysis to dramatic texts
  • Identifying and describing narrative perspective and point of view in prose fiction
  • Comparing different types of text using a stylistic approach

 The module is also relevant to all the employability pathways

How the module will be assessed

The module is assessed by 100% coursework.

 

 

Type of assessment

Title

Word length (essay)

Approx. date of assessment

Coursework

 

Assignment 1 Essay

1600

Week 10

Coursework

 

Assignment 2 Stylistic Analysis of a Literary Text

1600

Week 12

 

This module has 100% coursework assessment in the form of an essay that deals with a theoretical or practical topic covered during the module, and is 1600 words approximately.  The other assignment is a stylistic analysis of a poem, a piece of narrative fiction or an extract from a play (also 1600 words approximately).

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 50 Coursework - Essay N/A
Written Assessment 50 Coursework - Stylistic Analysis N/A

Syllabus content

The syllabus will include most of the following topics:

  • Language and literature in education; the ‘lit/lang’ divide, historical perspectives and the development of the literary ‘canon’,
  • Selection of texts for teaching: texts as culturally valuable objects and social objects, literature in L2 classrooms;
  • Theories of reading and interpretation, structuralism and semiotics, reader response theory, interpretive communities, resistant reading (feminist stylistics, critical discourse analysis), reading as a social practice
  • The concept of literariness – what do we mean by literary language and what makes a text more or less ‘literary’?  Can we apply the same kind of analysis to literary and non-literary texts?
  • Analysing the language of poetry: sound and rhythmical patterning, parallelism, deviation and foregrounding, meaning, collocation, metaphor and metonymy; developing a teaching exercise using poetic text
  • Analysing the language of narrative fiction: literary styles and movements, realism, modernism, postmodernism; point of view, focalisation and perspective; the function of the narrator, omnipresent, absent, unreliable; representing conversations in dialogue, using fictional texts as teaching materials
  • Analysing the language of drama: staging and characterisation, drama as conversation/interaction; style and variation in dramatic texts; using dramatic texts as teaching materials

Essential Reading and Resource List

Birch, D. (1989) Language, Literature and Critical Practice. London: Routledge.

Carter, R. & McRae, J. (eds) (1996). Language, Literature and the Learner. Harlow: Addison Wesley Longman.

Green, K & Lebihan, J (1996). Critical theory and Practice: A Coursebook. London: Routledge

Sanger, K. (1998) The Language of Fiction. London: Routledge

Short, M. (1996) Exploring the Language of Poems, Plays and Prose. London: Longman.

Simpson, P. (2008).  Stylistics: A Resource Book for Students.  Abingdon: Routledge.

Thornborrow, J. & Wareing, S. (1998).  Patterns in Language: An Introduction to Language and Literary Style.  London: Routledge.


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