Teaching Literature

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Teaching Literature

• Dr Jarmila Mildorf

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Teaching Literature

• Language teaching is a highly complex process
  involving an intricate interplay between the
  learning process itself, the teachers intentions
  and actions. The individual personalities of the
  learners, their culture and background, the
  learning environment and a host of other
  variables. The successful educator must be one
  who understands the complexities of the
  teaching-learning process and can draw upon this
  knowledge to act in ways which empower learners
  both within and beyond the classroom situation.
• (Williams and Burden 1997 5)

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English didactics in context
Literary Studies
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Literary Studies

• Study of literary texts in various genres
• Literature as a form of communication
• Analysis of the relationship among author, text
  and recipient
• Types and methods of interpretation, theory and
  practice
• Areas relevant for English didactics
  reader-response theories, cognitive approaches

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Cultural Studies

• Interdisciplinary
• Extended concept of text oral, written and in
  various media
• Analysis of cultural phenomena and of how they
  are conveyed
• Influence of class, race, gender
• Development of intercultural competence

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The History of English Didactics

• Grammar and translation (19th century)
• The direct method (late 19th century)
• The audio-lingual method (after 1945)
• The audio-visual method (1960s)
• Communication approach (1960s/70s)
• Intercultural didactics (late 1980s)

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Grammar and translation

• Introduction of modern languages to the school
  curriculum in the 19th century
• Didactics of Greek and Latin as a model
• Focus on grammar and translation
• Knowledge of words and of grammatical rules,
  little communication
• Predominant method until far into the 20th century

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The direct method

• Reform in 1860s/70s foreign language regarded as
  a means of trans-national communication
• Direct and inductive methods (rather than
  cognitive and deductive)

• Competence vs. passive knowledge
• Oral vs. written performance
• Common usage of language
• Teaching in the target language
• Experience and accessibility
• Developing a feel for the foreign language

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The audio-lingual method

• Influenced by structural linguistics and
  behaviourism
• Possibilities offered by new media (records and
  tapes) recording and reproduction of language
• Conditioning vs. creativity
• Emphasis on perfecting skills (reading,
  listening, reading, writing)

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Audio-visual method

• Extension of the audio-lingual method in France
  and the US in the 1960s
• Usage of visual elements (film, slides) to
  complement monolingual teaching
• Strict sequencing of classroom activities
• Teacher as a media expert

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Communication approaches

• Communicative turn in 1960s and 70s
• Sociolinguistics and pragmatics as guiding
  disciplines
• Pupil-centred
• Focus on learning process
• Oral performance at the centre (communicative
  competence)
• First professorships for English didactics
• First European guidelines in the 1970s

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Communicative competence
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Intercultural didactics

• Language mediation as a new goal
• Common European Framework (CEF)
• Key competencies and transferable skills
• Empathy
• Tolerance
• Acceptance of ambiguity
• Identity representation