Key principles for an integrated intercultural literary pedagogy: An educational design research project on arts integration for intercultural competence

Intercultural competence in foreign language teaching has gained importance in recent times. Although current work has highlighted the advantages of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) for intercultural development, little is known about its potential for teaching literature in secondary schools. Treating literature itself as an art form, the aim of this article is to formulate research-based design principles for an integrated intercultural literary pedagogy (IILP) that may foster intercultural competence through arts integration in foreign language classes. This article reports on the process of evaluating IILP-based pilot lesson materials in pre-university education in the Netherlands. Educational design research was applied as a method that encompasses the systematic study of designing, developing, and evaluating educational interventions through an iterative process of evaluation with stakeholders. Three iterations of formative evaluation were conducted, with additions to the tentative design principles following each of the first two iterations. The process resulted in a set of four refined principles. Results also illustrated the effectiveness of IILP-based lesson materials for intercultural competence. Although participating students encountered some difficulties relating to the functionality of the design, the students appreciated its social relevance and reported that the processing of literary texts through dialogic tasks with peers in the target language fostered intercultural language learning.

Always Flipped? A Peer-Centred Cycle for Teaching and Learning in the English Literature Class

In English departments, the default literary pedagogy of ‘read and discuss’ renders student performance particularly vulnerable to shortfalls in the area of deep reading. Where students rely on online content resources before reading literary texts, they effectively flip the class, decreasing rather than increasing active learning. This article presents a blended model for mitigating this trend by means of a reciprocal peer learning feedback loop. The Peer-Centred Cycle minimises direct instruction online or in class, and uses an online-to-classroom feedback loop to shift the majority of classroom activity to reciprocal peer learning, distinguishing it from both flipped classroom pedagogies, as well as from RPL as an occasional classroom strategy.

Teaching Literature/Studying Literature in Literary Pedagogy and Literary Theory

Literary studies, in its two sides: teaching literature and studying literature, have suffered from a split in the profession between literary pedagogy and literary theories. A survey of the experience of some famous scholars who have tackled this issue in their writings is conducted to pinpoint the neglect in the part of people specialized in literary studies of the practical side of their work. Two points of convergence between literary pedagogy and literary theory are discussed. The first one presented two cases in which literary pedagogy was highly influenced by the ideas of two major shifts in critical theory: the formalist tendency of New Criticism and the reader-oriented tendency of the reader response approach. The second one discussed the efforts of the American educationalist and theorist Louise Rosenblatt in providing a theory of reading literary works in the light of what takes place in literature classrooms. The conclusions derived from this discussion lead to recommendations concerning the importance of making teaching of literature one of the academic interests and student preparation in departments of literature.

Application of Reader Response in Literary Pedagogy: A Case Study of English Literature Classroom at a Public Sector University, Pakistan

The current study aims to analyze the application of reader response theory in literature classrooms. It focuses on the potential reader response teachers at a public sector university, Pakistan and their questioning practices in classrooms based on Probst’s (1994) suggested model. Probst (1994) has given five model generic questions for reader response teachers. For this purpose a sample of three teachers of English Literature has been picked up through non probability purposive sampling method. Data is collected through recorded systematic class observation where focus was on the questions asked by the teachers. Substantial amount of literature related to reader response theory and its application in classroom is also discussed which supports the findings of this research. Through observation of teachers’ classes and analysis of data, researchers advocate the use of reader response teaching methods in literature classrooms at university level. The Study further concludes that the types of questions, teachers ask impact hugely the understanding of students. Data indicates that a classroom can only be reader response when students are given space, freedom and are encouraged to discuss and give answers of open ended questions. Study also suggests, teachers’ training and academic excellence also affect the degree to which a class can be reader response. So, it is necessary that teachers should be aware of reader response methods and the ways of its application in the classroom

Transforming the Reading Preferences of Today’s Youth in the Digital Age: Intercultural Dialog

The article deals with the transformation of readers’ preferences and the formation of a “new reader” at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. In the study, the authors draw attention to the shift in the priority of the format of youth reading in favor of digital, to the loss of the former role of libraries as centers of non-formal education, as well as to the need to provide assistance to children and young people on the part of “teacher of literature”. An international study undertaken in Russia, the U.S., and the Czech Republic touches upon socio-cultural changes that influenced the reading process among the youth of these countries and the particular interest of the analyzed age group in the fantasy genre, which indicates a change in the reading preferences of young people and the need for understanding this process both in theoretical aspects and taking into account the results of empirical research. The authors conclude that it is advisable to determine the scale of values of a modern person by means of literary pedagogy, to bring it to a common denominator in the intercultural space. As the leading genre of revealed reader preferences, fantasy is becoming a multimedia phenomenon and is shifting the age boundaries of potential readers around the world.

Renegotiating Aesthetic Disinterest for the Literature Classroom

This paper discusses a dialectic between a so-called disinterested appreciation of literature and what I refer to as the ‘neoliberal ethos’. I am interested, primarily, in the influence of this dialectic on literary pedagogy. I will argue that the way in which the neoliberal ethos has permeated educational settings creates a need for a reconceptualised notion of aesthetic disinterest, without which we will struggle to coherently argue for alternative conceptions of the value of education, especially arts and humanities education. I hope to show that reviving the concept of disinterest will facilitate a renegotiation of the literature classroom as a space for genuine aesthetic experience and non-instrumental discussion.

Flowers for Louise Gluck, or On the Possible Uses of Poetic Pragmatism

May not a “sorceress”/poet be “a pragmatist at heart” (Louise Gluck)? How does her “sorcery” — to quote the Nobel jury: using “poetic voice” to make “individual existence universal” — communicate and work in her readers? How may the notion of language as experience inherited from the pragmatist tradition inform literary pedagogy in the age of globalization? A sample of recent (December 2020) readings of Louise Gluck’s poems by Moscow University students is considered, including their judgments on the measure and scope of the poet’s “universality”. Slow motion, experiential reading inviting “disentrenchment” of the subject position is suggested as a useful alternative to text-centredness and insistence on the unique and holistic nature of the cultural context.

“LIVE” AND “DEAD” PARAPHRASING: A RESEARCH BASED ON THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY MODERN ONLINE PROGRAMMES

The article explores the essence and basic techniques of paraphrasing (rewriting) of a Russian-language scientific text. The motivation for the study were modern requirements for the publication activity of teaching and research staff of Russian universities. The attempts of assessing the level of services provided by “synonymizers” - online paraphrasing tools - for Russian scientific text samples have not been discussed in linguistic literature. The synonymizers available on the Internet were given a task to process the introductory paragraph from the article “Literary Pedagogy: Formation and Prospects” by E. M. Shastina and colleagues. It was found that the main method of paraphrasing that modern online services apply is the use of synonyms, along with such methods as selecting hyponyms and hypernyms, descriptive rewriting, changing the syntactic structure and adding lexical units that do not affect the content of the utterance. We conclude that at the present, synonymizers cannot compete with people - the quality of paraphrasing performed by all tested online services turned out unsatisfactory compared to the human-made version that involves the same techniques but with a completely different result. Besides, the article presents “The list of popular words and phrases used in scientific texts (with identical and similar vocabulary)” developed by the authors.

Models and/as/of Literature

Models have evolved into a major tool to analyse, understand and shape the world we live in. Ubiquitous as they are in the sciences, engineering and in public discourse, models are rarely reflected on or even used in literary studies, as testified by their conspicuous absence in most dictionaries of literary and cultural theory. This essay, first of all, provides a rough survey where models have been applied in literature, literary studies or theory. It traces the use of models from a strong start with the rise of formalism and structuralism in the twentieth century to some occasional resurfacing in the context of narratological research and literary pedagogy which, however, appears to be restricted to German academia. After a brief evaluation of these instances, new departures in the use of models in literary studies are charted before a general assessment of the prospects and profits of bringing models into the field of literature brings a conclusion with the hope of opening up new lines of research.1

Role of Literary Pedagogy in Modern Education of Preschool and Primary School Children

The study examines the concept of literary pedagogy as an integral part of the educational process. The authors argue that literary pedagogy as a modern trend in human development is linked to the system of continuous education, which is implemented in formal, non-formal and informal education. A distinction should be drawn between the concepts of literary education and literary pedagogy. Literary education as a process of an individual’s incorporation into the culture by means of literature is generally provided within the framework of formal education and is based on two fundamental principles — artistic and literary-aesthetic. The authors consider literary education as an aspect of literary pedagogy. This research examines the experience of the formation and development of literary pedagogy. Particular attention is given to the issue of training specialists who would be prepared to support children’s and youth reading. Given the integrative, interdisciplinary character of the reading skill, the research presents strong evidence in favour of literary pedagogy which is developing as a branch of pedagogy and as a reaction to the fall of interest in reading. Furthermore, the study provides an overview of the literary pedagogy.