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Methods of Teaching Literature *
Author(s) -
Santoni Georges V.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
foreign language annals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1944-9720
pISSN - 0015-718X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1972.tb00705.x
Subject(s) - literary criticism , perspective (graphical) , linguistics , class (philosophy) , literary science , foreign language , teaching method , poetry , psychology , criticism , pedagogy , sociology , computer science , literature , philosophy , artificial intelligence , art
Although methods of teaching foreign languages have greatly improved as a result of pedagogic and linguistic research, the teaching of literature has remained traditional, emphasizing exposure rather than achievement and directed to students of superior ability. Professional training has been virtually nonexistent. The vast amount of research in contemporary criticism and in linguistics opens a new perspective on methodology. Diminishing the importance of literary history and concentrating instead on the linguistic code of literature could help us to teach literature in a manner both more interesting and more likely to elicit the individual participation of students. Students who are often discouraged because of inadequate linguistic preparation to work with a literary text need preliterary exercises dealing with the lexical, syntactic, semantic, and cultural difficulties of the text to be studied. Such a forward build‐up of the language as a means of communication, prior to the contact with the literary language, should serve as an instrument allowing teacher and class more time for a literary discussion, eliminating the need for verification of understanding. One example of teaching a poem in French illustrates this approach.