UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE SANTO DOMINGO

FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES
DIVISION DE POSTGRADO EDUCACION PERMANENTE
MAESTRIA EN LINGÜISTICA APLICADA A LA ENSEÑANZA DEL IDIOMA INGLES

COURSE SYLLABUS
COURSE: IDI-8400 The practical teaching of English and American
literatures.
Facilitator: Manuel Aristy Gregorio Polanco

Cell phone: 829-380-3886

E-mail Address: gregoriobernal507@gmail.com
Textbook: Literature and Lenguages Teaching
A guide for teachers and trainers
GILLIAN LAZAR
3 credits, 48 hours
Schedule: 8 hours´ times
Sunday from 9:00 A.M. – 5:00 P.M.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
In the last decades, there has been an increasing interest in how literature can be
taught with the language learner. This course aims to provide both new and
experienced teachers of English with very practical ideas, techniques and approaches
that have worked in the literature classrooms. But above all, a thoughtful principled and
eclectic method that can be applied or adapted to the learners´ own literary setting.
In order to show how these approaches to teaching literature with our students came
to be used, it is important to look briefly at some of the issues which underlie our own
attitudes to language learning and its relation to the study of literature. Why is
literature beneficial in the language learning process? What works of literature are
suitable for the foreign language classroom? How can we rethink the way we teach and
use literature in order to develop a broader range of activities which are more involving
for our students?
 OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Implement a wide range of techniques and methods in the teaching of literature

in the classrooms.

• Incorporate the use of technologies in the teaching of literature for the foreign
language classroom.

• Direct their attention to some of the issues underlying the use of literature in
the language classroom by considering some definitions of literature and their
implications.

• Explore whether literary language is distinctive from other type of language.

• Analyze the idea that, the meaning of a literary text can never be fixed.
authoritatively.

• Consider the concept of literary competence and its implications for using
literature in the classroom.

• Consider the reasons for using literature with the language learner.

• Evaluate and assess what aspects of the literature as content approach are
useful in a general English classroom.

• Highlight the advantages and drawbacks of using metalanguage with their

students.

• Establish criteria for selecting and evaluating literary texts to use with students.

• Suggest various strategies for dealing with students´ cultural problems with
texts.

• Teach and identify distinctive features of the short story.

• Identify certain unusual linguistic features of poetry in order to ascertain how

poetry can best be taught in the classroom.

• Pinpoint reasons for using plays with the language learner.

• Consider some of the features of plays which differentiate them from novels,
poetry or short stories.
 Contents of the course
1- Using literature in the language classroom. The issues
1.1 What is literature? 1
1.2 What is distinctive about the language of literature? 5
1.3 The reader and the text 8
1.4 Literary competence and the language classroom 11
1.5 Why use literature in the language classroom? 14

2- Approaches to using literature with the language learner

2.1 An overview 22
2.2 A language-based approach to using literature 27
2.3 Stylistics in the classroom 31
2.4 Literature as content: How far to go? 35
2.5 Literature for personal enrichment: Involving students 39
2.6 The role of metalanguage 43

3- Selecting and evaluating materials.

3.1 Selecting texts. 48
3.2 Evaluating learning materials which make use of literary texts. 56

4- Materials design and lesson planning: novels and short stories

How to teach a short story? How to teach a novel?
4.1 Writing your own story 71
4.2 Distinctive features of a short story 72
4.3 Anticipating student problems when using a short story 75.
4.4 Planning a lesson for use with a short story 77.
4.5 Further tasks and activities for use with a short story 83
4.7 Using novels in the language classroom 89.
5-Materials design and lesson planning: poetry. How to teach a poem?
5.1 Putting a poem back together again 94.
5.2 What is distinctive about poetry? 96
5.3 Why use poetry with the language learner? 99
5.4 Exploiting unusual language features 101.
5.5 Helping students with figurative meanings 104.
5.6 Using poetry with lower levels 109.
5.7 Using poetry to develop oral skills 116
5.8 Using a poem with students at higher levels 121
5.9 Anticipating student problems 127
5.10 Further tasks and activities 129

6- Materials design and lesson planning: plays. How to teach a play?

6.1 What is distinctive about plays? 133
6.2 The language of a play 134
6.3 The performance of a play 135
6.4 Why use plays in the language learning classroom? 136
6.5 Using play extracts to think about language in conversation 138
6.6 Using play extracts to improve students´ oral skills 146
6.7 Using play extracts with lower levels 152
6.8 Anticipating student problems 155
6.9 Further activities for play extracts 159
6.10 Using a whole play with students 161
7- Analyzing a literary work. A literature teaching
approach.
7.1 What is an analysis?
7.2 Read the work carefully?
7.3 Consider the form in its many aspects
7.4 Spot the plot
7.5 Notice the setting
7.6 The characters
7.7 The themes
7.8 Look out for symbols
7.9 The narrator
7.10 The author´s message
7.11 The reader´s response
7.12 Aid to reading and analysis
7.13 The essay question
 Course requirements and methodology
Assignments:
Assignment 1- Participants will be asked to write five different reaction
papers based on five literary articles. (Individual work)
1) The nature of literature: By René Wellek and Austin Warren. Theory
of literature
2) Reading fiction: Literature: The human experience: By Abcarian,
Richard and CLOTZ, Marvin.
3) Reading poetry: Literature: The human experience: By Abcarian,
Richard and Clotz, Marvin.
4) Reading Essays: Literature: The human experience: By Abcarian,
Richard and Clotz , Marvin.
5) Reading Drama: Literature: The human experience: By Abcarian,
Richard and Clotz, Marvin.
Note: What is a reaction paper?
It is a written assignment that provides a personal opinion regarding a
given piece of work.
The paper should include a short summary of the work, but the main focus
is your ideas and feelings.
2 pages the longest.
Assignment 2- Presentations: (Group work)
Based on the chapter assigned by the professor you need to make a
presentation taking into consideration the following guidelines:
* The language should be at the level of all participants in class. If there is
any difficult terminology, you need to simplify it and adjust it to level of
your peers.
* You should use slides in order to make your presentations more
understandable.
* Make sure your presentations are as professional & academic as possible
for every delivery.
* Remember to get your peers involved in your presentations, as to make it
more meaningful.
*All participants will be graded mainly on: time, the professionalism of your
presentations, your spoken ability (grammar, pronunciation, academic
proficiency, etc.), your ability to attract the attention of your audience, the
type of information you provide, how you use this information to the best
of your knowledge, etc.

Assignment 3- Teaching practice: (Group work) Participants will be given

the opportunity to select and teach the different Literary forms in English.
You might choose a short story, a poem, an essay, a play or a novel. (e.g.,
Aesop’s fables)
Remember to include a lesson plan in your teaching application.
15-20 minutes lesson.
Final assignment: written project. (Individual work)
Part 1- All participants will be given a great number of questions and
statements in order to elaborate their answers.
1- What is the Elizabethan period?
2- In what way did the Elizabethan age contribute to the development of
Shakespeare’s career and other representative writers of the time?
3- Why did the English language change in such a period?
4- What are the major historical events that provide a background for the
18 century English literature?
5- What are the most important characteristics that highlight the period of
the romantic era?
6-What does slavery represent in times of literary nationalism in the U.S?
7- Why did authors such as walt Whitman, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain),
Emily Dickinson, and others no longer have to look to Europe for literary
inspiration?
8- Do you agree that Whitman invented the free verse? In that case, how?
9- Why are the writers and other intellectuals of such an era called “The
lost generation”?
10- Do you think that both world war I and world war II overwhelmed the
imagination in American writers and artists?
Part 2- With a lesson plan included (2 pages the longest), how would you
teach a poem or a short story to an EFL undergraduate student? Feel free
to choose a writer and his piece of work from the list provided by the
professor or you could choose one of your own.
 Evaluation of the course
*Attendance: 10%
*Individual works: 25% (reaction-paper: 15% and active participation: 10%)
*Group work: 45% (debates: 10%, workshops 10%, mini presentation 15%,
question – answer 10%)
* Final written project: 20%
* Total: 100%
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Text to be used in tasks and activities, and some for further references
A. BOOKS
• Abcarian, Richard, and Marvin Klotz. Literature: The human
experience 6th ed. New York: st. Martin´s press, 1996.
• Barnet, Sylvan, Morton Berman, and Willian Burton. An introduction
to literature. New York: Harper Collins college publishers, 1994
• Brooks, Cleanth, John Thibaut Purser, and Robert Penn Warren. An
approach to literature. 4th ed. New York: Appleton – century – crofts,
1964
• Carter, Ronald, and john McRae, eds. Language, literature and the
learner. London and New York: Longman, 1996
• Collie, Joanne, and Stephen Slater. Literature in the language
classroom. New York: Cambridge university press, 1990
• Gómez Redondo, Fernando El lenguaje literario: teoría y práctica.
Madrid: Edaf, 1994.
• Hunter, J. paul The Norton introduction to poetry. New York and
London W.W Norton and company. 1996
• Lazar, Guillian. Literature and language teaching. Great Britain:
Cambridge university press, 1993
• Marckwardt , Albert Henry . The place of literature in the teaching of
English as a second or foreign language Hawaii: The university press
of Hawaii,1986
• Miller, Jr., James E, et al., eds. United states in literature. Glenview,
Illinois: Scott, Foresman and company, 1979
• Miller, Jr., James E, Myrtle J. Jones, and Helen McDonnell, eds.
England in literature. Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and
company, 1973
• Reinking, James A. Andrew W. Hart, and Robert von der Osten.
Strategies for successful writing: A Rhetoric, Research guide, Reader,
and Handbook. 5th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999.
• Wellek, Renè, and Austin Warren. Theory of literature. 3 rd ed. New
York:
• Harcourt, Brace and world, Inc.1956
• Widdowson, H.G. stylistics and the teaching of literature. London
and New York: Longman, 1975
B. MAGAZINES
• Cadora, Jill ´´ Appreciating poetry ´´ English teaching forum 32 (1994)
12-15
• Cardone, Emilia. ´´ A question-and-answer-Approach to a literary
text´´ English Teaching forum 29 (1991): 34
• Khan, M. Amirullah. ´´ Poetry in motion- A technique in writing ´´
English teaching forum 31(1993): 41-42
• Perdersen, E. Martin. ´´Storytelling and the Art of teaching ´´ English
Teaching forum 33(1995): 2-5
• Salazar, Nelson ´´A new Approach to teaching literature ´´ English
teaching forum 30 (1992): 31-32
• Wei, Shu. ´´literature teaching ´´ English teaching forum 37 (1999)
25-27
• Zyngier, Sonia. ´´ teaching a short story. ´´ English teaching forum 26
(1998) 22-25.