Value of Literature and Teaching Approaches

Value of Literature

  • Provides entertainment.
  • Offers a window into different cultures.
  • Fosters critical thinking.
  • Enhances empathy.

Factors Affecting Interests in Literature

  • Motivation: Key to promoting a love of literacy.
    • Students should see themselves reflected in the books.
  • Thoughts and Feelings: Students' interests and desires are critical.
  • Ability to Relate to Students: Important consideration.
    • Use familiar settings, themes and characters.
  • Literary Merit: Qualities that make literature valuable.
    1. Entertaining and interesting.
    2. Doesn't conform to genre expectations.
    3. Artistic quality judged by the community.
    4. Stands the test of time.
    5. Shows thematic depth.
    6. Demonstrates innovation.
    7. Has social, political, or ideological impact.
    8. Avoids clichéd descriptions and sentimentality.
    9. Intended to communicate artistically.
    10. Universal appeal.

Considerations for Choosing Books and Reading Materials

  • Reading levels.
  • Interests.
  • Backgrounds.
  • Previous reading experiences.
  • Aspirations.
  • Fears.

Models of Teaching Literature

  • Cultural Model: Teacher-centered, source of facts, cultural understanding.
  • Language Model: Deconstructs texts for linguistic goals; focuses on vocabulary and grammar.
    • Benefits: vocabulary expansion, reading fluency, interpretive skills.
    • Can be too mechanistic.
  • Personal Growth Model: Combines linguistic development with appreciation for literature; encourages student interaction.

Aspects to Consider When Choosing Materials

  • Interesting and age-appropriate.
  • Facilitate personal discovery.
  • Contribute to students' growth.
  • Student-centered lessons.
  • Activities encourage communication and relate to personal life.
  • Resources for literary and linguistic development.

Approaches in Teaching Literature

  • Language-based: Focus on language use; incorporates literature and language skills.
  • Paraphrastic: Simplifies text; teacher-centered.
  • Personal-Response: Connects text themes to personal experiences.
  • Moral-Philosophical: Seeks moral values; promotes self-realization.
  • Stylistic: Literary criticism and linguistic analysis.

Levels of Comprehension

  • Literal Comprehension: Understanding explicit details.
  • Inferential Comprehension: Making inferences beyond the surface meaning.
  • Evaluative Comprehension: Analyzing and judging the text.

Barrett's Taxonomy of Comprehension Skills

  • Literal Comprehension: label, list, name, relate, recall, repeat, state, assemble, collect, categorize…
  • Reorganisation: classify, regroup, rearrange…
  • Inferential Comprehension: predict, infer, guess…
  • Evaluation: analyse, appraise, evaluate, justify, reason, criticise, judge…
  • Appreciation: critique, appraise, comment, appreciate…

Assessment Strategies

  • Assessment: Gathering information to understand learning needs.
  • Testing: Procedures based on tests to examine knowledge.
  • Measurement: Quantitative data (tests, attendance, etc.).
  • Evaluation: Interpreting information to judge learning progress.

Traditional Assessment Strategies

  • Quizzes and Tests: Assess factual recall and interpretation.
  • Essays: Demonstrate critical thinking and analytical skills.

Authentic and Alternative Assessment Strategies

  • Portfolio: Showcases work and learning over time.
  • Performances: Creative understanding through dramatic readings, etc.

Formative and Summative Assessment Strategies

  • Formative: Monitors learning during the process.
  • Summative: Evaluates learning at the end of a unit.
  • Reading Comprehension: Assesses understanding of meaning and purpose.
  • Reflective Writing: Connects themes to personal lives.
  • Presentations: Demonstrates understanding and communication skills.
  • Concept Mapping: Organizes understanding of literary concepts.
  • Feedback: Crucial for learning and improvement.
  • Observation: Monitors engagement and application of concepts.
  • Think-Pair-Share: Encourages critical thinking and discussion.

Literary Devices

  • Alliteration: Repetition of sounds at the beginning of words, e.g., "She sells seashells by the seashore."
  • Allusion: Indirect reference to a known figure or event, e.g., The Fault in Our Stars alludes to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
  • Analogy: Comparison to explain similarity, e.g., Explaining the brain as “a computer processing vast amounts of information”.
  • Foreshadowing: Hinting at future events.
  • Hyperbole: Exaggeration for effect, e.g., “I've told you a million times”.
  • Imagery: Descriptive language appealing to senses.
  • Irony: Contrast between expectation and reality.
  • Metaphor: Direct comparison between unrelated things, e.g., “Time is a thief”.
  • Motif: Recurring element with symbolic meaning.
  • Onomatopoeia: Words imitating natural sounds, e.g., “The bees buzzed”.
  • Oxymoron: Combining contradictory terms, e.g., “Jumbo shrimp”.
  • Paradox: Statement revealing a deeper truth, e.g., “The only constant in life is change”.
  • Personification: Giving human qualities to inanimate objects, e.g., “The wind whispered through the trees”.
  • Simile: Comparison using 'like' or 'as', e.g., “Her laughter was like music”.
  • Symbolism: Using objects to represent abstract ideas, e.g., A dove symbolizes peace.