LESSON 1-THE NATURE OF LITERATURE AND ITS GENRES

Summary

The video covers the teaching and assessment of literature, focusing on its nature, purpose, and value in education. It explores why literature is important, how it contributes to communicative competence, and its role in understanding culture and human experiences. The instructor discusses various literary definitions, criticism theories, genres, and models for teaching literature. The importance of using literature to develop language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking in learners is highlighted. Additionally, the session introduces a performance task and emphasizes the personal and academic value of teaching literature.

Takeaways

• 📚 The goal of the K-12 English language arts curriculum is for learners to achieve communicative competence and multi-literacies.
• 📝 Literature is considered an extension of language, helping learners engage with deeper meanings, life, and human experiences.
• 🌍 Teaching literature helps students understand cultural heritage and develop critical multi-literacies through literary texts.
• 📖 There is no single definition of literature, but it can be described as a living thing that deeply moves readers and helps them understand human emotions.
• 🔍 The teaching of literature focuses on developing learners' holistic growth through critical engagement with texts and language.
• 🎭 Literature offers personal and academic value, such as improving reading skills, empathy, imagination, and writing style.
• 💡 Teaching literature benefits learners by enhancing language acquisition, cultural competence, and understanding real-life experiences.
• 🧐 Literary criticism and theories provide frameworks for analyzing literature from various perspectives, such as formalism, feminism, and psychoanalysis.
• 📜 Literature's genres and branches are essential to understanding its form, context, and relevance to cultural and historical periods.
• 👩‍🏫 Teaching literature employs various models, such as cultural and language models, to promote student comprehension and critical thinking.

Q & A

What is the main goal of the K-12 English Language Arts curriculum?

The main goal of the K-12 English Language Arts curriculum is for learners to achieve communicative competence and multi-literacies through a mix of language teaching theories, language acquisition, and an understanding of cultures and language.

Why is literature important in teaching English language arts?

Literature is important because it helps learners make deeper meaning not only with language but also with life, reality, truth, beauty, and love. It provides a platform to engage with human experiences and develop a deeper understanding of language and life.

What is Marcelo's personal definition of literature?

Marcelo defines literature as 'a living thing, something that moves the soul, makes it sing in wonder and awe,' and helps readers experience emotions like anger, love, hatred, and joy. He likens it to a committed relationship that feels magical.

What are the personal values gained from reading literature according to Lynch Brown and Tomlinson?

The personal values include enjoyment, imagination and inspiration, vicarious experience, understanding and empathy, cultural heritage, moral reasoning, and literacy and artistic preferences.

What are the academic values of teaching literature?

The academic values of teaching literature include improving reading skills, developing writing voice and style, learning content area knowledge, and promoting art appreciation.

What are the three main purposes of teaching literature as outlined in the lesson?

The three main purposes are language acquisition, cultural competence, and helping students relate literature to real-life issues and experiences.

What are the benefits of teaching literature in the language classroom as per Parkinson and Thomas?

The benefits include cultural enrichment, linguistic model, mental training, extension of linguistic competence, authenticity, memorability, rhythmic resource, motivational material, open interpretation, and convenience.

What are some literary criticism theories that teachers use when analyzing literature?

Some literary criticism theories include formalism, deconstructionism, Marxism, feminism, postmodernism, reader's response, and psychoanalytic interpretation.

What frameworks should teachers consider when teaching literature?

Teachers should consider literary criticism theories, literary genres and authors, cultural and historical context, models and approaches in teaching literature, and comprehension levels in reading literature.

What is the comprehension framework in reading literary texts?

The comprehension framework guides teachers to extract different comprehension levels from learners, leading them to read between the lines, beyond the lines, and interpret the deeper meaning of the text.