Sonia Zyngier

Principles and Applications of Distributed Event-Based Systems

Literary Education and Digital Learning: Methods and Technologies for Humanities Studies provides insight into the most relevant issues in literary education and digital learning. This unique reference fills a gap in literature teaching, covering literary aspects both from educational and research perspectives.

Literature and Stylistics for Language Learners

This volume presents the state of the art in terms of stylistic research and application, including EFL and ESL language classroom situations. Some of the most prominent scholars from a variety of backgrounds in the field of pedagogical stylistics show how theory, empirical studies and new technology, including corpus analysis, can be integrated into the classroom. This volume is suitable for all those interested in keeping abreast of the most recent developments in literature and language education.

Towards a Pedagogical Stylistics

Since the 1950s, pedagogical stylistics has been intrinsically linked with the teaching of written texts (and especially literary texts) to speakers of English as a second language. This is despite the fact that for decades many teachers have also structured their lessons in L1 classrooms to focus upon the linguistic features of literary texts as a means of enhancing their students’ understanding of literature and language. Recognizing that instructors in both L1 and L2 settings were often employing related pedagogical techniques without realizing that their colleagues in the other context were facing similar challenges, the PEDSIG group of the Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA) has sought to add a theoretical dimension to research undertaken into practice in the stylistics classroom. Its goals, then, were: to establish a working definition of pedagogical stylistics; to identify the theoretical and pedagogical underpinnings of the discipline shared by L1 and L2 practitioners; to point if possible towards any emerging consensus on good practice. The group determined that the principal aim of stylistics in the classroom is to make students aware of language use within chosen texts, and that what characterizes pedagogical stylistics is classroom activities that are interactive between the text and the (student) reader. Preliminary findings, from a pilot study involving a poem by Langston Hughes, suggest that the process of improving students’ linguistic sensibilities must include greater emphasis upon the text as action: i.e. upon the mental processing which is such a proactive part of reading and interpretation; and how all of these elements – pragmatic and cognitive as well as linguistic – function within quite specific social and cultural contexts.

Pedagogical stylistics, literary awareness and empowerment: a critical perspective:

Based on the premise that stylisticians who are involved with teaching should be aware of the pedagogical orientation and reading paradigms which inform their practice, this article questions whether critical pedagogy can dialogue with stylistics as an approach to working with literary texts in the classroom. The theoretical claims are illustrated with examples from two Literary Awareness workshops in an EFL situation. The argument leads to the conclusion that irrespective of the political orientation and a rather romantic view of education, some of the ideas proposed by critical pedagogy can still contribute to the area of pedagogical stylistics in the years to come. The article concludes with a recommendation for more empirical research in the area.

Revisiting Literary Awareness

The interest in LitAw grew from the evidence that many Humanities students go through university acquiring a rather transient knowledge about literature. They rely on a pool of dates and facts for their tests which they mostly forget after the exams. Awareness of powerful linguistic patterns, their effects on the reader, the fascination of a well-written piece, the possibility of being changed by the reading experience, these are aspects that still remain foreign to many classrooms. LitAw developed from this need to promote critical and autonomous readers who could both experience the text (Rosenblatt, 1938) and substantiate their statements from a linguistic perspective.

Introducing Literary Awareness.

Abstract Debates over what to include in the literary canon have reached the point of questioning the validity of literature as a discipline. Proposals to integrate the study of literature within the area of cultural studies have been made. Starting from these postulations, this article reassesses the role of literature in the curriculum. It claims that the questions should centre not on what to teach, but on how to do it. Based on the recent developments in stylistics and in Language Awareness in Britain, this article proposes the emergence of a new discipline — Literary Awareness — and shows how it can be beneficial to EFL students at tertiary level, especially as an introductory course to literary studies. The delicate issue of competence in literature is also dealt with and arguments are raised in favour of the validity of interpretation by EFL readers. The objective here is to develop a less authoritative, text‐oriented programme which may foster students’ sensitivity to the literary phenomenon.

Complexity and Foregrounding: In the Eye of the Beholder?

Abstract This article approaches from an empirical perspective the interrelation between foregrounding and complexity in the evaluation of literary texts. For this purpose, a reading experiment is reported. Participants from three cultures (Brazil, Egypt, and the Netherlands) read three texts of different degrees of complexity and evaluated them on a number of variables. Subsequently, they re-read and evaluated the texts once more. The hypothesis was that complex texts would be rated higher on a second than on a first reading; the opposite was predicted for the text with the lowest complexity. Results confirmed this hypothesis for only one group of partici-pants, which raises questions about the nature of a “reading culture.”Most birders can sense that a combination of both regular and random features are creating the complexity of bird song.Marcia Southwick, “Poetic Voice and the Complexity of Bird Song” Poetics Today 28:4 (Winter 2007) DOI 10.1215/03335372-2007-011© 2008 by Porter Institute for Poetics and SemioticsWe would like to thank our readers, especially Meir Sternberg, for the careful and detailed comments, which have helped us improve this article.

Women beware women: detective fiction and critical discourse stylistics

This article examines the work of four contemporary writers of detective fiction (P.D. James, Amanda Cross, Sara Paretsky and Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine) from a critical discourse stylistics perspective with the objective of raising the readers awareness of the ideological processes that are manifested in the language of these texts. It considers how these writers deal with stereotypical assumptions, how they cope with socially determined traditional roles and verify whether their choices result in the articulation of an alternative discourse. The investigation arrives at some identifiable cultural and linguistic characteristics which may be singular to this new group of writers. We suggest that by challenging traditional representations of women, these writers may be offering a reconstruction of the genre.

Interpretation and Experience: Two Pedagogical Interventions Observed1

Abstract In light of the hard times in which literary education has been finding itself, this paper evaluates the merits of two instructional interventions. It describes an experiment which contrasts interpretive and experiential approaches to reading carried out with 17 Comparative Literature Canadian university students. Two different sets of pre‐reading and reading instructions were prepared. The group working under the control condition followed a set of ‘interpretive instructions’ while the one working under the experimental condition followed ‘experiential instructions’. Participants in both conditions completed four measures: three questionnaires and a response essay. Video‐recording of small group discussions also occurred. Intervention effects were evaluated statistically. No differences were found in any of the measurements except for story‐driven reading, in which the control group scored higher than the experimental one. This means that participants preferred to focus on the plot or story‐line and showed interest for action and compelling conclusions. The video recording, however, indicated higher voluntary participation in the experimental condition. As regards class assessment, the results were rather contradictory and unexpected, leading to the conclusion that interpretation and experiencing may not present us with an either‐or situation but may most productively be regarded as complementary. Ultimately, this study advances the debate on the need to examine instructional interventions in literature classes empirically.

The Unheard Voices: A Reader Model for Students.

For over 20 years studies in literary theory, linguistics, and semiotics have been contributing with models which describe the role of readers and how they construct the meaning of a literary text. Most of these studies, however, assume an ideal figure who may not necessarily correspond to classroom reality. In this paper I propose a framework which offers a more democratic setting. Cognitively, the model is in line with studies which regard learning as a process of development and adjustment. Linguistically, it accommodates different levels of language proficiency. Culturally, it stresses that the concept of sharedness depends on social praxis. Based on the theoretical assumptions brought about by developments in Language Awareness, I discuss the teachers role in this setting and propose Literary Awareness as an initial programme by means of which students become sensitised to the construction of verbal art. My final point is that through the perception and manipulation of linguistic patterns in differe...