From a pedagogical perspective, one of the highlights of the talk was Dr. Urlaub's discussion of the reading strategy known as "questioning the author." In traditional language teaching approaches, learners read a text and then answer comprehension questions provided by the teacher or the textbook. Questioning the author flips this idea on its head. This strategy requires learners to imagine that they will have the opportunity to talk to the author of the text. They must think of questions that go beyond what is already in the text. Doing this requires learners to think more deeply about the text and promotes a more active, engaged reading process. Using this approach in the classroom can help learners self-monitor their comprehension and increase their sensitivity to intercultural issues.
To find out more about this reading strategy, please visit Dr. Urlaub's site:
http://wikis.la.utexas.edu/rcst/page/cross-cultural-questions
There was also time for a Q&A. Questions and answers are paraphrased below:
Question: Does "literacy" encompass writing as well as reading?
Dr. Urlaub: Yes, it encompasses both. I am more of a reading guy, though. Another phenomenon in literacy research is the reading-writing connection. One of my articles is on how creative writing can help learners develop their literary reading skills. Engaging in creative writing makes learners more aware of the literary qualities of the texts they are reading.
Question: When you say "literary texts," does that term go beyond the story genre? Can it include essays, for example?
Dr. Urlaub: My working definition of a literary text is a text that depicts fictional events. This is not unproblematic. For example, there can be gray zones between biography and fiction. But for me, a literary text is not a depiction of something that happened in the real world. It is a depiction of fictional events.
In literary theory, there are reader-response theorists who would argue that it is not the text itself that provides the definition, it is the reading process--how a text is approached.
Question: Does The Onion count as literature? It's satire.
Dr. Urlaub: It's satire, yes. It is also fiction. Parody is a process where you use an established genre (e.g., a newspaper article). Parodies are good for teaching literature because they often play around with the elements that define the genre of a text. They modify those elements. And they draw the reader's attention to what it is that is being parodied.
Question: How do we, as teachers, reduce the psychological distance between the reader and the text? What are some practical ways to do this? For example, would it be a good idea to use videos to teach students about the cultural context of the writing?
Dr. Urlaub: Pre-reading activities are very important, especially with literary texts. In many textbooks, pre-reading activities consist of vocabulary lists and maybe some questions that learners can ask each other about experiences related to the content of the reading. A vocabulary list is not much of a pre-reading activity. When you teach a literary text, the pre-reading activity should not just provide linguistic scaffolding; it should also provide cultural scaffolding. You mentioned using videos. Working with visuals can be a good idea. For example, you can show some photographs of the place during the relevant time period.
Question: English textbooks in Korea have reading excerpts from authentic American or European stories. However, sometimes parts of the stories are changed to make them more familiar to a Korean audience. For example, character names may be changed to Korean names. What do you think of this?
Dr. Urlaub: This runs counter to the idea of the authentic text. Modifications can sometimes be helpful for learners by making the text more comprehensible. However, it deprives them of the cultural component of the text.
I also argue that literary texts used in a language classroom are among the most authentic types of texts. The reason for this is that the audience that the author has in mind is the general audience of native speakers of the language.
Question: What do you think of using literary texts in translation? E.g., using a German translation of Harry Potter in a second semester German class.
Dr. Urlaub: The rationale is that the learners are familiar with the text and the imaginary world that the text sets up. From a teaching point of view, you are depriving students of a learning opportunity (i.e. the opportunity to learn about German culture). From a research perspective, it is a useful approach because it allows you to look at reading from more of a linguistic standpoint by eliminating the cultural variables.
Dr. Urlaub concluded his presentation by talking about the course he will be offering in the Spring 2014 semester, a graduate seminar on literary reading in the L2. Although it is technically a Germanic Studies course, the course will be conducted entirely in English; you do not need to know German to take the course. It should count as an FLE elective (although you should double-check this with your adviser). If you have any interest in L2 reading pedagogy (and most of you should), please consider taking this course!
Here is some tentative information about the course, which will be divided into three sections:
What is reading in the L2?
- What is reading?
- How is the acquisition of reading competency different in the L1 and the L2?
- Theories and approaches to frame L2 reading
What are the problems
with literary reading in the L2?
- What is literary reading (vs. reading expository texts)?
- What are the particular challenges of reading literary texts in the L2?
- Linguistic distance
- Cultural distance
- How can teachers scaffold these challenges for learners?
Hands-on materials development
- How does one develop teaching materials to help learners to read literary texts in the L2?
Once again, a big thank you to Dr. Urlaub, and thank you to all of the FLE students who were in attendance!
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| Photo credit: Mimi Ghosh |
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| Photo credit: Jessie Trawick |
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