Chapter 2: Teaching and Assessing Literature: Models, Approaches, and Strategies

Chapter’s Quote:

"Literature makes us better thinkers. It moves us to see the multi-sidedness of situations and therefore expands the
breadth of our own visions, moving us towards dreams and solutions we might not otherwise have imagined.“

Judith Langer, Envisioning Literature

Discussion:

As we are incapable of stepping back in time and learning about what went before us, who walked before us, and
what history was, literature provided us an avenue to become well-informed. Through literature, we can gain not
only an understanding but also appreciation of culture. For most of us serious and formal encounter with literature
is in school where reading and writing have been part of the school curriculum. We were trained to identify
themes and messages from various literary pieces across different genres. Literature has become the gateway to
the past and connects us to the rest of the world. With it comes the power to change value systems, reform
nations, organize movements, and even improve one's way of life.

Austin (2020) purported that the influence of literature in today's society is undeniable. In his article, he succinctly
mentioned authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald as one of the prime examples of a work that mirrors society. The novel,
The Great Gatsby, contains the reflection of Fitzgerald's experiences and regard of America during the 1920s. He
further added that, "Literature is a reflection of humanity and a way for us to understand each other. By listening
to the voice of another person we can begin to figure out how that individual think." The worldmaking, the making
sense of our lives and the reflecting allow us to construct the norms and values we live by.

Factors Affecting Interest in Literature

What has piqued your interest? What moves you to read? to write? Since literature involves not just the head
(cognition) but also the heart, it is important to consider motivation as the key in promoting love for literature. To
do this, every English teacher has to select and/or use reading materials that relate to their students' lives. In the
process of selecting literary pieces, the students' interests and the intended learning outcomes are fundamental
considerations. Literary merit, as outlined by Gilmore (2011) is described as the quality of a text that makes it
valuable enough to serve as a material for teaching and learning. In this case, the text, to meet the literary merit
must: (1) be of value to the readers, (2) be judged to have artistic quality, and (3) have stood the test of time
regardless of publication and date.

Choosing Books and Reading Materials

Here's more to the selection of reading materials. As teachers, we ensure that at the end of every reading
experience, our students can say, "It was a good read." Sacks (2018) considered development, diversity, reading
level, thematic connections, and literary strengths as bases for choosing books and reading materials. On the other
hand, your students will also benefit from self-selected, but teacher-approved reading materials. Early advantages
of opportunity to choose the reading materials include, but not limited to, developing literacy preferences,
understanding their own reading ability, and applying critical decision in choosing materials for specific needs. As
facilitators of learning, you are to explore the interests of your students without losing sight of the competencies
that they are to acquire in the process of reading.

As pre-service teachers, it is your task to hone the worldmaking abilities of your students, to facilitate building and
understanding relationships between values and literature. As you delve into the dimensions of literature, you
shall learn in this Chapter the models (Lesson 1), approaches (Lesson 2) and levels of comprehension questions
(Lesson 3), and strategies in teaching literature studies (Lesson 4).

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this Chapter, you must be able to:

1. discuss the different models in teaching literature;

2. differentiate the approaches to teaching literature;

3. formulate questions in each level of comprehension; and

4. apply one of the strategies in teaching literature.

COMPETENCY 1: Understanding the Models of Teaching Literature

The study of literature aims to promote language development like vocabulary and structure. It also helps one to
achieve pleasure and satisfaction in reading while appreciating what has been in one's own time and space.

This universality of literature makes it appealing to everyone, regardless of culture, race, sex, and time. As students
engage in a literacy piece, their critical thinking is stimulated and mental of abstract reasoning is enriched. In the
process of analyzing symbolisms, meanings, nuances, and messages, the reader’s emotional powers are
unravelled.

As such, there is a need to anchor the analysis on literary models to understand how each literary piece presents
peculiar ways on how one sees life as evidenced by organization of ideas, form, structures, and expressions.

In this lesson, you will be acquainted with the three models in teaching literature and how the intertwining of
these models can lead to holistic teaching. Furthermore, you are expected to demonstrate the extent of your plan
and implement a session with an in-service teacher.

3 MODELS OF LITERATURE-BASED TEACHING

1. cultural model - View literature as a teacher-centered and source of facts where teacher delegates knowledge
and information to students.
This model employs traditional approaches to teach literature by exposing students to the background of a text in
order to examine the ideas and concepts behind it.

In this way, students learn about different cultures and patterns of thought, and either directly or indirectly, will
compare them to their own.

2. language model- Allows teacher to employ strategies used in language teaching to deconstruct literary texts in
order to serve specific linguistic goals.
In this approach, learners examine texts looking for specific linguistic features such as vocabulary and grammatical
structures.

3. personal growth model- The focus is on a particular use of language in a text and in specific cultural context.
This model attempts to combine both the above approaches and encourage more student interaction with the
text. Literary texts are seen as a resource for both linguistic development as well as the development of an
appreciation for literature.

Though each model has distinct characteristics, there are specific ways to expand your students’ experiences of
learning literature in a second language. With the use of the models, students will be able to access the target
language, understand the target culture, and eventually realize the seamless connections between the language
and the other subjects.

Such connections allow them to see the relevance of language in other disciplines like history, math and art. In so
doing, they will be able to understand the universality of language. Through guided practice, your students will see
examples of metaphors, symbols, analogies, puns and unconsciously think about similar constructions in their first
language. This an elucidation of connecting language and personal growth meaningfully.

Summing up, literature which is built from language, serves as a gateway for students to arrive at their own
understanding of words and phrases. As they read literary texts, they acquire new words, and learn discourse
functions, structures and sentence patterns which are scaffolds for effective writing. The use of language in the
literary texts within its cultural context supports personal growth. Succinctly, Carter considers that: “teaching
literature within a cultural model enables students to understand and appreciate cultures and ideologies different
from their own in time and space and to come to perceive tradition of thought, feeling and artistic form within the
heritage the literature of such cultures endows.” (Carter & Long, 1997).

COMPETENCY 2: Determining the Approaches to Teaching Literature

Take Off!

Teaching literature is geared toward the enhancement of students’ language proficiency along with the
informational aesthetic value of the English language in general. Over the past years teachers have faced various
literature challenges as to how teach effectively.

Moody (1983) stressed that a teaching approach provides a model, the operations to be used in presenting the
content that leads to the development of the reading skills. In this case, it is the teaching of literature that ensures
stimulation of students’ interests and their development f language proficiency.

Cultural Model

Cultural model is related to information-based approach (Thunnithet, 2011). Literature is a source of facts or
information to be put across to students by the teacher (Hwang & Embi, 2007). It stresses the role of literature in
condensing values, ideas and wisdom that have accumulated within a culture over historical periods (Aydin, 2013).
Students need to understand and search for political, literary, social and historical context from the learned text. It
assists students to understand and appreciate the different cultures and ideologies of thoughts and feelings which
are beyond their time and space. It is a traditional approach, teacher-centered, and delivers information and facts
to students (Rashid, Vethamani & Rahman, 2010).

Information-based approach
Information-based approach gives knowledge and information to students (Thunnithet, 2011). It is teacher-
centered and demands a lot of teacher’s input in giving students various contents of literary text like on historical,
political, and cultural and social background. Knowledge of literature is delivered as a source of information to
students (Rashid, Vethamani, & Rahman, 2010). It includes reading from the criticism or notes, explanations and
lectures given by teacher for examinations sake (Hwang & Embi, 2007).

Language Model

Comprises paraphrastic approach, stylistic approach and language- based approach. It integrates language and
literature as a source to improve students’s language proficiency while learning the language (Hwang & Embi,
2007). It uses literature in teaching different functions of language like grammar, vocabulary, and language
structures from the literary texts to students (Aydin, 2013). It helps to attain literature aesthetic aspect solely via
expression and communication quality of literature (Khatib, Rezaei & Derakhshan, 2011).

Paraphrastic Approach
 Parapharastic approach is primarily paraphrasing and rewording the text to simpler language or use other
languages to translate it. Teachers use simple words or less complex sentence structure to make the original text
easy to understand (Divsar, 2014). It is teacher-centered and does not contribute much interesting activities
towards students (Hwang & Embi, 2007).

Stylistic Approach

Stylistic approach implies literary critics and linguistic analysis. It is for students to appreciate and understand the
literary text in a deeper manner. It helps students to interpret the text meaningfully and develops language
awareness and knowledge (Thunnithet, 2011). It analyzes the language prior to the elements of literary text
(Aydin. 2013).

Language-Based Approach

Language-based approach helps students pay attention to the way the language is used when studying literature. It
is student-centered and activity-based for productive use of language. It improves student’s language proficiency,
and incorporates literature and language skills among the students (Dhillon & Mogan, 2014). It engages students
more on experiences and responses (Aydin, 2013). Role play, cloze, poetry recital, discussions, forum and debate,
dramatic activities, making prediction, brainstorming, rewriting stories ending and summarizing are practiced in
this approach (Divsar, 2014).

Personal Growth Model

Personal growth model comprises personal-response approach and moral philosophical approach. It enables
students to develop their language, character and emotions by connecting and responding to the issues and
themes to their lives (Hwang & Embi, 2007). It encourages students to love and enjoy reading literature for
personal development as well as to relate their relationships to the environment (Aydin, 2013).

Personal-Response Approach

Personal-response approach encourages students to make sense of their experiences and personal lives with text
themes, It also promotes students to associate the subject matters of the reading texts with personal life
experiences (Rashid, Vethamani & Rahman, 2010). It engages individual in literary text reading as personal
fulfilment and pleasure can be met while developing the language and literary competency (Divsar, 2014).
Brainstorming, small grouo discussions, journal writing, interpreting opinions, and generating views from a text are
practiced in this approach (Hwang & Embi, 2007).

Moral-Philosophical Approach

Learners seek moral values from a particular literary text while reading it. It helps students to be aware of moral
and philosophical values and identify them (Rashid, Vethamani & Rahman, 2010). Students need to go beyond the
text for moral and philosophical inference (Divsar, 2014). With this approach, teachers are able to direct students
to achieve self- realization as well as self-understanding while interpreting literary works (Lim & Omar, 2007). This
approach is very much in line with the aim of Malaysian Secondary English Language Syllabus to instill values for
good citizenship.

Competency 3: Understanding Levels of Comprehension Questions

A plethora of research shows that academic achievement relies greatly on the ability of the students to
comprehend, that is, to understand text whether spoken, written and/or visual Luke, Dooley, and Woods (2011) in
their study claimed that comprehension, as a predictor of overall academic achievement, includes the
simultaneous extraction and construction of meaning from a text.
Such meaning is derived only when students engage in an intentional and conscious problem solving and thinking
processes Large scale studies (e.g PISA) emphasized the importance of “students being able to apply their
knowledge and skills to real-life situations.”

In literature analysis, the levels of comprehension become a device to aid in the acquisition of meaning. These
allow the teachers and students to focus on the development and analysis of the text with the use of multi-level
questions. After all, as one reads, he/she needs to pay attention to the details, the messages between the lines and
even beyond the lines.

To be successful in reading an article, story, poem, or novel, one has to draw on reading strategies to develop
the skills needed in comprehension.

These include retrieving information, interpreting implicit and explicit ideas, integrating and reflecting on concepts
and evaluating the information. Thomson, De Bortoli and Buckley (2013) advanced the idea of comprehension lens
which is closely related to Mt Sac Levels of Comprehension. As students read or view a reading material, they can
understand it on different levels. Active reading is done by attending to the various comprehension levels. It is
done when students are proactively involved in the reading of a text which leads to comprehension. Deep
comprehension occurs when all levels have been considered.

What are these levels of comprehension? Figure 1 presents the breakdown of each level from the modified Mt
Sac Levels of Comprehension.

To Hillock's Ladder, the levels of reading comprehension are expressed in terms of 3 types. Type 1 questions are
the literal questions which are considered the right there' or 'on the page' questions since answers are directly
found in the text and do not require student's much thinking. The key details are important comprehend the text.
Literal comprehension occurs at the first or surface leved when a reader/viewer acknowledges what he/she can
see and hear. In this level. the details are explicitly stated and are clear for anyone to identify. Examples of this
type are: What is the conflict between the two characters? What is the man character upset about?

Type 2 questions, the Inferential type of questions, are those which require the students to figure out the answers.
These are also called the "think and search questions' or 'between the lines questions' requiring thought and
making connections. An inferential question deals with implied relationships through key details not stated
directly, such that inferencing skills are needed. As the term suggests, this type of questions requires the students
to recall their previose knowledge of the topic as they identify relevant clues (e.g. words, images) to arrive at an
inference. An example is "What do you think that means."

In Type 3, generalization questions, themes are deduced to inform personal action. They are also known as the
evaluative questions characterized by 'beyond the text' question. This type requires the students to think outside
the text to con- sider what they think and believe in relation to the message of the text. In this level, students also
will justify their points, share and argue viewpoints, and analyze authors' position. As such, there is no right or
wrong answer but rather justifications for their answers. Sample questions are: How does the author use the
structure of the text to make a particular point? How does the theme impact the way we view ourselves?"

COMPETENCY 4: Employing Assessment Strategies in Teaching Literature

English teachers are not only concerned about having student read but also on knowing how much they are taking
from each reading. As such, it is important to master the different assessment strategies when teaching literature.
These strategies help promote students' reading comprehension, analysis, and skills related to literature studies. In
the previous lessons, you learned using the levels of comprehension where questions are categorized into (1) on
the line/ literal (2) between the line/ inferential, and (3) beyond the line/ thematic.

Assessment to be effective has to involve varied tasks that will measure the students' extent of understanding of
various literary pieces through their responses. These responses take into account the students' language
proficiency to accommodate the necessary aspects of any speech event. Moreover, literary responses can be
articulated though open-ended writing tasks or through a compendium of students' performances (oral and
written) over time.

In 2013, Richard Beach wrote a book chapter about Assessing Responses to Literature. Read the abstract to
identify the varied assessment strategies that any teacher can use to obtain students' literary responses.

This chapter examines research on issues of validity and reliability in assessment of students' literary responses
associated with their experiential transaction with a literary text. It describes the uses of summative assessment of
learning literary responses as well as formative assessment for fostering learning of literary responses. It posits
that effective summative assessment of literary responses involves open-ended writing tasks or uses of student-
generated portfolios based on students' written responses over time in lieu of multiple-choice items, while at the
same time taking into account the influence of differences in language proficiency, requiring development of
prompts and tasks designed to accommodate for variations in language proficiency.

It posits that effective formative assessment of oral literary responses involves facilitation of classroom or online
discussions whereby students can generate ample responses for teachers to assess based on shared criteria or
rubrics that can also be used to foster students' self-assessing of their discussion responses. And, to provide
effective assessment of students' written literary responses, it recommends creating engaging, open- ended
writing assignments with clearly specified criteria for defining effective interpretations so that teachers can provide
descriptive feedback through individual conferences,, written comments, or audio recording to foster student self-
assessing and revisions of their writing, as well as training peers to provide feedback.

Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life
requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.

-C.S. Lewis-

Delving Deeper

Dealing with literature means reading texts. Through purposeful reading, develops language one awareness.
Fleming (2006) in Pieper (2006) succinctly emphasized: "It is literature that encapsulates a language in its most
subtle and intricate forms where nuances of meaning and ambiguity have to be embraced." As students are given
the texts to read, they acquire a certain attitude towards the texts which can influence the reading process. With
this, they develop a close knowledge of key literary texts in various genres such as poetry, prose, and drama. As
they do, they also consider the many ways in which writers choose the form, structure and language to shape the
meaning of texts.

With the numerous possibilities to express the students' understandings of literary pieces, English teachers have to
come up with diverse ways to assess the students' responses. The inclusion of critical theories in teaching
literature provides a potent avenue for students to reflect their own understanding and interpretations of the
texts, to reevaluate their beliefs and challenge their assumptions. In so doing, they can extend their critical analysis
skills

Here are some of the formative assessment tasks that can be given to the students in any type of assessments.

Possible Assessment

1. Locating and engaging with a variety of literary and theoretical sources

2. Extracting key points from articles

3. Identifying arguments as well as the evidences that support these arguments

4. Participating in a debate in set text and resources

The students can also benefit from indicative reading lists to hone their information literacy skills, or provide them
connections to the varied texts to analyze. Notably, mans' greatest invention is the ability to put the right words in
the right order, either spoken or written. This ability is held as the most powerful force of the modern world. It is
through the printed page that one can share and read about the happiest, best, and wisest moments of the
happiest, best, and wisest of men. Such is a privilege and pleasure given to man.

By the same token, since literature is open to interpretation, it can serve as a basis for genuine interaction
between the students. Their responses in any communicative event sets the stage that English, as the medium of
expression, is of supreme importance.

When assessing extent of students' grasp of the concepts and ability to express one's understanding and analysis
of the text, it is important to put premium on the meaningfulness of the tasks and the activities along with the
interrelated nature of language. Bisese et al. (1998) have captured the portrait of an ideal English class. The
account below describes the pedagogical practices of a literature teacher.