Teaching Contemporary American Culture and Society

Teaching American Literature Spring 2015

Course: AN1180MA Time and place: Mon 14.00-15.40, Rm 106, Main Building

Instructor: Lenke Németh ([email protected])

Office hours: Mon 13.00 -13.50, Wed 13.00 – 13. 50, Rm 118, Main Building Office phone: 06 52 512 900/22069

Course Description

The aim of this seminar is twofold: the methodological content of the course has been designed to study the theory and the practice of teaching language through literature in the foreign language classroom, while the multi-genre literary content—including a film adaptation of a contemporary play by a Chicana dramatist—familiarizes students with a representative sample of post-1945 works that thematize the (re)definition of American identity. Through a close study of the selected works our goal is to trace how American myths, race, gender, and ethnicity shape and challenge the ever-changing concept of “Americanness, thus highlighting the diversity of the American culture and society. Accordingly, authors selected for the course include African American, Asian American, Mexican American, and Dominican American voices, among others.

Method of Teaching Each class will be divided into two parts, one devoted to the discussion of the approaches to the literary works as demonstrated by the instructor, while the other will involve the study of themes addressed in the individual works. Student presentations on theoretical and practical issues pertaining to the integration of literature in the language classroom will form an integral part of the course. Additionally, students are required to practice and observe their peers trying out the approaches and techniques introduced in the course as well as to give feedback on others’ and their own performances.

Course Requirements Attendance and active participation in class discussions. Oral presentation: a 5-10-minute discussion of an assigned reading on the methodology of teaching literature in the non-native language classrom. Students are strongly advised to speak without notes as mush as possible. Micro-teaching: a 25-minute teaching of a literary work (or an extract from a literary work) to peers in class. The lesson plans of the teaching practice must be consulted with the instructor a week before the scheduled class and the final version must be printed for the class mates. Mid-term paper: it will assess your familiarity with the material covered up to the designated time. 2

Project work: a written assignment of 1, 800-2, 000 words that discusses an approach to a literary work in the language classroom. The topic will have to be consulted with the instructor. Deadline: midnight, May 15th The project work should meet the formal and academic requirements of a research paper. It should be submitted by the defined deadline, otherwise the grade will be lowered. Secondary reading and scholarly documentation, conforming to the requirements of the MLA or APA Style Sheet, are required. Format: 2,5 cm margins, double spaced, full and correct citation, alphabetical works cited (MLA or APA Style), fastened, with student’s name on each page. The cover sheet must contain the following statement: “Hereby I certify that the essay conforms to international copyright and plagiarism rules and regulations,” signed by the student. Plagiarism and academic dishonesty will result in a failure as described in the Academic Handbook of the Institute.

Evaluation Criteria Attendance and active participation: 20% Oral presentation: 20% Mid-term paper: 20% Micro-teaching and Project Work: 40%

Schedule of classes

Week 1 (Feb 16) ORIENTATION

Week 2 (Feb 23) Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” (E) (1973), Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000), “We Real Cool”

John McRae, “Representational Language Learning:From Language Awareness to Text Awareness.” Carter and McRae, 16-40. (E)

Week 3 (March 2) Theodore Roethke (1908-1963), “My Papa’s Waltz” Gary Soto (1952-), “Mexicans Begin Jogging” Mari Evans (1923-), "I am a Black Woman"

Kramsch, Claire. “Teaching Poetry.” 156-76. (E)

Alan Maley, “That’s For your Poetry Book!” Carter and McRae, 101-114. (E)

Week 4 (March 9) Bharati Mukharjee (1940-), “A Wife’s Story” (1988) (E) Cathy Song (1955-), “Picture Bride”

Alan Durant, “Designing Groupwork Activities: A Case Study.” Carter and McRae, 65-88. (E)

Week 5 (March 16) Sandra Cisneros, “Never Marry a Mexican” (1991), (E) 3

Christopher Brumfit, “English Literature and English Language.” Brumfit and Carter 14-21. (E)

Week 6 (March 23) Sandra Cisneros (1954-), The House on Mango Street (1983)

Michael N. Long, “A Feeling for Language: The Multiple Values of Teaching Literature.” Brumfit and Carter, 42-58. (E)

Week 7 (March 30) Midterm Paper

Week 8 (Apr 9) EASTER MONDAY

Week 9 (Apr 13) CONSULTATION WEEK

Week 10 (Apr 20) Sherman Alexie, “Every Little Hurricane,” (E) (1993) “Witnesses, Secret and Not” (E) (1993)

Kramsch, Claire. “Teaching the Literary Text.” 130-56. (E)

Week 11 (Apr 27) Micro-teaching

Week 12 (May 4) Micro-teaching

Week 13 (May 11) Micro-teaching

Week 14 (May 18) Closing

Readings

Required Texts 1. AN 306 Course Packet: American Literature After World War Two and AN 35104 Course Packet: American Poetry from 1945 to the Present. 2. Individual novels are available in the Institute Library. 4

3. Studies and works marked with (E) can be downloaded in the Institute Library Room (101). 4. Books marked with asterisks (*) are placed on the not-to-be-borrowed shelf in the Institute Library Room (101). Further Texts for Presentation 1. Carter, Ronald. “Look both Ways Before Crossing: Developments in the Language and Literature Classroom.” Carter and McRae, 1-7, 7-15. (E) 2. Sinclair, Barbara. “Learner Autonomy and Literature Teaching.” Carter and McRae, 138-45, 145-50. 3. Cook, Guy. “Making the Subtle Difference: Literature and Non-literature in the Classroom.”Carter and McRae, 151-58, 158-65. 4. Widdowson, H.G. “The Point of Poetry.” 74-76. 5. Widdowson, H.G. Educational Relevance: Recretion and Language awareness.” 77-85. 6. Widdowson, H.G. “Procedures for Interpretation: Reference and Representation.” 16-25. 7. Carter, Ronald. “Between Languages:Grammar and Lexis in Thomas Hardy’s ’The Oxen.’” Verdonk 57-67.

Books Recommended Abádi-Nagy Zoltán. Válság és komikum: A hatvanas évek amerikai regénye. Budapest:Magvető, 1982. ---. Az amerikai minimalista próza. Budapest: Argumentum, 1994. ---. Mai amerikai regénykalauz, 1970-1990. Budapest: Intera, 1995.

Anzaldúa, Gloria. La Frontera/Borderlands: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute P, 1987. Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. The Cambridge History of American Literature. Vol. 7: Prose Writing, 1940-1990 and vol. 8. Poetry and Criticism, 1940-1995. Ed. Cyrus R. K. Patell. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. Bigsby, C. W. E. Modern American Drama, 1945-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992. ---. Contemporary American Playwrights. Cambridge, Cambridge U, 2000.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Views: Edward Albee. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. ---, ed. Contemporary Poets. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Bollobás, Enikő. Az amerikai irodalom története. Budapest: Osiris, 2005.

Brater, Enoch, ed. Feminine Focus: The New Women Playwrights. Oxford, OUP, 1989. Bradbury, Malcolm, and Richard Ruland. From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of American Literature. New York: Penguin, 1991. Elliott, Emory, gen. ed. Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia UP, 1988. ---. Columbia History of the American Novel. New York: Columbia UP, 1991. Esslin, Martin, The Theatre of the Absurd. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968. Huerta, Jorge. Chicano Drama: Performance, Society and Myth. Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama 12. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000. 5

Fisher, Dexter, ed. The Third Woman: Minority Women Writers of the United States. Boston: Houghton, 1980.

Kamm, Jürgen, ed. Twentieth-Century Theatre and Drama in English. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, 1999. Kamp, Jim, ed.. Reference Guide to American Literature. 3rd ed. Detroit: St. James Press,1994.

López-Lozano, Miguel. Utopian Dreams, Apocalyptic Nightmares: Globalization in Recent Mexican and Chicano Narrative. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue UP, 2008.

Manzanas, Ana Maria, ed. Border Transits: Literature and Culture Across the Line. Critical Approaches to Ethnic American Literature, no. Amsterdam, Rodopi, 2007.

Országh, László és Virágos Zsolt. Az amerikai irodalom története. Budapest, Eötvös József, 1997. Verdonk, Peter, ed. Twentieth-Century Poetry: From Text to Context. London: Routledge, 1993. Virágos, Zsolt. A négerség és az amerikai irodalom. Budapest: Akadémiai, 1975.

Weaver, Gordon, ed. The American Short Story, 1945-1980: A Critical History. Hall:Twayne, 1983.

A Selection of Scholarly Studies Recommended for Consultation

Carbonell, Ana María. “From Llorona to Gritona: Coatlicue in Feminist Tales by Viramontes and Cisneros.” MELUS 24.2. (1999):19-29.

Davies, G. Roco. “Have Come. Are Here: Reading Filipino/a American Literature.” MELUS 29.1 (2004): 5-18.

Doyle, Jacquelyn. “More Room of her Own: Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street.” MELUS 19.4 (1994): 5-35.

Ellis, Trey. “The New Black Aesthetic.” Callalo 38 (1989): 233-43.

Ganz, Robin. “Sandra Cisneros: Border Crossings and Beyond.” MELUS 19.1 (1994):19-29.

Goetsch, Paul. “The American Dream in the Plays of Williams, Miller and Albee.” Kamm 681-701.

Nubla, Gladys. “Filipino American Literature.” MELUS 29.1 (2004):199-218.

A Selection of Readings on Integrating Literature into the Language Classroom

Brumfit, C.J. and Ronald Carter, eds. Literature and Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1986.* 6

Carter, Ronald adn John McRae, eds. Language, Literature & the Learner: Creative Classroom Practice. London: Longman, 1996. * Collie, Joanne and Stephen Slater. Literature in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: CUP, 1987. * Kramsch, Claire. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP, 1993. * Lazar, Gillian. Literature and Language Teaching: A Guide for Teachers and Trainers. Cambridge: CUP, 1993. Maley, Alan and Alan Duff. Drama Techniques: A Resource Book of Communication Activities for Language Teachers. Cambridge: CUP, 2005. Widdowson, H. G. Practical Stylistics. Oxford: OUP, 1992. *

WEBSITES Lim, Shirley, “Asian American Literature: Leaving the Mosaic.” Electronic Journal of the Department of State, 5.1. 2000. http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0200/ijse/toc.htm Lowe, John, “Multicultural Literature in the United States: Advent and Process.” Electric Journal of the Department of State, 5.1, 2000. http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itsv/0200/ijse/toc.htm Vertovec, Steve, “Conceiving and Researching Transnationalism.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22.2, 1999. http:// transcomm.ox.ac.uk/working%20papers/conceiving.PDF http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Groups/Filipino.htm

Borderlands e-journal http://www.borderlands.net.au/issues

Selected Bibliography 2000-Present

Baker, Barbara A. The Blues Aesthetic and the Making of American Identity in the Literature of the South. NY: Peter Lang, 2003.

Bomarito, Jessica. ed. Feminism in Literature: A Gale Critical Companion. Detroit, MI: Thomson Gale, 2004.

Bower, Martha G. 'Color Struck' under the Gaze: Ethnicity and the Pathology of Being in the Plays of Johnson, Hurston, Childress, Hansberry, and Kennedy. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.

Campbell, Josie P. Student Companion to Zora Neale Hurston. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001.

Croft, Robert W. A Zora Neale Hurston Companion. Gainesville, FL: UP of Florida, 2002. PS3515 .U789 Z464 7

Duck, Leigh A. The Nation's Region: Southern Modernism, Segregation, and U. S. Nationalism. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2006.

Felder, Deborah G. A Bookshelf of Our Own: Works That Changed Women's Lives. NY: Citadel, 2005.

Feracho, Lesley. Linking the Americas: Race, Hybrid Discourse, and the Reformulation of Feminine Identity. Albany: State U of New York P, 2005.

Fulmer, Jacqueline. Folk Women and Indirection in Morrison, Ní Dhuibhne, Hurston, and Lavin. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007.

Gandal, Keith. Class Representation in Modern Fiction and Film. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Grant, Nathan. Masculinist Impulses: Toomer, Hurston, Black Writing, and Modernity. Columbia, MO: U of Missouri P, 2004.

Jacobs, Karen. The Eye's Mind: Literary Modernism and Visual Culture. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 2001.

Joseph, Philip. American Literary Regionalism in a Global Age. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2007.

Ladd, Barbara. Resisting History: Gender, Modernity, and Authorship in William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, and Eudora Welty. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2007.

Martin, Ronald E. The Languages of Difference: American Writers and Anthropologists Reconfigure the Primitive, 1878-1940. Newark: U of Delaware P, 2005.

Ryan, Judylyn S. Spirituality as Ideology in Black Women's Film and Literature. Charlottesville: U of Virginia P, 2005.

Sawaya, Francesca. Modern Women, Modern Work: Domesticity, Professionalism, and American Writing, 1890-1950. Philadelphia, PA: U of Pennsylvania P, 2003.

Warnes, Andrew. Hunger Overcome?: Food and Resistance in Twentieth- Century African American Literature. Athens, GA: U of Georgia P, 2004.

The Internet TESL Journal For Teachers of English as a Second Language http://iteslj.org/ 8 teaching lilstening http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/different-ways-doing-listening.html