Teaching literary reading – The way to develop student competency in teaching literary works at high school

119 HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE DOI: 10.18173/2354-1075.2017-0181 Educational Sciences, 2017, Vol. 62, Iss. 12, pp. 119-125 This paper is available online at TEACHING LITERARY READING – THE WAY TO DEVELOP STUDENT COMPETENCY IN TEACHING LITERARY WORKS AT HIGH SCHOOL Pham Thi Thu Huong Faculty of Philology, Hanoi National University of Education Abstract. The article explores the issue of developing high school students’ capacity for literary reception by teaching literary reading. In order to become independent readers, students need to be equipped and instructed to use the knowledge of tools in reading activity. The knowledge toolkit includes knowledge of literary theories and knowledge of reading comprehension strategies. The instructional process for students to master the knowledge of tools consists of four steps: providing basic information about each tool; instructing students to receive and apply the knowledge of tools by means of “assimilation”; instructing students to use their knowledge of tools in literary reading by means of “accommodation”; and assessing the use of tools in student independent reading. Keywords: Reading, literary reading, reading competency, teaching literary works. 1. Introduction Developing learners’ competency has been the general trend of the world education since the last decade of the twentieth century when the concept of competence “has gradually become a keyword in the area of education and training by taking over the traditional position of knowledge and skills as the central categories for expression of the invented outcomes of the efforts” [1; 1]. Among the core competencies, reading comprehension and reading comprehension training for high school students have been extensively researched into with many of the accomplishments found in influential works such as the Handbook of Reading Research (4 volumes) [2-5]; Reports of subgroups by the National Reading Panel (with data of about 100,000 theoretical and empirical studies), and regular articles by several authors in the Journal of Research in Reading, etc. From the reviewed literature, it can be seen that researchers of reading instruction for high school students have focused on the main aspects of the subject, including: studies of reading instruction models, reading comprehension strategy training for students, the role of background knowledge, the context of reading comprehension and assessment for the development of reading competency for learners, etc. In the history of reading comprehension training, researchers have synthesized and pointed out some typical reading instruction models, such as the interactive reading model, which is understood as the result of interaction between the background knowledge elements of the reader, the text and the context; the transaction model - reading as a process of experiencing; “living through a textual relationship” of the reader; the cultural reading model as the next step in the transaction model set in the context of extensive application of Vygotsky's psychology; the response model with text responses, experiential responses, psychological responses, social responses, and cultural responses; Received: September 27, 2017. Revised: November 25, 2017. Accepted: November 28, 2017. Contact: Pham Thi Thu Huong, e-mail address: [email protected] Pham Thi Thu Huong 120 the reading model of gradual transfer of responsibility from the teacher to the student so that with scaffolding in training the learner becomes an independent reader; and the integrated reading model, etc. Research also indicates the role of cognitive and metacognitive strategy training for the reader, the drastic influence of the context and the assessment in reading comprehension training [7-10]. In Vietnam, from the first writings on reading comprehension, the authors have identified teaching literature as teaching students how to read literary texts so that they can read texts of the same type, directly receiving literary value, directly experiencing thoughts and emotions conveyed by the art of language, and forming a distinct way of reading [11]. The teaching of literary reading is proposed in the direction of genre-based reading comprehension [12, 13], in the direction of organizing learning activities [14], according to the poetic characteristics and cultural reception [15], etc. However, due to strong orientation to content approach, not paying attention to the formation and development of students’ capacity, the goal of learning how to learn and how to read is not as effective as expected. In this article, we propose to teach literature to students as a way to develop readers’ capacity to receive literary texts in the direction of equipping and guiding learners to use the tool knowledge to step by step become independent readers, materializing the model of gradual transfer of responsibilities from teachers to students in training activities. 2. Content 2.1. Developing the tool knowledge of literary reading for students 2.1.1. Conception of the tool knowledge If scientific knowledge is human systematic understanding of natural and social laws, and the self, the tool knowledge refer to the ability to use that knowledge in action to continuously master objects, meet the goals set, develop and improve oneself. Therefore, to become a tool, first of all, that knowledge must ensure the criterion of scientific knowledge with accuracy and objectivity. Tool knowledge is also method knowledge, capable of producing new knowledge. It needs to go beyond the documentation, assured to be “extracted” and “compressed” to have high generalization; and at the same time, such tool knowledge needs to be “decompressed” into a system of manipulations that can be applied to master the object. Tool knowledge is also the knowledge used to influence an object in order to meet the subject’s purpose. The use, in addition to the relationship with subject elements, objects, and tools, also involves another factor which is the context. Such literary tool knowledge should ensure the following criteria: 1) ensuring scientific content; 2) suitable for pupils of general education; 3) satisfying the purpose of use; 4) being operated; 5) being used by the student to master the object; and 6) suitable for the training context. With such notion of tool knowledge, what we pay attention next is the development of the literary reading toolkit for high school students. 2.1.2. Students’ literary reading toolkit a. Literary theory tool knowledge The object of literary reading is defined as literary texts, a special object that exists as models of life. “Literature speaks in a special language which is superimposed as a secondary system on natural language” [16; 344]. Therefore, the reception of texts is not allowed to escape the language of art, but also must pay attention to the nature of code overlapping code, overcoming the “temptation” of the natural language code that has been automated to realize the potential for information generation of Teaching literary reading – the way to develop student competency in teaching literary works at high school 121 the secondary code system built on the original system. Readers need to be aware that they are facing an art text, a language that requires “negotiation” of codes to understand each other, to treat the object in front of them as an art document. Such communication between students in the school context and literary texts, on the one hand, requires the same background, the same code sets to be able to understand each other. On the other hand, it requires the consciousness of the second unknown code. In order to do that, students need to be equipped with basic literary theoretical tools because literary theory is the scientific knowledge of the object. In fact, the teaching of literature at high school today shows that literary theoretical knowledge has long been present in curriculum and textbooks with different positions, either as independent lessons or integrated into lessons of literary works. In the current textbooks, literary theoretical knowledge is also included in the form of practical lessons such as reading literary texts, reading poetry; reading short stories and novels; and reading literary scripts, etc. It is also present in the Reading comprehension knowledge section following reading texts in the advanced textbook. However, literary theoretical knowledge has not really become a tool for reading comprehension for students because it is still being compiled and taught in the way of receiving scientific knowledge. Therefore, instead of becoming a tool for students to apply and operate the process of understanding texts, literary theory sometimes makes learning heavier and more overloaded as students have to receive knowledge at a high level of generalization. To build a set of literary theoretical tools, it is necessary to start thinking which literary theoretical unit constitutes the basic element that students can use effectively in their literary activities. There are three main types of knowledge. The first type is the knowledge of literary forms with basic tools such as short stories, fiction, poetry, narrative poetry, lyric poetry and drama. The next is the knowledge of literary elements such as characters, actions, backgrounds, anecdotes, conflicts, and tones, etc. The third type is the knowledge of literary devices such as alliteration, parallelism, metaphor, and metonymy, etc. Besides, the knowledge of readers’ responding activities such as the aesthetic elements created in the reader (e.g. mood) is also mentioned. These types of knowledge can be arranged into a tool axis throughout students’ learning materials to help them read literary texts with an increasing level of difficulty and complexity. At first, the knowledge is provided and then reminded as a “toolbox” in subsequent readings. Naturally it becomes “thought processes” when students - readers come into contact with literary texts. For example, in the first grade of the junior high school, students are provided with the tool knowledge about conflict in a story at the level of external conflict, between one character and another, or with the situation. Approaching the final grade, the level can be more complex with the conflict within a character, between a character and himself/herself. As defined, the concept of tool knowledge connotes the subject who uses that knowledge. A corresponding toolkit should be developed to achieve a certain goal, which must be sufficient to carry out, to trigger one’s discovery and knowledge expansion, not “compressing” all tools that are needed for every reader. Therefore, the tool knowledge should be expressed in a clear and concise way, consistent with the level of high school students, paying attention to the effect of its expressions to help readers use it in reading texts and understanding texts’ meaning, avoiding being theoretical and abstract. For example, for students to understand what a poetic image is, thereby knowing how to identify an image in a specific poem, and analyzing it to explore the visual expressiveness of the image, the content of this tool knowledge is stated as follows: “Imagery is the use of words and phrases that appeal to the senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Poets will often use Pham Thi Thu Huong 122 imagery to create vivid descriptions or express a strong idea in only a few words or lines.”[17; 567]. This view first expresses the authenticity and objectivity of the concept of imagery, ensuring the differentiation of “imagery” from other literary terms. However, the definition of the concept is very specific, familiar, and easy to understand for high school students. When reading any poem, the reader is able to use this knowledge to determine what kind of imagery it is and what value it has. In the context of competency-based education, this is valuable tool knowledge for students to read poetry texts independently. The second axis of the tool knowledge that readers need in order to take the role of positive reader is literary reading strategies. b. The tool knowledge of literary reading strategies According to the reports of the subgroups by the National Reading Panel, the concept of reading strategies based on their review of studies in 2000 is stated as follows: “Comprehension strategies are specific procedures that guide students to become aware of how well they are comprehending as they attempt to read” [6; 5]. It is therefore possible to view reading strategies as specific measures, tactics, ways and means of manipulating that guide students’ cognitive process to understand and create meanings of the text in an active, autonomous and effective way. Strategy is an important "stepping stone", an indispensable bridge for students to step by step become independent, skilled and creative readers. The system of strategies is very rich and grouped in a variety of ways. However, the following basic strategies may be mentioned, such as activation of background knowledge and experience, text overviewing, setting reading goals, imagining, inferring, predicting, connecting, visualizing, summing up and monitoring one’s understanding, etc. with modes of instruction always open to creativity by both the instructor and the learner. Activation of background knowledge and experience help students to mobilize knowledge, life and aesthetic experience to get ready for reading activity. Every reader always possesses a certain amount of “capital” when it comes to literary works, which will be a valuable resource to launch the process of mastering the work, bringing the new into the cognitive structure of the system. Text overviewing allows students to cover the entire initial information about the work, such as the author, genre, reading volume, presentation, layout, and other readers’ reviews of the text, etc. These are initial observations which help students to make initial judgments, setting the direction for reading goals. Predicting helps students to “run ahead” of the work, increasing interest and attractiveness, making readers have the tendency to co-create with writers and provide “materials” about possible alternatives in comparison with the way chosen by the author, thereby understanding more about the author and the work. Imagination makes the world of writing alive, giving readers the opportunity to immerse themselves into the atmosphere of the work, creating impressive emotional contact. Literary texts “speak” by images, so if one does not make the images appear before the eyes of the reader with an “insider’s eye” of imagination, all reception is just “efferent reading” (taking away particular bits of information, absolutely not “aesthetic reading”, exploring the “horizon of possibilities” as noted by Louise Rosenblatt and A. Judith Langer. Inferring helps readers from the “outside text” to get the message inside, filling the “gap” and “white point”, ensuring compliance with the characteristics of “multi-lingual”, “multi-meaning” of literary texts. To infer, the reader needs to rely on, on the one hand, what the text “says” and, on the other hand, his or her own experiences and hints from the specific reading context. Thus, connecting is one of the most important strategies for mobilizing inter-textual relationship, the relationship between the text and the experience of life, the Teaching literary reading – the way to develop student competency in teaching literary works at high school 123 aesthetic experience of the reader, connecting each individual’s life experience with the book page, then back from the book page to every page of life which is beating the existential rhythm, etc. Strategies will be the set of tools that need to be provided, modeled, and applied into reading texts at all three stages, namely, before, during, and after reading. Therefore, our next concern is how to teach students the use of tool knowledge in reading. 2.2. Providing and teaching students to use the tool knowledge in reading activities With the tool axis identified as above, the lesson topics realized in textbooks and teacher’s teaching activities will place the emphasis on guiding students step by step how to use each of the knowledge tools in their own literary reading activity. The process of this instruction is as follows: Step 1: Providing basic information of each knowledge tool This content should be written concisely and explicitly by a textbook author in accordance with the criteria of tool knowledge as mentioned above, especially emphasizing that this is not purely to provide new information to help students gain more knowledge. In the textbook, this information should be understood as background information, sufficiently equipped at the general education level for students to use in subsequent activities. Thus, instead of requiring them to recall what the information is, the next major task will be to carry out an activity with the information provided. Step 2: Instructing students to access and apply the tool knowledge equipped by way of “assimilation” Assimilation of knowledge is the mechanism by which knowledge content that needs to be received is brought into existing cognitive schema of the reader. There are no readers who are completely a “blank sheet” when it comes to reading texts. They bring to reading all of their life and aesthetic experience which plays an extremely important role in making meaning of the read text. At the initial level, the tool knowledge will be incorporated into that aesthetic experience so that learners will be able to use them to identify texts with familiar language, to show how they are expressed in the responding language and how they are “decoded” to find the effect of expression, etc. For example, students will point out the imagery tool knowledge provided above and analyse its value in a poem read in the previous lesson. The content of steps 1 and 2 can become a sub-lesson among students’ learning topics. Step 3: Instructing students to use their tool knowledge in literary reading by way of “accommodation” “Assimilation” is associated with growth whilst “accommodation” is associated with development. In cognitive psychology, accommodation occurs when knowledge that needs to be obtained is new and does not fit within the existing cognitive structures; the subject is forced to reconstruct his or her schemas to master the object. In literary reading activity, at the second step, students have understood the concept of the tool knowledge and cognitive tasks “inherent” in the tools, they will use these insights into new activities: Reading literature using the tools provided. For example, after understanding the concept of connecting strategy, and applying it to create a connection between readers’ personal experience and the text that has been read, at this step, students will be instructed to use the strategy as a tool to construct the meaning of a new text. Mistakes, misunderstandings, as well as creativity, co-creation can all arise here and necessitate the supportive role of the teacher. It should also be noted that reading a literary text requires the use of a variety of Pham Thi Thu Huong 124 different types of reading comprehension knowledge, in which the tool knowledge provided is only a more emphasized "focus" in the overall structure. Step 4: Assessing the use of tool knowledge in student independent reading In practice, feedback and evaluation activities take place continu