Publicação
The importance of figurative language and stylistics in the Anglo-American literature class at ISCED/Benguela: a content unit based on Stevie Smith’s poetry
| Resumo: | This dissertation begins with some theoretical considerations regarding the nature of the language of literature and poetry, as well as the distinctive use of stylistics, rhetoric and figurative language, and its importance in the educational context, and then proceeds to a comprehensive reference to the poet Stevie Smith and her most relevant poetic corpus, which will also be proposed as a curricular content in the final part of the work. In the second part of this research, it will be argued that figurative language and stylistics, namely in the teaching of poetry, have been neglected in the English language teacher training sector of the Department of Modern Languages at ISCED (Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação), located in the Benguela province of Angola. This neglect is caused by the lack of a necessary and direct focus on those important aspects which, we believe, are crucial for the development of the students’ critical and reflective skills, so that they can increase their learning autonomy. Taking into consideration the relevance of the problem and the need for intervention, two questionnaires were used to collect the necessary data: a teacher trainer questionnaire and a student questionnaire. The results from the questionnaires show that the teacher trainers are unanimous that the area of figurative language and stylistics in poetry has not been fully explored and that there is a need to include it in the curriculum, in order to boost the students’ linguistic competence and reflective skills. In their questionnaires, students refer to their lack of mastery of these important areas in their academic life; besides, resources, such as poetry books, are scarce, which makes it difficult to cultivate poetry reading habits. This research recommends that the study of figurative language and stylistics in poetry should be introduced at the beginning of the first semester of Year 3, and that a preliminary preparation in the elements of poetry should also be pondered regarding Years 1 and 2. The selected corpus from Stevie Smith’s collected poetry will serve as a pertinent basis and preparation for this study, given the fact that this poet not only uses but also revises both the traditions and modernity in poetry, scrutinizing the masculine ideologies and narratives behind them, through the use of allusion, irony, as well as the idiomatic and the proverbial. In short, she is proposed as an effective creative and pedagogical tool for the study of the many aspects pertaining to the language or languages of literature in general. |
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| Autores principais: | Jimbi, Botelho Isalino |
| Assunto: | Poetry Figurative language Stylistics Stevie Smith Teacher training and teaching Poesia Linguagem figurada Estilística Ensino e formação de professores Humanidades::Línguas e Literaturas |
| Ano: | 2017 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade do Minho |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho |
| Resumo: | This dissertation begins with some theoretical considerations regarding the nature of the language of literature and poetry, as well as the distinctive use of stylistics, rhetoric and figurative language, and its importance in the educational context, and then proceeds to a comprehensive reference to the poet Stevie Smith and her most relevant poetic corpus, which will also be proposed as a curricular content in the final part of the work. In the second part of this research, it will be argued that figurative language and stylistics, namely in the teaching of poetry, have been neglected in the English language teacher training sector of the Department of Modern Languages at ISCED (Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação), located in the Benguela province of Angola. This neglect is caused by the lack of a necessary and direct focus on those important aspects which, we believe, are crucial for the development of the students’ critical and reflective skills, so that they can increase their learning autonomy. Taking into consideration the relevance of the problem and the need for intervention, two questionnaires were used to collect the necessary data: a teacher trainer questionnaire and a student questionnaire. The results from the questionnaires show that the teacher trainers are unanimous that the area of figurative language and stylistics in poetry has not been fully explored and that there is a need to include it in the curriculum, in order to boost the students’ linguistic competence and reflective skills. In their questionnaires, students refer to their lack of mastery of these important areas in their academic life; besides, resources, such as poetry books, are scarce, which makes it difficult to cultivate poetry reading habits. This research recommends that the study of figurative language and stylistics in poetry should be introduced at the beginning of the first semester of Year 3, and that a preliminary preparation in the elements of poetry should also be pondered regarding Years 1 and 2. The selected corpus from Stevie Smith’s collected poetry will serve as a pertinent basis and preparation for this study, given the fact that this poet not only uses but also revises both the traditions and modernity in poetry, scrutinizing the masculine ideologies and narratives behind them, through the use of allusion, irony, as well as the idiomatic and the proverbial. In short, she is proposed as an effective creative and pedagogical tool for the study of the many aspects pertaining to the language or languages of literature in general. |
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