Content, creativity and beyond: teaching research through literature

MARCELA MARÍA RAGGIO

San Juan

Jornada; III Jornadas de Actualización en la Enseñanza del Inglés; 2011

Universidad Nacional de San Juan y Asociación Sanjuanina de Profesores de Inglés

This workshop will present some reflections on the need to include research-oriented activities in our classroom. The emphasis will be on literary research, though the underlying concepts may be applied to any other area of interest to the attendants. The presentation will be based on examples taken from actual teaching at the undergraduate level in Teacher Training College, though research teaching may be applied to all levels (primary, secondary and tertiary institutions). Preparing students for their future performance at university, in jobs, and in everyday life implies that they start actually doing research early. This means that teachers can open up their syllabi to include research-oriented activities, in order to guide students in their approach to (literary) studies. In so doing, students will be able to realize that studying literature goes beyond the analytical stage, in order to reach a deeper, creative research activity that will later be central to their work as graduates. After an initial presentation of some theoretical concepts, attendants will work on the possibility of teaching research to their students, and will start developing material to work with them.