Resignifying Comics for Multimodal Literary Learning: Lynda Barry’s Pedagogy as Inspiration

This paper situates itself as a discourse on the need to embed the development of language skills within the literature pedagogy in the classrooms of Nagaland. It is built on the premise that education in Nagaland is still inclined towards the traditional paradigm under which English as a subject is not given wholesome treatment. In the English classrooms of Nagaland, textual and literary analysis takes the central stage and the development of language skills is almost neglected. This paper argues that if language skills are not given equal importance students will not be well equipped to face the real-life challenges. In this light, this paper presents a discourse on the need to integrate language and literature pedagogy in the classrooms of Nagaland. It opens with a brief overview on the context and background of the study followed by a review of literature that supports the integration of language and literature pedagogy. To strengthen the argument made, the paper presents a sample task that integrates the development of language skills in a literature task.

The term performativity is used in and across various research disciplines, such as language philosophy, gender and cultural studies, and art and literature studies. Inspired by former uses of the concept within other disciplines, this article elaborates on what performativity can offer in research on literary education. Using two theoretical conceptualisations of performativity, poststructuralist and posthumanist, the article explores empirical examples from the authors’ previous studies. The analyses highlight how performativity emphasises and, maybe even more importantly, provides theoretical and conceptual tools for studying—ongoing processes and unfoldings in the literature classroom. Negotiation emerges as a key concept. Finally, the study provides suggestions on what performativity can offer in research on literary education, and relates this to recent issues in research on literary education in the Nordic countries as well as contemporary understandings of Bildung.

Literary studies, in its two sides: teaching literature and studying literature, have suffered from a split in the profession between literary pedagogy and literary theories. A survey of the experience of some famous scholars who have tackled this issue in their writings is conducted to pinpoint the neglect in the part of people specialized in literary studies of the practical side of their work. Two points of convergence between literary pedagogy and literary theory are discussed. The first one presented two cases in which literary pedagogy was highly influenced by the ideas of two major shifts in critical theory: the formalist tendency of New Criticism and the reader-oriented tendency of the reader response approach. The second one discussed the efforts of the American educationalist and theorist Louise Rosenblatt in providing a theory of reading literary works in the light of what takes place in literature classrooms. The conclusions derived from this discussion lead to recommendations concerning the importance of making teaching of literature one of the academic interests and student preparation in departments of literature.

Literary studies, in its two sides: teaching literature and studying literature, have suffered from a split in the profession between literary pedagogy and literary theories. A survey of the experience of some famous scholars who have tackled this issue in their writings is conducted to pinpoint the neglect in the part of people specialized in literary studies of the practical side of their work. Two points of convergence between literary pedagogy and literary theory are discussed. The first one presented two cases in which literary pedagogy was highly influenced by the ideas of two major shifts in critical theory: the formalist tendency of New Criticism and the reader-oriented tendency of the reader response approach. The second one discussed the efforts of the American educationalist and theorist Louise Rosenblatt in providing a theory of reading literary works in the light of what takes place in literature classrooms. The conclusions derived from this discussion lead to recommendations concerning the importance of making teaching of literature one of the academic interests and student preparation in departments of literature.

Managing Uncertainty in the Literature Classroom: Linda Bondestam’s Climate Change Picturebook Mitt bottenliv in Literary Education Children’s literature on environmental matters puts great responsibility on its readers to solve future environmental problems. Similarly, in an educational context, there are underlying premises that the students should be fostered into environmental awareness, at the risk of climate fiction solely becoming “teaching aids”, providing clear-cut solutions to the climate crisis. In this article, I seek to address these premises by analysing Linda Bondestam’s climate picturebook Mitt bottenliv: Av en ensam axolotl (My Life at the Bottom: The Story of a Lonesome Axolotl, 2020) in relation to literary education. In Bondestam’s picturebook, human consumerism causes an apocalypse but an endangered axolotl survives and thrives. The aim of the article is to discuss the complexity of Mitt bottenliv in relation to literary education. In the analysis, the key concepts are “didactic gaps” (Beauvais) and “staying with the trouble” (Haraway). The article explores what it can entail to stay with the trouble in relation to uncertainty in literary education. Mitt bottenliv can hardly be said to provide clear-cut solutions for the climate crisis. Rather, the complexity of the picturebook creates an ambiguity in the didactic gaps, and an uncertainty to be managed within the context of literary education. This ambiguity enables the reader to stay with the trouble in relation to the picturebook as well as the environmental troubles we are facing, without placing the responsibility of the future upon the reader. Consequently, the article draws attention to the potential of complex picturebooks in literary education, as well as to literary education as a means of managing uncertainty.

Even though the process of integrating AI into the educational domain continues to increase, the literary analysis remains a difficult problem to automate because of the intricate and subtle character of literary works. The classic approaches do not necessarily represent the complicated literary devices, themes, and character development. In order to address the concerns, the paper uses AI based Automated Literary Analysis (AI-ALA) model which uses Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT-4), a state of the art generative language model in order to automate literary analysis in high school literature courses. The fact that this method is interactive at the time of lesson and that the teacher works with pupils to assess literary tools such as metaphors and sarcasm as well as discuss the character and theme in a setting is revolutionary. The successful adjustment of the algorithm to a set of books with high school students is the guarantee of their adequacy and applicability in the field of education. The experiments indicate that GPT-4 is more precise and context-responsive as compared to rule-based. It is an in-depth examination of characters, themes, and literary strategies. The strategy, according to the statistics, can present teachers with an effective and scalable tool to enhance student learning. The concept simplifies the process of literary analysis through interactive interaction combined with questions and answers sessions. Literary analysis automation and personalization will break the existing boundaries and enhance literature classes teaching.

Allowing Space for Undecidability: Complex Picturebooks in Literary Education
 Previous research on children’s literature calls attention to picturebooks as a challenging art form, containing complex themes and sophisticated literary qualities. However, previous research shows that picturebooks in educational settings are still mainly explored with emergent readers. In this study, we elaborate on the relation between aesthetics and pedagogy by discussing how the complexity and undecidability of picturebooks can contribute to literary education by applying the concept of undecidability (Johansen, “Kunst”; Litteratur). Applying a thinking with theory approach (Jackson and Mazzei), we use the theoretical concept of undecidability, in relation to the picturebook Skuggorna (The Shadows, 2018) by Maija Hurme and Anssi Hurme as well as in relation to pedagogical considerations for literary education. The analysis of Skuggorna shows how it contains undecidabilities on several levels and how these undecidabilities cause the meaning of the narrative to shift. The study offers implications for literature teaching with this type of picturebook and, consequently, elaborates on what these undecidabilities can provide literary education. Moreover, the study shows how the challenging picturebook can provide spaces for upholding undecidabilities and negotiations in the literature classroom.

ABSTRACTThe most innovative reading practices currently rely on the paradigm of dialogic reading. Book clubs, literary gatherings and study circles are emerging in different social spaces to promote reading and literary discussion amongst adults, and libraries, bookshops, cultural centres, etc. are increasingly developing strategies in this direction. Despite the vast development of reading clubs throughout Spain, empirical research on this phenomenon is still at the embryonic stage. This paper queries the ability of this practice to encourage the pleasure of reading, as well as civic and literary education. The results, obtained from an ethnographic study of nine book club meetings and six key informant interviews, show that the discussions contribute to: (1) developing a taste for reading, literature and reading habits; (2) fostering debate about values and learning about personal experiences related to the stories covered in the various readings; and (3) learning academic skills that go beyond the scope of an informal literary analysis. The main conclusion of our study is that book club meetings generate a very favourable context for literary analysis, as they foster reading innovation and the cultivation of literature, as well as promoting values education and adult learning from a dialogic perspective.

<i>The Evolution of Inquiry: Controlled, Guided, Modeled, and Free</i>. By Daniel Callison. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2015. Pp. xii+249. $45.00 (paper). ISBN 978-1-61069-386-8.

Today, the focus is on the healthy lifestyle of students. This is due to the fact that the health of children and adolescents includes important indicators that determine the economic, intellectual and cultural values of the country's potential, and is also one of the characteristics of national security. This article discusses the issues of strengthening and maintaining the health of schoolchildren through the formation of a healthy lifestyle, taking into account the current negative changes in the health status of adolescents. The study used theoretical and empirical methods, literary analysis, mathematical and statistical methods. In addition, innovative technologies and pedagogical conditions, control methods, valeological elements, and interactive methods were used in the classroom, as well as during extracurricular pedagogical experiments on protecting the health of schoolchildren. As a result of the study, pedagogical conditions were created for the formation of a healthy lifestyle for schoolchildren in the educational process, and methodological ways of integrating valeological elements into the teaching of biology were determined. Based on the active participation of students, classes on sanitary literacy in biology were held, including valeological elements. Thus, students form a positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle and develop research, personal and cognitive abilities. The types of lesson organization using valeological elements in biological education, the methodology for studying the section “Coordination and regulation” using interactive methods, the patterns of formation of a healthy lifestyle through laboratory work on the section “Heredity and variability” are considered analyzed. The results of the study showed the results of 80% of students' self-assessment, which form the value attitude of students to a healthy lifestyle. The results of the pedagogical experiment confirmed the effectiveness of the integration of valueological elements in biology lessons and found that 90% of students actively lead a healthy lifestyle. The results of the study can be used by biology teachers as a guide in the development of effective teaching technologies and in research work with students.

Practitioner inquiry partnerships offer a method of professional learning that positions teachers as experts and supports their culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse students through the cultivation of responsive pedagogical practices. This article builds on the research base around practitioner inquiry in literacy classrooms and contributes further understanding of what it looks like to partner with teachers to engage in inquiry as professional learning, how this process leads to refined literacy pedagogy and shifts toward student‐centered practices, and why it is humanizing to embrace expansive notions of literacy. By attuning to sociocultural and affective approaches to literacy, the authors discuss inquiry partnerships with two teachers and provide insight into how other teachers might also engage with practitioner inquiry to refine their literacy pedagogy. The authors argue the inquiry process supports shifts in literacy pedagogy that not only help teachers navigate constraints but also lead to centering students’ responses and engagement.

Mediation

The starting point for the making of this current issue were some fundamental questions about the intersection of Feminist Criticism and Gender Theory with Education: What might it mean to read and teach literature through the prism of feminist criticism and/or gender theory? In which texts, ways and methods can we integrate a balanced gender approach into literary didactics? How and in which teaching approaches can we produce some powerful feminist readings of the literary texts, whether they are texts long established by tradition, or contemporary and multimodal ones, belonging to popular culture? And how can these concerns about feminism and gender be adequately addressed and embedded into the literature classroom? Although we knew that all the previous questions could not be effectively addressed in one single issue, we still envisaged a publication with insightful contributions to the overall theme of Feminism and Gender in Literary Education.

The current study aims to analyze the application of reader response theory in literature classrooms. It focuses on the potential reader response teachers at a public sector university, Pakistan and their questioning practices in classrooms based on Probst’s (1994) suggested model. Probst (1994) has given five model generic questions for reader response teachers. For this purpose a sample of three teachers of English Literature has been picked up through non probability purposive sampling method. Data is collected through recorded systematic class observation where focus was on the questions asked by the teachers. Substantial amount of literature related to reader response theory and its application in classroom is also discussed which supports the findings of this research. Through observation of teachers’ classes and analysis of data, researchers advocate the use of reader response teaching methods in literature classrooms at university level. The Study further concludes that the types of questions, teachers ask impact hugely the understanding of students. Data indicates that a classroom can only be reader response when students are given space, freedom and are encouraged to discuss and give answers of open ended questions. Study also suggests, teachers’ training and academic excellence also affect the degree to which a class can be reader response. So, it is necessary that teachers should be aware of reader response methods and the ways of its application in the classroom

Background and Purpose: Despite being previously exposed to literature for many years during secondary school, Malaysian International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma students tussle to cope with the English syllabus outlined by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO). This is mainly due to the different instructional objectives of learning literature in Malaysia as compared to the IB Diploma’s. In short, students are not trained within the remit of the two key literary competence skills, which are literary reading comprehension and analysis as they progress to a more challenging post-secondary syllabus as such the IB Diploma Programme. Hence, this study investigates how virtual literature circles provide optimal learning opportunities to promote IB Diploma students’ literary competence in reading literature. The research questions focused on the ways that virtual literature circles are able to support students’ literary competence, as well as their experiences upon participating in the discussions.&#x0D; &#x0D; Methodology: A mixed-method research design was employed in carrying out the aims of the study. Quantitative data were collected through a quasi-experimental method focusing on two groups of IB Diploma students in the experimental and control groups. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine whether there are any significant differences between the independent groups on the dependent variable, which is literary competence, whilst controlling for the effects of their initial abilities which co-vary with the dependent variable. The qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews, and the data analysis was conducted using principles of thematic analysis.&#x0D; &#x0D; Findings: This study found that virtual literature circles enhanced IB Diploma students’ literary competence by encouraging them to become critical readers of literature. It also provides students with the avenue to develop their literary reading comprehension and analysis skills in order to understand, analyse, and interpret literature critically.&#x0D; &#x0D; Contributions: This research aids in the design and implementation of virtual literature circles as a socially mediated reading approach to assisting ESL students with their literary competence.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: Virtual literature circles, literary competence, literary reading comprehension skill, literary analysis skill, IB Diploma.&#x0D; &#x0D; Cite as: Ramli, N. N. (2022). The influence of virtual literature circles of students’ literary competence. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 7(2), 358-376. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol7iss2pp358-376