IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
1
LITERATURE STUDY GUIDES AND GUIDED NOTES:
A GUIDE TO GUIDED READING
AUTOR
Nom: María Cristina Pividori
Departament: Filologia Anglesa i Germanística
E-mail: [emailprotected]
ABSTRACT
Keeping in mind the challenges brought by the European Higher Education Area
(EHEA), particularly those connected with independent study and the promotion of
variety and flexibility in the learning experience, new teaching strategies are
required to cope with new educational demands. One of the problems involved in the
teaching of second-language literature at undergraduate level is ensuring that our
students read the assigned texts. Reading is a complex communication process which
requires thought and individual construction of meaning. Close reading the assigned
texts thus is essential to be able to take part in class discussion.
I have introduced `study guides´ and `guided notes´ in the English Literature class
not only to help my students become self-sufficient readers but also to make reading
and close-reading easier. `Guided notes´ are teacher-prepared hand-outs that
outline or map the assigned readings, leaving blank spaces for students to fill in with
key concepts, facts or important ideas. `Study guides´ are lists of written questions
and activities created to provide direction, and highlight critical information to
students.
Results indicated that the introduction of both `guided notes´ and `study guides´ in
the classroom was successful at increasing the students’ participation in class
discussion and improving their English fluency and articulation of ideas. They were
overwhelmingly preferred when compared with students’ reading on their own.
KEY WORDS
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
2
study guides, guided notes, English Literature, guided reading and close reading
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
3
INTRODUCTION
Approaches to teaching second language literature at undergraduate levels have
significantly changed both as a result of the current process of convergence towards
the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and growing pedagogical interest in the
educational value of active learning. Traditional teacher-centred approaches, in
which literary texts were taught as “finished products to be unilaterally decoded,
analyzed and explained” (Kramsch, 1985: 356), have been progressively but
inevitably replaced by student-centred strategies. These recent trends “seek to
encourage individual participation, take into account the needs, interests, and
desires of students, and focus on the development of communicative skills” (Harper,
1988: 402). A desire to promote reading habits and critical thinking inside and
outside the classroom, but at the same time avoid unrealistic expectations and,
ultimately, pedagogical failure; has led to more humanistic approaches. They seek to
adapt methodologies to the actual level and necessities of undergraduates. In order
to do this, it is necessary to put into practice what Paulo Freire calls a “dialogic,
problem-solving pedagogy” in which teacher and students become involved in the
comprehension-interpretation of the text and “jointly responsible for a process in
which all grow” (Freire, 1996: 61). Freire’s dialogic pedagogy requires active doers in
the classroom. For that reason, students should be given the necessary tools so as to
be able to confront the literary text on their own and contribute to the process of re-
creation of meaning through the articulation of their personal reactions to the text.
Based on the previously mentioned objectives, I will describe my pedagogical
approach to English literature in the teaching of “Gèneres Literaris Anglesos del
Segle XIX” during the 2006-07 academic course. My method consisted in the
implementation of “study guides” and “guided notes” in a 25 student-classroom
following the three fold sequence suggested by Harper (1988: 403):
• Pre-literary or pre-interpretation activities.
• Interpretative phase.
• Synthesis or summative activities.
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
4
Since classes were based on text discussion, it was necessary for students to read the
assigned material in advance. They did it with the guidance of the “study guides”
and “guided notes.” Such methodology was based on the attempt to accomplish the
following specific aims:
• To familiarize students with a wide selection of acknowledged 19th century
literary works.
• To develop the student’s descriptive and critical skills as readers of
literature.
• To promote the student’s necessary strategies for independent reading and
work in the preparation of:
i) oral expositions of articles of literary criticism.
ii) written academic papers.
• To encourage team work through oral expositions.
• To prepare students for continuous learning.
As said above, “study guides” and “guided notes” should help students get a deeper
understanding of literature, see beyond, uncover and create richer and more
interesting meanings.
METHODOLOGY
“Study Guides” and “Guided Notes”
“Study guides” may take many forms. In literature classes, they are always centred
on the assigned readings of texts of the academic course and consist of lists of
written questions or activities created by the teacher to provide direction and
highlight critical information to students. “Study guides” provide a structured and
organized way to approach readings, sometimes including suggestions for the best
ways to work with and think about the new material. “Guided notes,” on the other
hand, are teacher-prepared hand-outs that outline or map an assigned reading or
lecture, leaving blank spaces for students to fill in with key concepts, facts or
important ideas. Whenever I used “guided notes” during this course, I included them
as part of my “study guides,” particularly in cases in which, due to lexical, syntactic,
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
5
semantic or cultural content, the text presented difficulties for the students’
linguistic abilities.
To illustrate how I worked with Harper’s three-phase sequence (pre-reading,
interpretation and synthesis activities), I will use examples taken from the “study
guides” and “guided notes” I prepared for the discussion of Book 1 (chapters 1 to 5)
from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847).
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
6
i) Phase 1: Pre-literary or pre-interpretation activities
Pre-literary or pre-interpretation activities are given prior to the study of the text to
help students practice and improve the perceptive and linguistic abilities necessary
for a rewarding literary experience. The purpose of these activities may be to: 1)
establish a common background of essential information; 2) enhance linguistic skills;
3) verify comprehension; and 4) direct students’ reading to develop perceptive
abilities and “channel the way they build schemata to make sense of the words on
the page” (Kramsch, 1985: 360).
Establishing some common background knowledge of the text reduces reading and
comprehension problems. Kramsch suggests using pre-reading questions or activities
to give students “some understanding of what the story is about, what the nature of
the text is, and when it was written” (Kramsch, 1985: 359). Paintings, photographs,
filmstrips or songs that are similar in theme and style to the literary work can be
used to present cultural, biographical and historical information or help students spot
the major themes or ideas. In my analysis of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, I
included a painting (John Martin’s “The Bard”) as part of the pre-interpretation
activities and asked students to relate what they saw in the painting with the title
and “possible plot” of the story.
In order to help my students assimilate the lexical material and be familiar with
literary terms and concepts I asked them to “brainstorm conceptual associations.”
For example, to approach Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, I asked my students to write
down their concepts of nature, culture, death, reincarnation and God. This way,
these key concepts were clarified from the beginning and students alerted to
important themes and the diversity of meanings that may be associated to them in
the study of the Brontë’s work.
As said above, due to the linguistic difficulty of the novel, students were asked to
read the first chapters and then given “guided notes” or “fill-in exercises” to
complete sentences that reconstructed the major incidents in those chapters. With
their books closed, they had to choose the appropriate verb, noun, synonym or
adjective to fill in the blanks based on the context of the sentence. I also devised
“guided notes” from literary criticism on Brontë’s work. I gave my students an
excerpt from the introduction to the novel by Patsy Stoneman and then asked them
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
7
to fill in the blanks in a summarized version without looking at the original text. This
kind of linguistic practice, as Santoni puts it, liberates reading and facilitates
understanding and class discussion in the target language (Santoni, 1972: 435-39).
After the completion of “guided notes” on the plot of the story, it is generally useful
to encourage students to re-tell the episode in their own words, engage in role-
playing, if possible, or “predict topic development” (Kramsch, 1985: 361). Effective
pre-interpretation activities help ensure success in the following interpretative and
synthesis phases.
ii) Phase II: Interpretation
This is the phase in which teacher and students engage in dialogic activity, the
teacher as a guide or facilitator and the students as active participants in class
discussion. At this point, students should be able to go beyond the literal meaning of
the text and discuss what it represents. As Carrell puts it, “the reader makes sense
of the text by constructing schemata and interprets through a process of integrating
new knowledge and readjusting schema in accord with new information” (Carrell qtd
in Harper, 1988: 405). Teachers should design activities that give students
opportunity to articulate, defend and negotiate their own ideas so as to counter the
interpretations provided by the teacher and peers.
As part of this interpretative phase, my students were asked to:
• compare and contrast the characters of Heathcliff and Catherine,
• study the narrators Lockwood and Nelly Dean,
• explain quotations from the text,
• discuss non-literary forms (films, music, paintings) as parallel texts,
• relate what they had read with their personal lives,
• answer thought provoking or open-ended questions.
iii) Phase III: Synthesis
This phase “transcends the classroom,” as Harper says, “and may manifest itself in
ongoing appreciation and assimilation of literature that may include expanded
wisdom and a new way of looking at oneself and things outside the classroom”
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
8
(Harper, 1988: 407). At this stage, students are supposed to reunite the parts, as the
previous phases involved a fragmentation of the text. That is why, activities should
be directed towards viewing the work as a whole.
Among my synthesis activities, I have included:
• written assignments on certain topics, for instance, the role of “religion” in
the novel.
• judging statements based on the text,
• comment on opinions of the author or literary critics,
• class activities such as group discussion,
• viewing film adaptations or other media, similar in theme and style,
• discussing the effect of Brontë’s work on the students.
CONCLUSION
This pedagogical approach to the literary text successfully integrates “study guides”
and “guided notes” to Harper’s three-fold sequence, developing students necessary
skills for interacting with the text and expressing, negotiating and revising personal
interpretations in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The results of the experience
were reflected in a final-course survey students filled. Not only did they agree that
their interest in the subject and class participation had increased as a result of the
implementation of these resources, but also said that the “study guides” and “
guided notes” were a successful practice to reading and understanding texts. Their
English fluency and articulation of ideas was enhanced and the use of guides was
overwhelmingly preferred when compared with students’ reading on their own.
Considering the success of the approach, it will be put into practice in successive
courses.
IV Jornada d’Innovació Docent 2007
9
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights (1847). Ian Jack (ed.). (Oxford: OUP-
World’s Classics, 1998).
Carrell, Patricia L. “Schema Theory and ESL Reading: Classroom Implications
and Applications.” Modern Language Journal 68 (1984): 332-43.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, trans. Myra Bergman Ramos
(London: Penguin, 1996).
Gaudiani, Claire. "A Case for the Study of LiteratureDavis, James. “Reading
Literature in the Foreign Language: The Comprehension/Response Connection” The
French Review, 65.3 (Feb, 1992): 359-370.
Harper, Sandra N. “Strategies for Teaching Literature at the Undergraduate
Level” The Modern Language Journal, 72.4 (1988): 402-408.
Kramsch, Claire. “Literary Texts in the Classroom: A Discourse” The Modern
Language Journal, 69.4 (1985): 356-366.
Santoni, Georges V. “Methods of Teaching Literature.” Foreign Language
Annals 5 (1972): 432-41.
INTRODUCTION Approaches to teaching second language literature at undergraduate levels have significantly changed both as a result of the current process of convergence towards the EHEA and growing pedagogical interest in the educational value of active learning. To promote reading and close-reading habits and prepare students for becoming active doers and class participants, teachers should provide them with the necessary tools to be able to confront the literary text on their own. The purpose of this paper is to describe my pedagogical approach to the literary text based on the previously mentioned objectives and applied to the teaching of “Gèneres Literaris Anglesos del Segle XIX” during the 2006-07 academic course. My approach consisted in the implementation of study guides and guided notes in a 25 student-classroom, following the three-fold sequence suggested by Harper (1988: 403): i) pre-literary or pre-interpretation activities; ii) interpretative phase; and iii) synthesis or summative activities.
CONCLUSION
María Cristina Pividori Àrea de Literatura i Cultura Anglesa Departament de Filologia Anglesa i Germanística, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Bellaterra, Catalonia.
STUDY GUIDES AND GUIDED NOTES
OBJECTIVES • To develop students’ descriptive and critical skills as readers of literature; • To promote students’ necessary strategies for independent work in the preparation of: i) oral expositions of articles of literary criticism, ii) written academic papers; • To encourage team work through oral expositions; • To prepare students for continuous learning.
Study guides are centred on the assigned readings or texts of the academic course. They consist of lists of written questions and activities created by the teacher to provide direction and highlight critical information to students. Study guides provide a structured and organized way to approach readings, sometimes including suggestions for the best ways to work with and think about the new material. Guided notes are teacher-prepared hand-outs that outline or map an assigned reading or lecture, leaving blank spaces for students to fill in with key concepts, facts or important ideas. Whenever guided notes were used during the course, they were included as part of Harper’s phase 1 of the study guide, for cases in which, due to lexical, syntactic, semantic or cultural content, the text presented difficulties for the students’ linguistic abilities.
PHASE 1: PRE-LITERARY OR PRE-INTERPRETATION ACTIVITIES Purpose: 1) Establish a common background of essential information; 2)enhance linguistic skills; 3) verify
comprehension; 4) direct students’ reading to develop perceptive abilities and “channel the way they build schemata to make sense of the words on the page” (Kramsch, 1985: 360).
Application in study guides: • Use of paintings, photographs, filmstrips or songs, similar in theme and style to the literary
work, to present cultural, biographical and historical information or help students spot the major themes or ideas.
• “Brainstorm of Conceptual Associations” to help students assimilate the lexical material and be familiar with literary terms and concepts.
PHASE 2: INTERPRETATION Teacher and students engage in “dialogic activity,” the teacher as a guide or facilitator and the students as active participants. The reader makes sense of the text by constructing schemata and interprets through a process of integrating new knowledge and readjusting schema in accord with new information (Carrell, 1984). Application in study guides: • Activities that give students opportunity to express, justify and then refine their ideas or scheme in light of interpretations provided by the teacher and peers (comparison of characters, though-provoking or open-ended questions, discussion of quotations, etc) PHASE 3: SYNTHESIS It “manifests itself in ongoing appreciation and assimilation of literature that may include expanded wisdom and a new way of looking at oneself and things outside the classroom” (Harper, 1988: 407). Application in study guides: • Activities directed towards viewing the work as a whole (written assignments, judging statements based on the text, comment on opinions of the author or critics, class activities such as group discussion or viewing a film or other media, similar in theme and style, to discuss the effect of the work on the students.
LITERATURE STUDY GUIDES AND GUIDED NOTES A Guide to Guided Reading
This pedagogical approach has integrated Harper’s three-fold sequence into “study guides” and “guided notes,” helping students develop the necessary skills for interacting with the text on their own and express, negotiate and revise personal interpretations. The results of the experience were reflected in a final-course survey given to students. Not only did they agree that their interest in the subject and class participation had increased as a result of the implementation of these resources, but they also said that the “study guides” and “ guided notes” were extremely useful as practices to reading and understanding texts. Their English fluency and articulation of ideas were enhanced and the use of guides overwhelmingly preferred when compared with students’ reading on their own. Considering the success of the strategy, it will continue to be used in successive literature courses.
STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF LITERATURE, TO SEE BEYOND, TO UNCOVER AND CREATE RICHER AND MORE INTERESTING MEANINGS.
Guided Notes: Use of fill-in exercises to complete sentences that reconstruct major incidents or narrative. With their books closed, students have to choose the appropriate verb, noun, synonym or adjective to fill in the blanks based on the context of the sentence.
KEY WORDS: STUDY GUIDES, GUIDED NOTES, ENGLISH LITERATURE, GUIDED READING AND CLOSE READING
