Narrative and Emotion in Education : Reading Literature as an Exercise in Affective Expression
Mörte Alling, Annika LU
(2017)
EAPRIL conference 2017
- Abstract
- General Abstract
Traditionally, affects do not belong in the academic world, are not seen as compatible with science,
the domain of objectivity. We have few teaching hours at our disposal and a large mass of content to
put into them. This is true for academic literature classes, too, despite the fact that the "affective
turn” at the beginning of the 21st century, thanks to scholars like Patrick Colm Hogan (2011),
Suzanne Keen (2007), Martha Nussbaum (2001), Jenefer Robinson (2005) and Jean-François Vernay
(2013) has put the spotlight on the role of emotions in our relation to literature.
While these scholars all argue that reading literature has an immense societal importance as an
exercise in understanding... (More) - General Abstract
Traditionally, affects do not belong in the academic world, are not seen as compatible with science,
the domain of objectivity. We have few teaching hours at our disposal and a large mass of content to
put into them. This is true for academic literature classes, too, despite the fact that the "affective
turn” at the beginning of the 21st century, thanks to scholars like Patrick Colm Hogan (2011),
Suzanne Keen (2007), Martha Nussbaum (2001), Jenefer Robinson (2005) and Jean-François Vernay
(2013) has put the spotlight on the role of emotions in our relation to literature.
While these scholars all argue that reading literature has an immense societal importance as an
exercise in understanding one’s own and others’ emotions, this dimension of literature is largely
ignored in tertiary education devoted to literature. There is little time for discussions about the role of
literature in our lives and about how it affects us emotionally and existentially. This paper explores
how students can be acquainted with literature in a way that acknowledges that the very reason why
we need literature – and why education needs literature and the stories it offers – is that it engages
and enriches us emotionally. The paper presents practice-based educational research on a learning
environment in which this emotional relation to literature is a central element.
Theoretical background and earlier research
A point of departure will be the ongoing theoretical discussion about the crisis within education and
about how to recreate a passion for literature among teachers and students in the teaching process.
These problems are treated for instance in the studies by Antoine Compagnon (1998), Tzvetan
Todorov (2007), Yves Citton (2007) and Vincent Jouve (2010), and more recently by Jean-François
Vernay (2013), Raphaël Baroni and Antonio Rodriguez (2014). Applegate and Applegate (2004)
stressed what the benefits of doing so could mean specifically for teacher education: ‘Teachers
become reading models when they share their own reading experiences with students and emphasize
how reading enhances and enriches their lives’. In this paper, I will build on earlier research (Mörte
Alling 2013; Mörte Alling 2014) in which the central thesis was that in literature education, students
should be enabled to give expression to their emotional relation to the stories they encounter. This
thesis will here be examined further.
Research Questions
This paper explores how to create a learning environment where students dare to express themselves
more freely about their emotional relation to the texts studied. How could such learning environment
be created? When should a more distanced and critical reading be introduced? How is it possible to
assess the students' performance when they express emotions?
Research design
The communication will partly be based on discussions with students of French during their second
term at Lund University in Sweden. Thus my approach is rather "practical". I will also discuss the
results of a written survey among students having read Le Père Goriot by Balzac and Madame Bovary
by Flaubert.
Results
The discussions as well as the survey show that students feel more engaged in their literary studies
when they are allowed – and encouraged – to relate their reading to personal experiences and
emotions. Thus they all have something to relate their reading to from the beginning, without having
to feel ashamed of expressing “simple”, non-theoretical points of view. In other words, most of the
students feel that they have something to say, that they can contribute to their learning environment.
Finally, the results seem to confirm the hypotheses of general pedagogical research linking memory
and emotion; the students tend to remember the texts they read better when they can link them to
personal experiences and emotions.
Conclusions and interpretations
The experiments show that it is indeed possible and fruitful to combine a perspective that departs
from emotions with an analytical, theoretical approach. This approach makes possible a more relaxed
learning environment, promoting the acquisition of the foreign language students are studying. It also
gives them insights that are helpful in the long term; it helps them understand how literary texts and
narratives in general “work”, how they themselves function as readers, and what they can gain
personally by reading literature, even as a life strategy.
Contribution to the field
The results and conclusions mentioned above will not only enrich literature and language education,
but also for the development of narrative learning environments in general – in which literature can
both serve as a metaphor for education and as a vast storehouse of useful stories and metaphors. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5badc3ca-bc2f-48ba-a43a-608e0a266589
- author
- Mörte Alling, Annika
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-11-30
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- subject
- conference name
- EAPRIL conference 2017
- conference location
- Hämeelinna, Finland
- conference dates
- 2017-11-29 - 2017-12-01
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 5badc3ca-bc2f-48ba-a43a-608e0a266589
- date added to LUP
- 2018-02-19 20:38:20
- date last changed
- 2021-03-23 19:34:32
@misc{5badc3ca-bc2f-48ba-a43a-608e0a266589,
abstract = {{General Abstract<br/>Traditionally, affects do not belong in the academic world, are not seen as compatible with science,<br/>the domain of objectivity. We have few teaching hours at our disposal and a large mass of content to<br/>put into them. This is true for academic literature classes, too, despite the fact that the "affective<br/>turn” at the beginning of the 21st century, thanks to scholars like Patrick Colm Hogan (2011),<br/>Suzanne Keen (2007), Martha Nussbaum (2001), Jenefer Robinson (2005) and Jean-François Vernay<br/>(2013) has put the spotlight on the role of emotions in our relation to literature.<br/>While these scholars all argue that reading literature has an immense societal importance as an<br/>exercise in understanding one’s own and others’ emotions, this dimension of literature is largely<br/>ignored in tertiary education devoted to literature. There is little time for discussions about the role of<br/>literature in our lives and about how it affects us emotionally and existentially. This paper explores<br/>how students can be acquainted with literature in a way that acknowledges that the very reason why<br/>we need literature – and why education needs literature and the stories it offers – is that it engages<br/>and enriches us emotionally. The paper presents practice-based educational research on a learning<br/>environment in which this emotional relation to literature is a central element.<br/>Theoretical background and earlier research<br/>A point of departure will be the ongoing theoretical discussion about the crisis within education and<br/>about how to recreate a passion for literature among teachers and students in the teaching process.<br/>These problems are treated for instance in the studies by Antoine Compagnon (1998), Tzvetan<br/>Todorov (2007), Yves Citton (2007) and Vincent Jouve (2010), and more recently by Jean-François<br/>Vernay (2013), Raphaël Baroni and Antonio Rodriguez (2014). Applegate and Applegate (2004)<br/>stressed what the benefits of doing so could mean specifically for teacher education: ‘Teachers<br/>become reading models when they share their own reading experiences with students and emphasize<br/>how reading enhances and enriches their lives’. In this paper, I will build on earlier research (Mörte<br/>Alling 2013; Mörte Alling 2014) in which the central thesis was that in literature education, students<br/>should be enabled to give expression to their emotional relation to the stories they encounter. This<br/>thesis will here be examined further.<br/>Research Questions<br/>This paper explores how to create a learning environment where students dare to express themselves<br/>more freely about their emotional relation to the texts studied. How could such learning environment<br/>be created? When should a more distanced and critical reading be introduced? How is it possible to<br/>assess the students' performance when they express emotions?<br/>Research design<br/>The communication will partly be based on discussions with students of French during their second<br/>term at Lund University in Sweden. Thus my approach is rather "practical". I will also discuss the<br/>results of a written survey among students having read Le Père Goriot by Balzac and Madame Bovary<br/>by Flaubert.<br/>Results<br/>The discussions as well as the survey show that students feel more engaged in their literary studies<br/>when they are allowed – and encouraged – to relate their reading to personal experiences and<br/>emotions. Thus they all have something to relate their reading to from the beginning, without having<br/>to feel ashamed of expressing “simple”, non-theoretical points of view. In other words, most of the<br/>students feel that they have something to say, that they can contribute to their learning environment.<br/>Finally, the results seem to confirm the hypotheses of general pedagogical research linking memory<br/>and emotion; the students tend to remember the texts they read better when they can link them to<br/>personal experiences and emotions.<br/>Conclusions and interpretations<br/>The experiments show that it is indeed possible and fruitful to combine a perspective that departs<br/>from emotions with an analytical, theoretical approach. This approach makes possible a more relaxed<br/>learning environment, promoting the acquisition of the foreign language students are studying. It also<br/>gives them insights that are helpful in the long term; it helps them understand how literary texts and<br/>narratives in general “work”, how they themselves function as readers, and what they can gain<br/>personally by reading literature, even as a life strategy.<br/>Contribution to the field<br/>The results and conclusions mentioned above will not only enrich literature and language education,<br/>but also for the development of narrative learning environments in general – in which literature can<br/>both serve as a metaphor for education and as a vast storehouse of useful stories and metaphors.}},
author = {{Mörte Alling, Annika}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
title = {{Narrative and Emotion in Education : Reading Literature as an Exercise in Affective Expression}},
year = {{2017}},
}