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Facultad de Filología
  Inicio | galego | castellano | A A |  
Grao en Inglés: Estudos Lingüísticos e Literarios
 Asignaturas
  Literatura Norteamericana nos seus Textos
   Metodoloxías
Metodoloxías Descrición
Lecturas Required readings are chosen chronologically to better understand the social context, as well as the role African American Literature plays in mainstream American Literary discourse.
Thanks to the detailed syllabus, students will be informed ahead of time of the readings assigned for each class.
Students are expected to read carefully and critically, and come to their own conclusions. They are also expected to come to class with the required reading assigned done.
Instructor would provide a brief introduction which includes critical reception, formal and themes issues, and would point at more relevant aspects so students might be informed before actually starting their own reading of the material.
Presentación oral Class presentation is team work. Format required is power point presentation.
Students choose topic to talk about from the list provided by instructor of works and texts we are NOT going to deal with in class. Students should inform the instructor about the author/work of their choice. Students need to include the following: brief plot summary; critical reception (two reviews: one positive; one negative); an interview with writer (when and if possible); an article from a literary magazine or chapter of book, and any other visual material they think relevant (clips from film adaptations; clips from documentaries; articles from media, etc).
Team is made of 3 students (4 max.)
Proba de resposta breve This is an "identify-quizz type" test.
Students are expected to provide brief and to the point responses.
From a list, students should identify an item, a recurrent expression, a metaphor, a proper name, a setting or a particular statement from the required readings. The idea is to go from the very particular to the more general.
Students should comment on the reasons why they think that particular word or words are relevant to the whole text.
Sesión maxistral This is NOT the traditional one-way boring lecture someone might expect. The purpose of this lecture is to familiarize students with the new required text and author, point out at main issues dealt with, comment on critical reception, and ask them to pay particular attention to certain passages, characters' reactions or narrative discoure used.
Lecture always goes two ways. Students are more than welcome to interrupt and ask questions, or make comments. This lecture-type methodology is, in fact, more a dialogue between students and lecturer where student are NOT the "empty glass", and the instructor is NOT the "full jar".
Proba de ensaio At this stage in their academic studies, students should be able to write well organized, original, and critical essays. This is NOT a class where you have to memorize dates and names. On the contrary, you are expected to read critically and write with a thesis statement in mind.
Students, thus, are required to write a comparative essay about topics chosen by the instructor.
You are given several options (up to four), to write about formal aspects of the text or about recurrent themes or characterization. The use of evidence from the texts are a must, and this is the reason why students are allowed to use the books for this in-class test.
Before the long comparative essay, students will have the opportunity to work on and write a short essay (four to five pages long). This is a take-home assignment.
Obradoiro A work-shop on close reading always helps students to learn how to read creatively and critically.
Following our methodology (from the more specific to the more general), students are provided a selecction of quotations from the text we are reading in class. With the help of the instructor, first, we point out at the most basic literary aspects. We focus on narrative voice, point of view, language used, tone and style, or characterization and setting. We always try to find a response for the question: Do you think this quote is relevant to the whole text? Why? Why not?
Actividades iniciais The first week in class students will be given specific information about what is expected from them, the different tasks used in class, and how to help them better organize their time when preparing for reading quizzes, short essay, comparative essay or class presentations.
It is also important to know what you expect from a subject--African American Literature--which is not usually included in the syllabus of Spanish Universities.
I would recommend students to be alert to any news in the media, a film, a concert, or a lecture related to this subject, and I would encourage them to share that information with the class.
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