Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translation
While observing A-level students at my PP2 school, I noticed that their responses to classical texts largely consisted of the identification of stylistic tropes. The students could identify a text's stylistic features but they struggled to articulate and develop their own personal reactions to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2019-04-01
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| Series: | The Journal of Classics Teaching |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2058631019000035/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156068186718208 |
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| author | Shane Forde |
| author_facet | Shane Forde |
| author_sort | Shane Forde |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While observing A-level students at my PP2 school, I noticed that their responses to classical texts largely consisted of the identification of stylistic tropes. The students could identify a text's stylistic features but they struggled to articulate and develop their own personal reactions to the text. They had been well-trained in this sort of ‘feature-spotting’ and therefore their reading experience was narrowly mechanical rather than genuinely exploratory. Every passage they encountered was put through the same analytical process with the unsurprising result that every classical author ended up sounding much the same. This seemed to me to be fundamentally passive way of engaging with literature. I was struck by Muir's contention that ‘the pupil should not be a passive recipient in the study of literature’ (!974, p.515). Hence, I wanted to devise a teaching strategy that would enable my students to be more active in the formulation of a personal response to the text. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:45:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ba483c27106e430d8f23b557c8991b2f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2058-6310 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:45:18Z |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Journal of Classics Teaching |
| spelling | doaj.art-ba483c27106e430d8f23b557c8991b2f2023-03-09T12:37:25ZengCambridge University PressThe Journal of Classics Teaching2058-63102019-04-0120142310.1017/S2058631019000035Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translationShane FordeWhile observing A-level students at my PP2 school, I noticed that their responses to classical texts largely consisted of the identification of stylistic tropes. The students could identify a text's stylistic features but they struggled to articulate and develop their own personal reactions to the text. They had been well-trained in this sort of ‘feature-spotting’ and therefore their reading experience was narrowly mechanical rather than genuinely exploratory. Every passage they encountered was put through the same analytical process with the unsurprising result that every classical author ended up sounding much the same. This seemed to me to be fundamentally passive way of engaging with literature. I was struck by Muir's contention that ‘the pupil should not be a passive recipient in the study of literature’ (!974, p.515). Hence, I wanted to devise a teaching strategy that would enable my students to be more active in the formulation of a personal response to the text.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2058631019000035/type/journal_article |
| spellingShingle | Shane Forde Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translation The Journal of Classics Teaching |
| title | Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translation |
| title_full | Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translation |
| title_fullStr | Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translation |
| title_short | Using classical reception to develop students’ engagement with classical literature in translation |
| title_sort | using classical reception to develop students engagement with classical literature in translation |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2058631019000035/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shaneforde usingclassicalreceptiontodevelopstudentsengagementwithclassicalliteratureintranslation |