Teaching Literature Written in English in Undergraduate Language Teacher Education Programs: A Dialogic-Pragmatic Approach

Abstract

This article aims to be part of the ongoing discussion on the teaching of literature written in English (LWE) in literature classes in undergraduate language programs. In order to do that, it shows the challenges posed by the Letras DCN (National Curriculum Guidelines for the undergraduate Language Teacher Education programs) as well as the reality literature teachers face due to the reduced number of hours of literature classes assigned in course curricula and to students’ limited knowledge of English. Based on the dialogical concept of language and on the possibility of cooperation between scientific trends, we present a cooperative work between DDA (Dialogical Discourse Analysis) and Pragmatics, showing how consonant and dissonant they are. Besides, we present part of the analysis of Alice Walker’s short story Her Sweet Jerome done by students, which, in this context of teaching LWE to students with limited knowledge of English, pointed to the possibility of Pragmatics being the first step towards a dialogical analysis of literary texts.