Does Jane Austen Matter?: Foreign Language Students’ Perspectives to Literature Teaching

Abstract

This study aims to examine foreign language students’ perspectives to literature teaching in the context of higher education. The research, conducted in a Romanian University, drew inspiration from decentred qualitative methodology (Holliday, 2011). Based on a distinction made by linguists between that which is explicitly said and that which is left implicit, the study provides an account of some characteristics of literary language, e.g. recovery of inferences based on the literary and historical context. The analysis of data was informed by transcribed audio recordings of semi-structured interviews. The findings show that students perceived literature teaching as beneficial, enhancing their pleasure of the text and their understanding of cultural and historical contexts and co-texts. They identified the following characteristics of literary texts as beneficial to their learning: the enrichment of lexis and the historical/literary context, the identification with characters leading to the use of collocations and creative writing.