Search results

1 – 10 of over 2000
Article
Publication date: 7 December 2015

Lifang Cui, Gillian Hubbard and Margaret Gleeson

The purpose of this paper is to survey and consider the implications of the literature justifying the value of teaching poetry. There has been a long tradition of literature…

1468

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to survey and consider the implications of the literature justifying the value of teaching poetry. There has been a long tradition of literature education in the English departments of Chinese universities. English Poetry courses are offered within optional literature modules in senior stages of a BA in English language and literature. In 2000, the new national syllabus for tertiary English majors was issued. This syllabus has brought the teaching of English into line with the perceived practical needs of society. As a result, poetry courses have been under threat within the degree. A substantial number of university teachers have responded to this threat with articles arguing the value of teaching of poetry.

Design/methodology/approach

The China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the largest database of academic journals in China, reveals that from 2000 to 2013, 102 articles about teaching English poetry to Chinese people learning English as a foreign language were published in Chinese academic journals, of which 67 are concerned with English majors. This literature examines these 67 articles.

Findings

These articles justify the purpose of teaching English poetry, evaluate the content of poetry courses and share pedagogical strategies. The issues within this discussion fall into three categories: why teach poetry; what to teach in poetry courses; and how to teach poetry. Because the commitment of Chinese teachers to sharing their beliefs about teaching English poetry is positioned in the context of increased advocacy for the creation of inter-disciplinary market-orientated graduates, discomfort, uncertainty and the desire for change emerge in this discussion. On the other hand, teachers looking for change express caution about the costs of changing pedagogical approaches on the development of the skills of close reading and analysis of poetical texts.

Originality/value

This investigation of the local Chinese context resonates with and contributes to the wider discussion of the challenges faced by English literature teachers in both second- (L2) and first-language (L1) contexts and warrants examination. It is difficult to say in advance how far such knowledge could contribute to any policy decisions that may be made in the future, but it is important that the voice of teachers contributes to the larger international debate about the value of humanities in tertiary-level education.

Details

English Teaching: Practice & Critique, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1175-8708

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 September 2014

Nicole Anae

There has been virtually no explication of poetry-writing pedagogy in historical accounts of Australian distance education during the 1930s. The purpose of this paper is to…

Abstract

Purpose

There has been virtually no explication of poetry-writing pedagogy in historical accounts of Australian distance education during the 1930s. The purpose of this paper is to satisfy this gap in scholarship.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper concerns a particular episode in the cultural history of education; an episode upon which print media of the 1930s sheds a distinctive light. The paper therefore draws extensively on 1930s press reports to: contextualise the key educational debates and prime-movers inspiring verse-writing pedagogy in Australian education, particularly distance education, in order to; concentrate specific attention on the creation and popular reception of Brave Young Singers (1938), the first and only anthology of children's poetry written entirely by students of the correspondence classes of Western Australia.

Findings

Published under the auspices of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) with funds originating from the Carnegie Corporation, two men in particular proved crucial to the development and culmination of Brave Young Singers. As the end result of a longitudinal study conducted by James Albert Miles with the particular support of Frank Tate, the publication attracted acclaim as a research document promoting ACER's success in educational research investigating the “experiment” of poetry-writing instruction through correspondence schooling.

Originality/value

The paper pays due critical attention to a previously overlooked anthology of Australian children's poetry while simultaneously presenting an original account of the emergence and implementation of verse-writing instruction within the Australian correspondence class curriculum of the 1930s.

Details

History of Education Review, vol. 43 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0819-8691

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 December 2016

H. Bernard Hall

The purpose of this paper is to describe the ways in which hip-hop pedagogies and literacies encouraged middle school students to explore performance poetry as a tool to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the ways in which hip-hop pedagogies and literacies encouraged middle school students to explore performance poetry as a tool to “(w)right” the truth(s) about learning and living in their local and global communities.

Design/methodology/approach

Collaborative self-study research methodologies were used by the author, a black male teacher educator and hip-hop cultural insider, along with two white, female reading specialists and hip-hop cultural outsiders, to collect and analyze the practices and behaviors used in The Shop – an after-school hip-hop-based spoken word poetry club for middle school students in a small, urban public school district in Northeastern USA.

Findings

Three primary findings emerge: teachers with limited cultural and content knowledge of hip-hop may struggle to negotiate real and perceived curricular constraints associated with using pedagogies with hip-hop texts and aesthetics in traditional school contexts, the intersections of teachers’ racial, cultural and gender identities informed the respective practices and behaviors in a number of interesting ways, and using hip-hop pedagogies for social justice in public schools requires a delicate balance of both transparency and discretion on the part of teachers.

Originality/value

Study findings are salient for in- and pre-service English teachers and English educators, as they offer insights and reflections on the instructional and relational challenges cultural outsiders may face when using hip-hop culture to create spaces and opportunities for young people to talk back and speak truth to power.

Details

English Teaching: Practice & Critique, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1175-8708

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 August 2015

Robert Smith

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the aesthetic dimension of entrepreneur poems. The notion of the entrepreneur as storyteller, and the entrepreneur story as cultural…

1014

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the aesthetic dimension of entrepreneur poems. The notion of the entrepreneur as storyteller, and the entrepreneur story as cultural genres have become so firmly entrenched in the collective social consciousness that little consideration is given to the existence of other narrative genres, such as business poetry as expressions, or manifestations of enterprising behaviour and indeed identities. Poetry, like art, possesses aesthetic dimensions which make it difficult to theorize and analyze. Indeed, as a genre, poetry seldom features as a heuristic device for better understanding entrepreneurial behaviour or learning. This is surprising because poetry in particular is a wonderfully creative and expressive narrative medium and accordingly, many entrepreneurs engage in writing poetry as a form of creative expression.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study the author considers the entrepreneur as poet and from a reading of the literatures of entrepreneurship and aesthetics develops an aesthetic framework for analysing entrepreneur poetry which is used to analyze six poems written by entrepreneurs or about entrepreneurs.

Findings

That poetry has value in terms of entrepreneurial learning because of its atheoretical nature it permits listeners to experience the emotion and passion of lived entrepreneurial experiences and to relive these vicariously. In particular entrepreneur poems are a variant form of entrepreneur story devoid of the usual cliché.

Research limitations/implications

There are obvious limitations to the study in that the analysis of six poems can merely scratch the surface and that aesthetic analysis is by its very nature subjective and open to interpretation. The study opens up possibilities for further research into entrepreneur poems, the aesthetics of other non-standard entrepreneur narratives and consideration of the aesthetic elements of entrepreneurship per se. Poetics and aesthetics are areas of narrative understanding ripe for further empirical research.

Originality/value

The paper is original in terms of creating an aesthetic framework used to analyze entrepreneur poems. Indeed, little consideration had previously been given to the topic.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2015

Nicholas C Coops, Jean Marcus, Ileana Construt, Erica Frank, Ron Kellett, Eric Mazzi, Alison Munro, Susan Nesbit, Andrew Riseman, John Robinson, Anneliese Schultz and Yona Sipos

Delivery of sustainability-related curriculum to undergraduate students can be problematic due to the traditional “siloing” of curriculum by faculties along disciplinary lines. In…

1883

Abstract

Purpose

Delivery of sustainability-related curriculum to undergraduate students can be problematic due to the traditional “siloing” of curriculum by faculties along disciplinary lines. In addition, while there is often a ready availability of courses focused on sustainability issues in the later years of students’ programs, few early entry-level courses focused on sustainability, broad enough to apply to all disciplines, are available to students in the first year of their program.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, we describe the development, and preliminary implementation, of an entry-level, interdisciplinary sustainability course. To do so, the authors describe the development of a university-wide initiative designed to bridge units on campus working and teaching in sustainability areas, and to promote and support sustainability curriculum development.

Findings

The authors describe the conceptual framework for organising course content and delivery. The authors conclude with an informal assessment of the successes and challenges, and offer learning activities, student assessments and course administration recommendations for consideration when developing courses with similar learning goals.

Originality/value

The positive and negative experiences gained through developing and offering a course of this nature, in a large research-focused university, offers knew insights into potential barriers for implementing first-year cross-cutting sustainability curriculum.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 16 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 20 September 2021

Robin Reagler

This chapter is a personal account of the development of the Writers in the Schools program by immediate past-Executive Director, Dr. Robin Reagler. She notes the roots of the…

Abstract

This chapter is a personal account of the development of the Writers in the Schools program by immediate past-Executive Director, Dr. Robin Reagler. She notes the roots of the organization and the challenges of internal and external growth from 1998 to 2020.

Details

Developing Knowledge Communities through Partnerships for Literacy
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-266-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 November 2021

Jyoti Bachani

This study aims to reveal a lesser known side of Late James G. March, as a poet, by offering a curated selection of his poems. The other purpose of this study is to make a case…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to reveal a lesser known side of Late James G. March, as a poet, by offering a curated selection of his poems. The other purpose of this study is to make a case for using poetry as a methodology. Poetry requires engagement by the reader, thus creating space for the personal. With multiple personal explanations co-existing, poetry allows clarity of action at the individual level while simultaneously leaving room for debate and discussion at the collective level. Thus, poetry offers pluralistic histories with room for complexity, ambiguity, paradox and contradictions.

Design/methodology/approach

The selection of poems is highly subjective, so an auto-ethnographic approach was appropriate. The collection is curated for the readers of this journal, on topics relevant for the members of the Academy of Management. The argument for poetry as a methodology is based on engaging with the poems for self-reflection and reflexivity.

Findings

March had a life-long commitment to self-expression through poems. Poetic engagement by one poetry lover with a selection of his poems about our shared profession, yields small self-discoveries that are good for the collective, by revealing unknown histories, with possibilities other than the dominant single story. Poetry as a methodology brings in the personal, that yields moving theories, that are practical in guiding individual action in personally meaningful ways, even in ambiguous, contradictory and complex situations.

Originality/value

Ideas expressed in poetic form provide a way to liberate possibilities latent in the language itself. Future work from this contribution can be that March’s poems stimulate the imaginations of other poets and poetry lovers, who may have kept it as a private pursuit, just as he did, to come out and share their personal reflexive journeys.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 December 2010

Barış Büyükokutan

Much writing on dissenting intellectuals posits a uniform relationship between autonomy from the popular element and social influence. The case of U.S. poets from 1930 to 1975…

Abstract

Much writing on dissenting intellectuals posits a uniform relationship between autonomy from the popular element and social influence. The case of U.S. poets from 1930 to 1975 challenges this, as dissenting poets' sphere of influence grew during the hegemony of populist as well as antipopulist movements. In order to account for this, this chapter draws on the conceptualization of autonomy as a process whose parameters are mutually irreducible and potentially contradictory. Where these parameters are more or less fully synchronized, dissenting intellectuals face a united bloc of opponents that they cannot divide; therefore, they need to fight all of these opponents simultaneously. Where there is little such synchronization, in contrast, they can negotiate temporary alliances with some of their foes, use these alliances to secure gains in more important fronts, and revise their alliances as circumstances change. Twentieth-century United States, this chapter argues, was an example of the latter kind of setting. Dissenting poets were able to use universities and popular element against one another, depending on how they saw their overall situation. When autonomy from universities mattered most, they reclaimed the popular element; when autonomy from the popular element mattered most, they set aside their differences with university administrators and joined the academic ranks. This distinction between greater and less synchronization of the powers, the chapter argues, has implications for political sociology beyond the study of intellectuals.

Details

Political Power and Social Theory
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-326-3

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2010

Khalid Mohammed Al-Balushi

In this paper, I argue that English could be of more relevance to the Arabian Gulf if we conceptualized it as an educational forum for familiarizing students with socio-linguistic…

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that English could be of more relevance to the Arabian Gulf if we conceptualized it as an educational forum for familiarizing students with socio-linguistic conventions relating to a wide variety of text types and for sharpening their critical awareness of the political implications of the uses of English. I make my case against the backdrop of a particular local context in the Arabian Gulf: the current BA programme in English at the College of Arts and Social Science, Sultan Qaboos University, the Sultanate of Oman. I maintain that the programme is predicated upon conceiving of English as a field (or rather fields) of knowledge, as academic disciplines of English literature, linguistics and translation, each with its own sets of concepts and frames of reference. As such, the programme both falls short of being fully theoretically coherent and fails to take into account the recent educational developments in Oman. Drawing upon the theoretical construct of discourse, I propose an outline of an alternative BA programme in English that revolves around the uses of English and their political implications.

Details

Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2077-5504

Abstract

Details

Making Meaning with Readers and Texts
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-337-6

1 – 10 of over 2000