LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:8 August 2015
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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A Stylistic Approach to Teaching Literature
at the College Level

Meenakshi H. Verma, Ph.D.

Abstract

The paper studies the importance and relevance of the stylistic approach to analyze a literary text at the college level. Our classrooms are based on the lecture method where teachers play the main role and the students sit merely as listeners. Whereas, if we adopt a stylistic approach to the teaching of literature, the students will get the participatory role as they will be taught to interact, examine and evaluate the language of the text to interpret the meaning acquired intuitively using the linguistic features and literary theories. This will help them understand the role of language in literature and they will be able to appreciate the artistic use of language from their own point of view. A stylistic analysis of a literary text would help the students enhance their communicative competence as they would be directly working on the foreign language which is a method far apart from the traditional ways of memorization and reproduction. When the students will learn to analyze the text from their own point of view, they will also learn to experiment with the language in everyday life. The paper concludes with suggestions how stylistic approach can be introduced in a literature class where students do not have a formal study of linguistic and stylistics.

Keywords: Stylistics, Literary, Approach, Criticism, Pedagogy, Literature.

Introduction

Literary criticism is an important aspect of literary studies. A post graduate students who is called a master in subject, must know how to analyse a piece of literature. Stylistics provides a student a systematic and logical approach. The traditional classroom allows students to paraphrase and summarise while at the college level a student must learn to critically appreciate a literary work. Stylistic functions as a tool to study various perspectives of the author and analyzes the features of literary language to develop students’ sensitivity to literature. Stylistics is concerned with the choices that are available to a writer, and the reasons why particular forms and expressions are used rather than others (Tungesh, 2011). Stylistic is a language based approach. Stylistics is part of a language-based approach to using literature to make meaningful interpretations. Roshan stated that Stylistics, having to do largely with style, is a discipline concerned with the study of language of literature. It is the study of language as art. As the study of style, it seeks to examine the expressive and suggestive devices which have been invented in order to enforce the power and penetration of speech. In words of Shibu Simon, Stylistics by defining literary studies as a linguistic subject provides a way of integrating the two subjects, English Language and English Literature which are commonly taught in isolation one from the other. It studies literary works as kinds of discourse and enquires into the communicative potential of the language concerned.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Meenakshi H. Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Communication
Invertis University
Bareilly 243123
Uttar Pradesh
India
meenakshi.68@gmail.com
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