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Article
Teaching English Literature Through Popular Culture in China: Record and Reflection
Author(s)
ZHANG Huifang
Full-Text PDF XML 856 Views
DOI:10.17265/2159-5542/2019.03.002
Affiliation(s)
Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, Tianjin, China
ABSTRACT
Classic English literature
is high culture of a sort, too high for tertiary English majors in the 21st China,
who have grown up with total exposure to popular culture in an electronic way,
to reach so that they show indifference to literature class. To solve this
problem, this paper intends to consider the implications and feasibilities of
integrating popular culture into literature education in English departments of
Chinese universities. After carefully reviewing the current English literature
teaching connected with popular culture both in China and other parts of the
world, this paper concludes that the choice of the popular culture texts shall
be neither too random to include any form of popular culture nor too limited to
only cover the film/TV adaptations of literary classics. Subsequently, the paper records
the procedure and progress of the author’s classic-literature
and popular-culture class and reflects upon the students’
substantial responses to the class. From the record and the reflection, three
major findings are drawn: The students know little about how classic literature
inspire popular culture and when they know, they become excited and want to
know more; when further exploring those original texts which inspired their
favourite pop, the students find themselves greatly challenged and stimulated
as well; the students have strong desire to reach the “highness” of classic
literature and would like to read challenging texts with their own spirits. A
conclusion can be drawn from these findings: Both academic and popular literacy
of English majors in Chinese universities should be enhanced, and it is
workable to incorporate popular culture into literature classroom with careful
preparations for classroom activities and guarantees of the smooth implements of these
activities.
KEYWORDS
literature teaching, classic literature, popular culture, high culture
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