From Language Games to Literature Receptions in Classroom
Submitted by:
Natalia Kolodina
Abstract:
The actions of all language mechanisms are called language games (L. Wittgenstein,1953). Language games in literature pieces are very attractive to school age students (Kolodina, 2016). Not surprisingly, game based activities are an inherent part of child's develompent. How could a Reading Teacher use the potential of language games in Literature Classes? Based on the fact that the means of literary expression correlate with the corresponding types of language games (V. Sannikov, 1995, N. Tamarchenko, 2008), I created a set of lesson plans which includes studying poems through the phenomenon of language games. The set consists of two different approaches: 1) pick a phrase with a language game, look at in detail and understand how the words function in the phrase (Are we dealing with homonyms? Polysemantic words? etc.); 2) take one specific game algorithm and observe its application in several literature pieces.
A significant part of children's literature is literary nonsense (P.Hunt, 1996), which is usually based on language games (M. Epstein, M. Kronhaus, B. Sannikov). Therefore the first part of the my research was dedicated to nonsense literature. Fifteen bilingual students 8-9 read and analyze Dina Rubina's prose text «Gentlemen and Dogs», A.Givargizov «Summative dictation and Ancient Greek tragedy», S. Sedov’s «Once upon a time there lived a mom», for sheer pleasure, - rereading and analysing the meaning of the text and finding different game algorithms. Students broadened their vocabulary, improved their reading speed and comprehension of the text during lessons activities.
What would happen with the student's enthusiasm, if the teacher changed a funny text to a serious one ? Could the teacher see the same amount of interest?
For the second step poems «A Bird», V. Zhukovcky (1851), «Pushkin», M. Tsvetaeva (1931), «Overture» from a poem in fragments «Pushkin Mine», K. Arbenin (1992) were selected. Twelve bilingual students 10-12 read it. In the course of the lesson the students worked from different angle: their goal was to find only one game algorithm (a repetition) in three different pieces. Students coped with the assignment independently. Along the way they found out the inner beauty of each piece, which was an undercover goal for this lesson. While analizing the poem «A Bird», V. Zhukovcky, the students created an unique literature hypothesis about it, which doesn't exist in Russian philology yet.
The learning process was based on playing game activities in both the lessons, which allowed students to work independently during class, students tend to reread the text containing language games and feel more immersed in the context (Kolodina, 2015). Questions to discuss: which texts and in what order are more suitable for which age group? How does diversify work on same text for children of different ages and language abilities? Would there be any restraints connected form the students' age, the length or subject of the text?