Books by Ana Gonçalves Matos
Literature and Intercultural Learning in Language and Teacher Education, 2020
This book addresses the value of literature in intercultural perspective in two interrelated sphe... more This book addresses the value of literature in intercultural perspective in two interrelated spheres: foreign or second language learning and language teacher education. It brings together researchers of several disciplinary fields who crisscross research and empirical evidence about the valuable role of literature in the development of intercultural competence. The authors, through their different approaches and diverse contexts, from lower to higher education, hope to encourage others to explore literature in a foreign or second language as a space for readers of all ages to generate critical thinking, empathy, and intercultural learning.
Literature and Intercultural Learning in Language and Teacher Education , 2020
This chapter discusses how language education in the 21st century should address the needs of lea... more This chapter discusses how language education in the 21st century should address the needs of learners for the 21st century Taking into account the disruptive, ambiguous, and contradictory nature of our current societies, we argue that through reading literary texts in a second language, it is possible to develop interpretation, criticality, and empathy, while building understandings of alterity that characterize intercultural learning
Keywords: language education; literary texts; intercultural; criticality; emotional learning; empathy
Publishers: CTELL (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom) and CETAPS (NOVA FCSH, Portugal). Lit... more Publishers: CTELL (University of Liverpool, United Kingdom) and CETAPS (NOVA FCSH, Portugal). Literature can inspire, excite and intrigue, and engagement and inspiration are desirable in education of all kinds...Using literature in ELT can be useful to expand language learners' vocabulary, awareness of register, genre and linguistic knowledge generally…The ways in which language is used in literary texts are actually centrally relevant to the needs of students in a wide range of situations in everyday life. (Hall, 2016: 456). To create in the young an appreciation of the fact that many worlds are possible, that meaning and reality are created and not discovered, that negotiation is the art of constructing new meanings by which individuals can regulate their relations with each other" (Bruner, 1986: 149). Bruner's words are a compelling reminder of the value of reading literature in the 21st century foreign language classroom. Literature (as discourse, ideology and art) can be a powerful and key tool for teaching fundamental language and intercultural competences. A renewed interest in literature is gradually emerging in foreign language education curricula and the growing number of studies dedicated to the subject since 2000
Papers by Ana Gonçalves Matos
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2020
This introductory paper briefly discusses the pressing need for intercultural citizenship educati... more This introductory paper briefly discusses the pressing need for intercultural citizenship education in a human world made small, currently shut down due to a pandemic. We further argue for a renewed relationship between the arts and intercultural citizenship education that explores sustained imagined worlds; stimulates empathy; promotes the critical development of languages towards dialogue; inspires social, cultural, and political action; and demands transformation. Lastly, we present the six papers that comprise this issue and document, illustrate, and examine art matters in languages and intercultural citizenship education. Este artigo discute a necessidade cada vez mais premente da educação intercultural para a cidadania num mundo humano tornado pequeno e presentemente parado devido a uma pandemia. Defendemos uma relação renovada entre as artes e a educação intercultural para a cidadania que explore mundos imaginados sustentáveis; estimule a empatia; promova o desenvolvimento crítico das línguas para a construção do diálogo; inspire para a acção ao nível social, cultural e político; e exija mudança. Por último, apresentamos os seis artigos que constituem esta edição especial e documentam, ilustram, e analisam relações entre as artes e as línguas no âmbito da educação.
In the history of language teaching, literary texts have gradually been reduced to a source for l... more In the history of language teaching, literary texts have gradually been reduced to a source for linguistic learning, as an informative representation of cultural traits or even dismissed from the foreign language classroom. This paper aims to add reasons that justify considering literary texts a vital presence in the foreign language classroom. One general aim is to promote the study of foreign literature as enjoyable and (inter)culturally significant.The classroom is inevitably a culturally heterogeneous setting since its elements are already socialized subjects. Instead of its limiting role of supplying knowledge, the classroom ought to foster reading critically through a pedagogy of questioning the text, searching for and building textual meaning. Teaching literature in a foreign language should underline how literature offers new perspectives and how these views are directly relevant to the world we live in and the lives we lead.
In this paper I consider an assumption that reading literary texts in a foreign language-andcultu... more In this paper I consider an assumption that reading literary texts in a foreign language-andculture classroom implies, in a first instance, the individual interaction developed between reader and text. In a second instance, reading is located in the classroom as personal readings are shared, discussed and modified. Therefore, our point of departure must be reading (allowing some time to convalesce as an important factor to consider) and the subsequent approach should take place on the basis of the response to literature that follows or, in other words, on the outcome of reading. Brumfit and Carter point out that literature is not self-explanatory by nature and discuss the need of supplying the foreign learner-reader with background information in order to enhance a fuller cultural understanding of the literary text. Contrasting with this position, it is pertinent to see how Soter balances the question of the importance of ‘backgroung knowledge’ in the perspective of reader-response ...
The overall aims of this paper are first to argue that literary works should have an expanded rol... more The overall aims of this paper are first to argue that literary works should have an expanded role in foreign language education, and then to explore how the beliefs and practices of secondary teachers of English in Portugal and Japan orient toward literary works. Their voices are analyzed in relation to the authors’ contention that literary works can be especially facilitative in the important endeavor of nurturing students’ critical cultural awareness and interculturality. To support their arguments, the authors first provide some brief background to substantiate their views that (1) intercultural competence should be a high-priority goal of education; (2) critical cultural awareness is an important component of intercultural competence; and (3) foreign language education has a special role in reaching this goal. They then elaborate in more depth their conviction that literary works represent an especially valuable pedagogical tool for pursuing this goal. To discern the degree of ...
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2013
Revista Lusofona De Educacao, 2014
Neste artigo argumenta-se que o texto literario, ou a ‘narrativa como forma de arte’ nos termos d... more Neste artigo argumenta-se que o texto literario, ou a ‘narrativa como forma de arte’ nos termos de Jerome Bruner (1986, p.15), pode actuar como um catalizador para a aprendizagem intercultural. Jerome Bruner, entre outros, desenvolveu conceitos que contribuem para clarificar e justificar a relacao inerente entre a experiencia de leitura do texto literario e a interculturalidade. O conceito de cultura de Bruner como um forum, um espaco de negociacao, de interpretacao, de (re)criacao de significados, e muito apropriado numa perspectiva educacional informada por objectivos interculturais. A aprendizagem intercultural e um processo complexo de (re)negociacao de significados e a interaccao com o texto literario um contributo inestimavel ao proporcionar o contacto com formas culturais inscritas num contexto. A medida que os leitores se apercebem que produtos, valores e crencas correspondem a construcoes sociais e culturais e que as diferencas culturais provem dos diferentes modos como dif...
International Education Studies, 2011
In the history of language teaching, literary texts have gradually been reduced to a source for l... more In the history of language teaching, literary texts have gradually been reduced to a source for linguistic learning, as an informative representation of cultural traits or even dismissed from the foreign language classroom. This paper aims to add reasons that justify considering literary texts a vital presence in the foreign language classroom. One general aim is to promote the study of foreign literature as enjoyable and (inter)culturally significant.The classroom is inevitably a culturally heterogeneous setting since its elements are already socialized subjects. Instead of its limiting role of supplying knowledge, the classroom ought to foster reading critically through a pedagogy of questioning the text, searching for and building textual meaning. Teaching literature in a foreign language should underline how literature offers new perspectives and how these views are directly relevant to the world we live in and the lives we lead.
Language and Intercultural Communication, 2020
This paper discusses the pressing need for intercultural citizenship education in a human world m... more This paper discusses the pressing need for intercultural citizenship education in a human world made small, currently shut down due to a pandemic. We further argue for a renewed relationship between the arts and intercultural citizenship education that explores sustained imagined worlds; stimulates empathy; promotes the critical development of languages towards dialogue; inspires social, cultural, and political action; and demands transformation. Lastly, we present the six papers that comprise this issue and document, illustrate, and examine art matters in languages and intercultural citizenship education.
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Books by Ana Gonçalves Matos
Keywords: language education; literary texts; intercultural; criticality; emotional learning; empathy
Papers by Ana Gonçalves Matos
Keywords: language education; literary texts; intercultural; criticality; emotional learning; empathy