Guiding towards register awarenessin an undergraduate EFL curriculumin Italy

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This contribution adds to ever-growing research on ‘pedagogical stylistics’, (e.g., <jats:xref>Burke et al. 2012</jats:xref>). We present a case study describing a register approach to teaching literature, or verbal art (<jats:xref>Hasan 1985/1989</jats:xref>), to undergraduate EFL students in a Systemic Functional Grammar (FG)-based perspective (<jats:xref>Halliday &amp; Matthiessen 2004</jats:xref>). Our research is guided by two main goals: enhancing the students’ sensitivity to the peculiar functions of language in literature, as part of wider curriculum on teaching register awareness, and setting up good practices to monitor and assess the effectiveness of our approach. Thus, we present a set of activities based on Hasan’s (<jats:xref>1985/1989</jats:xref>, <jats:xref>2007</jats:xref>) framework for the analysis of verbal art as a ‘special’ register, which is rooted in FG. We then discuss quantitative and qualitative data related to student perceptions of our pedagogical approach, gathered through specifically designed questionnaires, which were followed by semi-structured interviews when possible. The data illustrate the largely positive impact of the approach on students’ engagement, though not unequivocally: problematic issues and implications for future research are also discussed.</jats:p>