Pedagogical stylistics in multiple foreign language and second language contexts: A synthesis of empirical research

Abstract

This article examines the efficacy of pedagogical stylistics as a learning tool for developing second or foreign language proficiency. Pedagogical stylistics -an instrument for investigating the linguistic, sociocultural and dialogic features inherent in literary and non-literary texts -has often been criticized for relying too heavily on intuition rather than empirical support to substantiate its employment in language learning classrooms. To better understand this criticism a coding framework adapted from previous research was employed to synthesize 13 studies across four, second or foreign languages in nine countries. Three themes emerged from this synthesis: (1) stylistics as a tool for improving L2 performance; (2) stylistics' contribution to building language awareness; (3) stylistics as a tool for building academic skills beyond L2 acquisition. This work explores these themes and discusses the research practices informing the claims made therein, highlighting a consistent underreporting or under collecting of data as a recurring problem in the literature. This shortcoming precludes a meta-analysis of the literature, and this article argues that this shortcoming contributes to a justifiably weak representation of stylistics in second or foreign language contexts. To rectify this issue suggestions are made for more thorough reporting of data and a more robust research agenda in second or foreign language-based, stylistic contexts.

Exploring new territories in pedagogical stylistics: An investigation of high-school EFL students’ assessments

“…An alternative explanation would be that the teacher's intuitive perception was primed by the negative reactions of few students. This reinforces the need for empirical studies such as this one so as to avoid sole reliance on teachers' intuitions (Fogal, 2015;Hall, 2007).…”

“…As noted by Fogal (2015), L2 and EFL classroom applications of stylistics have been underreported and conclusions are rarely supported by evidence. Here, we examine students' appraisals of a literary awareness (henceforth LitAw) workshop in a Brazilian public (i.e.…”

The use of poetry for EFL: Exploring the beliefs of primary school trainees

“…In terms of students' beliefs, empirical studies are limited and thus in need of immediate action (Paran, 2008). By focusing on the role of the teacher, the students, and/or the task, current research has sought to document students' reactions to various teaching approaches such as reader-response (Hirvela, 1996), stylistics (Fogal, 2015), the personal model (Hirvela, 1996), the language model (Isaac, 2002) or an integrated approach (Divsar & Tahriri, 2009). One of the insights to emerge from these studies, consistent with pedagogical approaches in EFL, is that the more student-centred the methodology, the better the student response.…”

“…One of the insights to emerge from these studies, consistent with pedagogical approaches in EFL, is that the more student-centred the methodology, the better the student response. This makes readerresponse, the personal approach, and stylistics, in this order, the preferred methods by students (Fogal, 2015). The second insight concerns the emphasis of this research strand more along the lines of literature pedagogy than FL pedagogy, since the attention given to student voice has provided empirical data on what the learners think about literature as such rather than on their opinion of literature as a tool for EFL.…”

Stylistics goes to school

“…In addition, the value and nature of pedagogical stylistics in L2 contexts has been well-researched (see for example Burke et al, 2012 andFogal, 2015).…”