This course offers an in-depth reflection on the foundations, challenges, and purposes of teaching literature at different stages of schooling. It seeks to foster a critical and informed approach to the role of literature in the formation of readers, the appreciation of cultural heritage, and the development of aesthetic sensitivity.
Throughout the semester, students will be encouraged to connect theoretical frameworks with pedagogical approaches in order to deepen their critical understanding of teaching practices involving literary texts. With particular emphasis on the Portuguese Literature curricula, the course will explore strategies to stimulate a taste for reading, promote aesthetic engagement, and bring students closer to literary texts as spaces of discovery, questioning, and memory.
The course aims to develop students’ skills in analysis, argumentation, and independent research, with a view to building sustained pedagogical practices that are aware of their formative impact.
Teaching
Literature
Theory and practice
By the end of this course, master’s students are expected to have developed the following general and specific skills:
The course Teaching Literature offers a critical reflection on the place of literature in the school context and the specific challenges involved in teaching it. Topics to be addressed include the functions and specificities of literary language; literature as a form of knowledge and as cultural heritage; the history and teaching of Portuguese Literature in context; and the development of reading competence and the enjoyment of reading, among others.
The course is organized around three main themes, which guide the work carried out throughout the semester:
NOTE: Only a few mandatory and/or reference readings are listed here. Specific bibliography for each of the modules in the syllabus will be provided during the course.
BAPTISTA, Abel Barros et al. (ed.). Contra a literatura: programas (e metas) na escola. Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos de Literatura e Tradição/Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2021.
BERNARDES, José Augusto; MATEUS, Rui Afonso. Literatura e Ensino do Português. Lisboa: Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos, 2013.
CALVINO, Italo. Porquê ler os clássicos? Alfragide: Dom Quixote, 2015.
CEIA, Carlos. A literatura ensina-se? Estudos de teoria literária. Lisboa: Colibri, 1999.
CEIA, Carlos. O que é ser professor de literatura? Lisboa: Colibri, 2002.
COMPAGNON, Antoine. La littérature, pour quoi faire? Collection Leçons inaugurales du Collège de France. Paris: Collège de France, 2024.
MANGUEL, Alberto. Uma história da curiosidade. Lisboa: Tinta-da-China, 2015.
MELLO, Cristina. O ensino da literatura e a problemática dos géneros literários. Coimbra: Almedina, 1998.
REIS, Carlos. O conhecimento da literatura: introdução aos estudos literários. 2. ed. Coimbra: Almedina, 2008.
RYAN, Michael (ed.). Literary Theory: a Practical Introduction. 2. ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007.
VECCHI, Roberto; RUSSO, Vincenzo. A Literatura Portuguesa: modos de ler. Lisboa: Glaciar, 2022
E-learning
Assessment is individual and involves two different approaches: continuous assessment (60%) and final assessment (40%). This evaluation will be carried out using various methods defined in the course’s Learning Contract.