Pages: 17

The introduction begins with an overview of “Bloom's Taxonomy” that details its creation, intended purpose, and educational functions. Next, we present the rationale behind Bloom's “Revised Taxonomy” and contrast the 2001 version with the 1956 original. Lastly, we introduce our methodology for teaching literature in the world language classroom, which integrates key elements of both the original and revised versions of Bloom's taxonomy. We advocate five hierarchical stages of teaching and learning. Each stage is summarized in the introduction and elaborated upon in a separate, subsequent chapter.

Pages: 12

The first chapter explains the first (or bottom) level of our pyramid, which is the process of text selection, preparation, and initiation. We encourage world language instructors to select texts according to four criteria—authenticity, accessibility, appeal, and arrangement. We then explain how teachers should provide proper contextualization (e.g., information on the author; the target culture; the social and historical context; the genre, style, and period; etc.) and scaffolding (through a variety of pre- and guided reading exercises) to ensure successful reading of the assigned literary texts. For this initial level in our methodology, the aim is for world language students to: “recognize” familiar words, structures, and concepts; “contextualize” the literary work in terms of the target culture as well as the author, genre, and period; and “remember” the details of the literary text based on an initial reading.

Pages: 6

The second chapter outlines the second stage in our methodology, which we term beginning literary analysis. In this step, students will “describe,” “identify,” and “understand” four basic elements of the literary text: plot, characters, setting, and narration. This level requires target-language learners to answer questions about the “who,” “what,” “when,” and “where” of the literary work. In this second phase, we are not yet concerned with the “why” of the text.

Pages: 11

The third chapter presents the third phase of intermediate literary analysis, which consciously aims to improve both vocabulary and grammar as students delve deeper into the target language in their attempts to analyze the chosen literary work. We outline the steps needed to get world language learners to “interpret” and “analyze” major themes, key passages, and the overall commentary of the work. Students in this stage begin to articulate the “why” of the assigned literary text, which they must justify with textual evidence gleaned from close reading. This level in our methodology also prompts students to “examine” specific grammatical features of the text whenever relevant.

Pages: 15

The fourth chapter establishes the steps for advanced literary analysis in which learners “synthesize” multiple and often conflicting interpretations of a given text found in published secondary sources of literary criticism, “compare” assigned literary works across units or themes, and “evaluate” one or more literary text(s) through essay writing. Recommended for students already in the “intermediate fluency” stage of target-language acquisition, this fourth stage in our methodology pushes students both to deepen their understanding of the literary work and to strengthen their oral and written communication skills in the target language.

Pages: 12

The fifth chapter explains our methodology's final stage of reflective and creative engagement. We outline a detailed approach that challenges students to “relate” the assigned texts to themselves through a variety of self-reflection and intercultural comparison activities, “create” new artistic works through assigned projects and presentations, and “produce” new texts in the target language. This final stage aims to build the more advanced types of knowledge—procedural and metacognitive—outlined in Bloom's revised taxonomy.

Pages: 40

The concluding chapter showcases all five stages of our methodology by applying them to a chosen literary text: Judith Ortiz Cofer's “The Story of My Body.” By approaching the selected English-language text as a target-language work for learners of English, our conclusion models our five-stage methodology for teaching literature in the world language classroom. Our hope is that educators will critically assess the potential usefulness of this proposed model and choose to adopt (and adapt) our approach in their own literature-based world language courses.