Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Literature--Study and teaching--United States; Literature--Study and teaching; United States;
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate responses of students to an Introduction to Literature class taught by Mr. Alden Hanson at the University of Northern Iowa during the spring term of 1972 compared with responses of the same students to their high school literature classes. Four sources of information were used to gather data for the investigation: 1) At the beginning of the semester Mr. Hanson assigned a paper in which the students discussed their previous experiences with literature in former English and literature classes, their feelings toward literature and the study of literature, the types of literature they enjoyed reading, and the works they had read. 2) Following that a set of questionnaires was handed out to the members of the class. The students responded to items dealing with the emphases and the aims of and the practices and the techniques employed in their high school literature programs. The questionnaire was designed, as well, to explore the attitudes and feelings that the students brought to the Introduction to Literature class. 3) Throughout the semester, notes and tape recordings were made for investigating the practices and techniques employed by the instructor: the emphases on literary studies, classroom activities, the students 1 participation, and changes in the students 1 ability to work with literature. 4) During the last week of the semester a second set of questionnaires was completed by the members of the class. The students responded to items dealing with the emphases and the aims of and the practices and techniques employed in the Introduction to Literature class. The questionnaire was designed, as well, to explore the attitudes and feelings the students report they have toward literature as a result of the class. Briefly, the results of the investigation suggest 1) that, according to students, major emphasis was placed on becoming involved in a work and on their experience with or the effect of the work on them and that this is the area in which their ability and understanding increased the most, 2) that sutdents feel they were involved in classroom activities, such as discussions, and that there were cooperative efforts at understanding literature between the students and the instructor more than in their previous literature classes, 3) that students have a greater desire to read imaginative literature and feel they are more at ease in terms of reading it, understanding it, and enjoying it than they were previously, and 4) that students prefer this type of literature class and would select it again instead of another.
Year of Submission
1973
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of English Language and Literature
First Advisor
Jon Cowley
Second Advisor
Howard Vander Beek
Third Advisor
Alden Hanson
Date Original
1973
Object Description
1 PDF file (105 leaves)
Copyright
©1973 Warren E. Ask
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Ask, Warren E., "Responses of Students to an Introduction to Literature Class Compared with Responses of the Same Students to High School Literature Classes" (1973). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 1953.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/1953
Comments
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