Critical reading

In order to be a critical reader or an active reader, you should not just be satisfied with the facts the text give you because a critical reader goes beyond that.


A critical or active reader, will make questions about a text,, will criticise it, look for the real meaning, the author motivation, he will investigate and infer on the context of the book, he will also try to look at the importance of the text,look for its real meaning.  


In order to start being an active reader you should always make yourself this questions when analysing a text:

-What is being shown or said in the text? Why is the text interesting?
-What do you think and feel about the text?
-What particular elements in the text have led you to your conclusions?

Also you should try these tips to understand and make the analysis easier:

-Underline the text
-Make annotations at margins
-Ask yourself questions (think critically)
-Sticky notes
-Close the book and ask yourself what is it about
-Look for important words
-Explain what you've read to someone else

Week summaries

Week 7 summary

This week we finished talking about literature and start looking the difference between been an active reader and a non active reader.  To understand the difference and practise for being critical readers we did some questions, analysed texts and pictures and also we start preparing ourselves for the check of our blogs next  Monday. For me remembering "The catcher in the rye" bi J.D. Salinger was awesome as that novel is one of the most deep and interesting novels I ever read, and the activity was fun because we remember some facts of the books and put in practise what we learn for being an active reader. So far i have really enjoy our course and I hope it keeps as it have been up to now.

Week Summaries

Week sixth summary

This week we make our oral presentations, every pick a interesting topics like the history of the tower of babel, where we get two funny dramatic presentations, or normal presentations about what is language, culture, stereotypes, etc... In my case, my group, formed by me, Benjamin Ugarte and Fernando Nuñez, presented about the cultural misunderstandings produced by stereotypes. It was a very interesting topic and i think the presentation was quite good, as was the others. 

After we listened to all the interesting presentations we go back to the study of literature, where we saw how does the way we study literature have change through time, From the Greeks to the post colonial criticism, passing through Romanticism, Scientific determinism, New Criticism, Reader Response, Structuralism, Post structuralism, Marxism, Feminism and Cultural Poetics. Each theory propose a way so analyse texts and literature, and each one have it pros. and cons. although i think that cultural poetics and reader response where for me, the mos convincing

Week summaries

Week 5 summary

This week we do a listening test of a video from the BBC that I find interesting and easy to understand, Also this week Miss Veronica Cordero start teaching us about an introduction to the study of literature, here we defined Literature, start talking about how to study literature and look to what can be considered Literature and what is not, for me every written work that have a message is literature, because is trying to express and idea, for simple it is. We also start preparing for our oral presentations that were next week.

HAPPY EASTER

This week we didn`t have classes on Friday because of the Easter celebration.. Eastern is a Christian feast and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion .Easter is preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday, commemorating Maundy and the Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.(Taken from Wikipedia)

Week summaries

Week four summary

This week we make the debates,they were all very good and almost everyone give consistent and valid arguments, so it was a very good instance to practise what we learnt about language and also our speaking skills. This week we start the study of culture and it characteristics. We define culture like all the features that are common of a group of people, that characterise them. We learn a lo t of new terms and what do they mean, like for example low and high culture that for me was wrong because every single act we have in common with other is culture and is not determined by like social and economical status.Also we realise that there are no cultures better than others, they are just different and unique. We saw the term stereotype which is to generalise on a culture, like for example: "Russians are Communist". From this, on April I do a presentation about stereotypes and how they cause misunderstandings

Language theories

Week summaries

THIRD WEEK SUMMARY

This week we continue to study the different theories about language and how it develops in ourselves. During the history of language appear the question if we are born with language, or we learn language when we were young.There have been lots of theories to try to explain these topic but it still is a very polemic theme that is still waiting for a fully correct answer. We study Noam Chomsky theory that states that we are born with a sort of universal grammar or language-creating faculty. Also we study Saussure that states that language and Parole are a static system without change that uses signs to work.

This week we were tasked with preparing a debate for the next week, For this we will have to developed some arguments according to the next discussion point: "Humans are born with an ability to create language" vs. "Language is a learnt construct like the rules governing a sport" 

Applying your analysis

I chosed this activity to use the new blogging technique. I used voice thread to record what I analyse from the fragment "the Big Sleep".  I think is a very useful tool for presentations and analysis.

LINK:   http://voicethread.com/?#u2665172.b2991641.i15813108

PD: I was a bit nervous and i was with much cough so i couldn`t read it so perfectly. Thank you for understanding

This Three videos really help me out to understand structuralism, although is a bit long, they are really interesting and help me comprehend better what was Saussure contribute to literature:

Practical Criticism

 Activity page 14-15

In this entry I will be analysing the next poem with the new criticism theory about how to Analise a text, This means I will only focus on the text itself.

POEM:

"You fit into me"

   You fit into me
  like a hook into an eye
  A fish hook
  An open eye.

1.- What is the relationship between the title and the rest of the poem?

The relationship is that on the title we are being said that there is someone who fits the narrator, and on the poem we are told how do they fit,like hook into an open eye

2.- What words, if any, need to be defined?

Hook: A curved or sharply bent device, usually of metal, used to catch, drag, suspend, or fasten something else. (www.thefreedictionary.com)

Hook-and-eye: A clothes fastener consisting of a small blunt metal hook that is inserted in a corresponding loop or eyelet. (www.thefreedictionary.com).

3.- What relations do you see among any words in the poem?

 I see that the author relates the hook with an eye to try to explain how is the connection between the narrator and that unknown person, To make the relation look as painful and bad.

4.- What are the various connotative meaning of the words in the poem? Do you see various shades of meaning help establish relationships or patterns in the text?
   
First you think that those two persons are made for each other but when the narrator said the "open eye" and the "fish hook" you understand that actually is a horrible relationship

 5.- What symbols, images or figures of speech are used? What is the relationship between them?

The poem uses some sort of ambiguity, first you think that is a like a solid and good relation, but then you get to realise the truth, that is not love, it has became from being love to something terrible.
6.- What elements of rhyme, meter or pattern can you discuss?

 On the poem there is no sort of rhyme except for the repetition of the world eye in lines two and four. The rest has no pattern, like some sort of free verses.


7.- What is the tone of the poem?

 First you think of a sort of love poem, but when you analyse and get the real meaning you understand the tone is of anger and hate.


8.- From what point of view is the content of the poem being told?

The point of view we can see is of a person who is or was having a really bad love relation with another one, and this experience make him or her get to hate that particular person.

9.- What tensions, ambiguities or paradoxes arise within the poem?

There is an ambiguity with the "Hook into an eye" expression. First, you think of two persons caught by love because you think they are very together, but then, you realise that the real meaning is the pain that a fish hook causes to a human eye which makes you realise that actually is  the hate in the relationship between those two persons.


10.- What do you believe the chief paradox or irony is in the text?

To express the suffering and anger of a person that was in love but now he/she is alone. It show how there relation have turned to from being love, to being hate and suffering. Also it uses as it express both love and hate.

11.- How do all of the elements of the poem support and develop the primary paradox or irony?

The main element that contribute to the paradox is the "Hook into an eye" expression, because it develops and tells the main feelings of the narrator and the  relation in general, although he may still love her or him, He/she feel hate for that person because of the things that have happened between them.

 How to study Literature?

We have already stayed what is literature and what can be considered literature, but now after doing this it is an obligation to have a way to study and understand literature. The way Literature is analyse have changed through time with different theories like:


 Greeks: The Greeks thought that Literature was very related with human behaviour and its relationship with the physical world, society and ethics.  


Romanticism:The romantics believes in Literature as an expression of feeling, a reflection on every day life and nature expressed through common language and imagination. It is believe that literature is not focus on using elevated language or traditional values, rather, it expresses individual imagination in an accessible form as the writer focuses on every day individual.



Scientific determinism: When Charles Darwin publicated "The origin of the species" in 1859 this method to analyse literature became popular. Literary texts became object of scientific study using the scientific method, like careful observation, in order to uncover larger patterns and truths.


New Criticism: The new criticism consider a text as an autonomous, totally independent object from the author, the historical and cultural context, etc... Because of this, according to new criticism, only the text should give you all the relevant information to understand it.


Reader response: This theory consider that the experience of the reader to a particular text plays a very important part on the interpretation given to the text.


Structuralism: Structuralism, lead by Saussure, stated that a word is the sign and symbol we use to symbolise an object, here he makes the difference between the: signifier (Actual word) and the signified (Mental structure or image).Structuralism also said that texts always have a structure and rules.

Post Structuralism: The post structuralism established basically that we learn through differences on mental abstractions. This is that for example a dog is a dog and not a cat.


Marxism: Marxist  criticism starts  with the assumption that all texts have subtexts which are extensions or references to historical and ideological conflicts,  the same conflicts being played out by real societies.                                                                                                                                                                


Feminism: This theory is devoted to describe and interpretate the the women experiences and lives through literature



Cultural poetics: This theory said that History is the central  body of knowledge and Literature. It studies every part of society and its history.


Postcolonial Criticism: Is the approach to texts produced on colonised countries in reaction to European hegemony. It is based on many critical approaches like nationalism, language, history,ethnicity and how these issues are dealt when two cultures clash.

What is literature?

Literature is the art of written work and is a use of language. Literature can be defined as:

1.-  A highly developed use of language in that is the stylised manipulation of language for larger effect (purpose) and/or affect (emotional response)     (Course companion, page 9)

2.-Writings in which expression and form, in connection withideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristicor essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography and essays.( dictionary references, literature)

It seems easy to understand what is literature but the problem come when you have to Analise and determine what is literature and what is not. I think that although when we think about literature we always think about maybe heavy books, literature is every piece of written work. It can be much more simple a  note than a novel, yes, but for me the fact that is being written and is have some sort of coherence, make it literature, although more simple than other types of literature.

The study of literature have many ways and theories about how a text must be analysed in order to be comprehended correctly and this cause many controversies.

This is a video that explain what is a stereotype and I personally find it  very interesting because  although people use stereotypes a lot and every day, some  don`t even know what a stereotype is:

Stereotypes

A stereotype is to assume something from a culture and generalise it to everyone related to the culture  that is being stereotyped. For example:" U.S people are fat" We are saying that everyone there is fat and don`t have healthy habits, although that not true cause not every person in the U.S is fat and they have very good sportsmen.

A stereotype can be very dangerous  because it is the main cause of cultural misunderstandings between people from different culture, and apart from giving a wrong and simplified idea of a culture they can be very offensive for the person victim of the stereotype.

Now i want to ask a simple question, and that is Why do we stereotype? I personally think that we stereotype to simplify things, because its way more easier to generalise on a culture and get that simple vision, that really understanding that particular culture. When i was doing preparing my presentation  about cultural misunderstandings i understand that they are a very important problem for us to become a more integrated and united world.

What is culture?

Many people had thought what is culture? and as you can think there had been answers from many theorist and experts on culture. Culture as i stated before can have many points of view and in fact what culture can have different conceptions  from each culture.

Some theorist say that that culture is something we aspire to, as says Matthew Arnold:"the noble aspiration to leave the world better and happier than we found it". Other theorist for example  stayed that culture is something we develop, this is the case of Clifford Geertz  as he makes a metaphor between an spider web and culture in the way that we spun culture, its not something that just appeared but rather is the product of generation after generation of people from cultures that have and are developing their own culture.  I personally like Clifford Geertz ideas because its very logical and comprehensive that culture is like a spider web our society has craft and developed through time

Although there are many points of view about the definition and what is culture, we can say that a culture n simple words is  a society made up of individuals who must learn to adapt to each other and to their environment. The interactive activities  humans engage and teach  make up a culture heritage.

 Week summaries

Week 2

This week we started seeing the history of language, basically when did humans learnt and developed language . We see that Humans managed to develop certain organs that enabled them to produce speech. In Prehistoric times, humankind was in contact with nature. As time passed, these early human groups started developing, having more members, and social needs began to arise as the society became more complex. There is a key moment in history that marked the difference between humans and animals. This is when humans learnt how to walk on two feet. Our bodies changed and we developed what we call the "pharynx", A vital organ for us to develop language.

We saw that language is a creative and flexible tool. As such its always in constant change, because every new generation learn a slightly different form of words and language than the previous one. For understanding better this we saw a video that include a very interesting story, the story of the tower of babel...

The biblical story of the tower of babel help us get a good example of the power language because when god punishes humans for trying to reach the sky, he develop different languages so that people wouldn't understand each other and they didn`t finish the tower because of their arrogance. The history also help us to understand more language diversity.

 Week summaries

Week 1

This week was the first one of the year, We have our first English classes and were presented to Sir Alfredo Calderon, our new English teacher and  Ms Veronica Cordero from PUCV 

(Pontificia universidad católica de Chile). This week we didn`t have many classes but still Sir Alfredo give us a introduction to the English and literature course and what things we were going to see on the next weeks. We were also said to use a very useful tool that we have use a lot, I am referring to our blogs. We also start working on our first activity and start studying like the definition of language, that is unique and inherent to humans and some other staff we do answering to the questions from a video about language, call "Why do we talk" by BBC horizon.

Doctor. Deb Roy

. 

Debate activity

Between the 19 and 23 of March we perform a debate between ourselves. The idea was to practise for the speaking presentation we were going to have. In order to do the debate we make pairs and all debates focused on one main topic that was:


"Humans are born with an ability to create language" vs. "Language is a learnt construct like the rules governing a sport"


For this activity I work with Garcia and I had to defend that language is a learnt construct like the rules governing a sport.Although we were like the other point of view in class, I didn`t have much trouble to came with some good arguments. For example to defend it I said that if we think for example of a baby that became islated from the world and have never here a word, maybe he will try to communicate, but he would not learn any real world or language as we know it cause he doesn't have someone to teach him. I think that the activity was very good and I really enjoy it and think that is was very useful for everyone to practise their speaking skills.