Popular Pedagogy: Multimodal Environments for the Teaching and Learning of Literature in the Malaysian Tertiary World

Authors

  • Shanthini Pillai, National University of Malaysia (UKM)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v4i2.524

Abstract

The task of teaching literature (in English) to Malaysian tertiary students is often fraught with difficulties. Challenges range from dealing with a majority of learners with little competence in the English language, much less analytical reading and writing skills. However, literature taught and learnt effectively can pave the way towards the development of multiple literacy skills especially as it is known to be an effective tool in generating multicultural awareness and communication skills in learners. This article will demonstrate the ways in which the latter can be achieved through the incorporation of popular television series and music in literature courses. It will show how popular television series as well as popular songs can be used as captivating tools to channel an understanding of key issues and terms crucial to literary studies that can prove to be far more successful than when teaching and learning is based merely on literary texts alone. The article concludes that such incorporation of diverse perspectives in teaching what has been traditionally a text based subject can effectively foster a sense of inclusiveness in its learners and in the process generate desired literacy skills.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Shanthini Pillai, National University of Malaysia (UKM)

Shanthini Pillai is a senior lecturer at the School of Language Studies and Linguistics, UKM. Her main teaching areas are Literary and Cultural Theory, Literature and the Media and Literatures from Postcolonial countries, while research interests include diaspora and transnationalism in literary and cultural texts and Multimodality and Higher Education Literature learning. She is also Director of the Research and Development bureau for the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (MELTA).

Downloads

Published

2010-12-15

How to Cite

Pillai, National University of Malaysia (UKM), S. (2010). Popular Pedagogy: Multimodal Environments for the Teaching and Learning of Literature in the Malaysian Tertiary World. Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature, 4(2), 81–91. https://doi.org/10.31436/asiatic.v4i2.524

Issue

Section

Articles