Literature in Language Learning Conference,

University of Liverpool,
United Kingdom
Imikan’kopuruk
Department of English,
Tai Solarin University of Education, Nigeria
+2347080030792

Ethnographic Implications of teaching

Literature in a Foreign Language
Classroom
Apart from being a reflection of human experiences, every literature is arguably a projector
of one culture or the other, either of a people or of a language. This is why ethnography is
significant in the teaching of literature in a foreign language setting. Ethnography is defined
as a systematic means of representing the culture of a group in writing or in graphics.
However, in the teaching and learning of literature particularly in a foreign language
circumstance, the ethnography factor is often overlooked. Consequently, the dangers and
havoc this negligence poses on the learners is seldom mistaken for teacher-incompetence,
inaccessible diction and learners’ unwillingness to learn. The literature (text) under
consideration in the classroom setting itself is a carrier of ethnography and this entails
teachers examining the cultural perspectives of the writer and harmonizing such perspectives
with the behavior of the students and also understanding the interpretation of such behaviours
as this will enhance proper and efficient teaching delivery. Students’ failure to effectively
react to the teaching of a literary text could be as a result of the “cultural constraints” in the
words of Dewan (2018), encountered through the teaching process. This is so because the
teaching of literature in a foreign language setting is a cross-cultural intellectual exercise or
simply a case of “interculturality” and this makes ethnography an imperative factor of
consideration if the pedagogy process must be effective and efficient. I will rely on
investigating the burden of ethnography or “interculturality” on the teaching of literature in a
foreign language situation with particular attention to the grammar, vocabulary and its
diverse usage, pronunciation and the semantics of the literature. Since literature is language
put to use, it therefore implies that teachers of literatures in a foreign language setting must
first attain a considerable level of familiarity with cultural peculiarities of the texts before
teaching.

Imikan’kopuruk is an academic in training in the area of English Language. He specializes in

Stylistics and Discourse Analysis. He is an activist and a poet who is keen about the
sociopolitical realities of his country, Nigeria. He is a widely published scholar and holds a
Master’s Degree in English from Nigeria’s premier citadel of pedagogy – Tai Solarin
University of Education, Nigeria.
Wednesday, May 10, 2019 1:00 – 2:00pm Jubilee 118