La competencia literaria en la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera en alumnado universitariouna investigación en la acción educativa

Abstract

This doctoral thesis aims to investigate the literary competence in the field of Spanish as a foreign language. This quantitative and qualitative study is based on the perspective of the participating students, the teachers involved and the researcher-teacher. In chapter 1, the personal and scientific interest of carrying out this doctoral research is explained. In chapter 2, the theoretical framework answers the question 'what is literature?' in an attempt to define its communicative richness, the characteristics of its texts and their poetic functions. This definition leads to an analysis of the limits of literature, as well as a review of the new literary genres and paraliterature. Next, the concept of literary competence is explored to create a current definition based on literary and reading education. This conceptualisation opens the way to the study of literature in the teaching of Spanish as L2 / FL. All of these theoretical issues are used to strengthen the foundations of the research. In chapter 3, the methodological framework is developed: the research questions, objectives and hypotheses of the thesis are presented. Also, the methodology used is explained: action and interpretive research. The two research phases are also presented: an exploration phase, with a questionnaire for teachers from the Cervantes Institute; and an intervention phase, where an ad hoc didactic unit was created and brought to the classroom to improve the literary competence, as well as the entire process and tools of data collection and analysis. Chapter 4 presents all the data collected, both in the exploration phase and in the intervention phase. Firstly, the perspective of the teachers from the Cervantes Institute is analysed and interpreted in relation to their teaching of literature. Secondly, the perspective of the teacher and the students during the didactic intervention is analysed and interpreted. This is constructed through direct data (class transcripts) and supplementary data (the teacher's diary and the student questionnaire). In Chapter 5 - general conclusions -, based on the initial objectives and hypotheses, the main conclusions drawn from this doctoral thesis are presented. The educational implications and consequences of the research undertaken are also specified. In chapter 6, all the bibliography used will be listed. The appendix is organised into six parts and shows the documents and literary materials of everything that has taken place during the different phases of the research. Following the analysis, interpretation and triangulation of the data obtained, we can confirm that the objectives and hypotheses of this doctoral thesis have been fulfilled as anticipated when planning the research. For the improvement of the literary competence in Spanish as a foreign language, the importance of teachers becoming aware of the need to create a facilitating climate in the classroom is highlighted. This must begin from the teacher's discourse - with particular emphasis on their dialogic strategies - so that there is a global and cyclical interaction among students with respect to literary texts. It is also important to include (and interconnect with) a large variety of textual and thematic literature and paraliterature, as well as the dynamic, creative and innovative use of this, which anticipates and compensates for the communication difficulties in the student's target language. All the above leads to the possibility of a literary education based on a communicative and student-centred approach.