Projects
Teaching the contemporary: Fiction
Status
Completed April 2007
Report
Final Report: Survey on Teaching Contemporary British Fiction by P.Tew (Brunel) & M. Addis (UCE) - 382kb
Brief Description
Contemporary fiction is a growing area in literary and cultural studies, but often taught in an ad hoc fashion without necessarily responding to the availability of support materials which hampers student work and intellectual development. This project is intended to review such teaching of contemporary fiction in academic English (and affiliate) departments by considering a range of issues, including exactly what literary and theoretical texts are taught and on what courses, and additionally assess the use and availability of different kinds of supplementary literary-critical support materials. This will be achieved through an empirical study by conducting semi-structured interviews with academics offering such courses and also from material submitted via the web by practitioners.
Aims and Objectives
Aims:
To record and help to codify (and potentially improve through the delivery of information) the existing teaching of contemporary fiction; to spread good practice and knowledge of available support materials and resources; to facilitate networking between staff in these curriculum areas by creating a database of courses and practitioners in these fields; and, to create a source of information for publishers and others concerned with the development of critical and support materials.
Objectives:
- To produce a cartography of the current selection of authors, critical materials offered on such courses and thereby reflect the consequent ongoing production of “new canonicity”;
- To reflect the themes and contexts seen as appropriate to the contemporary;
- To identify the curriculum areas in which the contemporary is taught;
- To note the choices and contexts influencing periodising the contemporary (e.g. post-1945 or 1960s/mid-1970s onward);
- To reflect how the concept of the contemporary is theorised;
- To identify in curriculum terms how the contemporary relates to previous periods (post-war, modernism, between the wars and Victorian);
- To produce an overview of available critical interpretive materials and sources
- To suggest how the data collected might help improve the teaching of contemporary fiction
Methodology
A literature survey will be undertaken. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with a minimum of eighteen and a maximum of twenty five university academics in English (and affiliate) departments to explore their views about teaching contemporary fiction. Interviews with major specialists in contemporary fiction will be conducted in additional depth. The universities which will be contacted will form a representative sample that reflects both the pre and post-92 sectors and all the major regions of the United Kingdom. At least one interview per region will be conducted and a balance between institution types nationally will be obtained. The primary objective of the interviews will be to encourage colleagues to articulate their conceptual understanding and actual teaching experiences of the contemporary. The methodology will be to take a standpoint approach and regard interviews as conversations. Exhibiting the standpoint that the researchers are colleagues/peers of the interviewees has the benefit of aiding the establishment of a good rapport with respondents. Care will be taken to ensure that familiarity with the perspectives of the interviewees does not inhibit insight. The interview data will be explored via intra-case, cross-case, and thematic analysis. The School of English at UCE will be asked to provide specific support for the employment of doctoral students as clerical assistants in the organisation of and analysis of the results of interviews, and any other required supplementary support.
Proposed sample questions for semi-structured interviews:
Name(s) of course(s) and how many courses are there where contemporary literature is taught (literature post-1960).
Please attempt to assess what proportion of your UG or PG degree this area constitutes (an approximation will suffice).
How many students would you estimate take these courses and what is the length of each course (i.e. by semester and by year).
Please specify whether the courses and numbers of students are UG or PG.
Lists of staff and postgraduates in this area (for dissemination purposes).
What are the key sources used for this area (journals, books, websites)?
What deficiencies in available sources are there in your opinion?
How the concept of the contemporary is theorised.
How the contemporary relates to previous periods (Victorian, modernism, inter and post-war).
Timetable
| Key activity | Date |
| Start date | Oct 2004 |
| Literature survey - check other empirical studies and relevant background material | one month |
| Semi-structured interviews | nine months |
| Data analysis | 6 weeks |
| Conclusions & recommendations | 2 weeks |
| Creation of products- website, report, database, case studies and organisation of the event | three months |
| End date 20/3/05 | Dec 2005 |
Rationale
- Help to improve the teaching of a growing and significant area of English studies
- Highlight deficiencies in existing resources
- Highlight curriculum areas where contemporary fiction intersects with other period or thematic studies
- To reflect practice in what is an important developing curriculum area
Expertise
Dr. Philip Tew - leading researcher and teacher in relevant area; Director of the UK Network for Modern Fiction Studies; organiser of various conferences and events in this field (including ones on the teaching of contemporary British fiction); involvement in British council events; widely published in contemporary literature and theory
Dr. Mark Addis - researching and teaching in critical theory; teaching expertise in contemporary fiction; UKNMFS Executive Committee; experience of empirical and qualitative research on funded projects with allied teaching and publication; funded project management expertise
Similar Work
The general position is that there is very little work in this field, but we intend to assess and potentially confirm (or question) this view. There is one unpublished study of texts taught on contemporary fiction courses by a U.S. academic.
Products
- Set up a website at the University of Central England English Subject Centre link to support, explain and disseminate information obtained by the project.
- Web-based good practice guide and information source as follows:
- list of courses and details of take up
- list of texts studied
- list of existing resources to support such courses
- lists of empirical data
- a report on future requirements to help develop this area
- contact database for those interested in this area
- case studies
- Publication of outcomes in the English Subject Centre newsletter and on associated websites
- Work with UKNMFS and ESC
- Follow up event on the place of the new canonicity and the significance of contemporary fiction in the curriculum
Benefits
- This material may be useful in helping publishers and English departments respond to the needs of the academic community
- To help develop future funding for academic scholarship, research, and curriculum development in what is an important area of study
- To encourage networking between staff in this area
- To gain overview of this area and its significance
- To share good practice and information regarding available resources
Report
Project Leaders
Dr. Mark Addis
School of English
University of Central England in Birmingham
0121 331 5613/ 5470
Dr Philip Tew
School of the Arts
University of Northampton
Avenue Campus
Northampton
(Now at Brunel)
Research Period
2004 - 2006
