Parallel Session Proceedings »
3.2.4 Project TEXTures: The Power of Team Teaching and Multiple Genres
Through co-generative dialoguing and team-teaching, we designed a package that enabled students to become 21st-century global citizens involved in serious intellectual and moral examinations. This goal to expand perspectives manifests in the ability to draw connections: firstly, to texts outside of the prescribed texts being studied; and secondly, to real-life. By combining Corpus Linguistics analysis of media articles with close reading of literary non-fiction, students critically examined the framing, perspective, and thereby biases and assumptions underlying the texts from different genres. In particular, we focused on the theme of transnational crimes. The students selected a range of 10 - 20 news articles pertaining to the crime. Using Corpus Linguistics, students analysed the semantic domains and lexical items for a macro-analysis of the general stance in a critical, empirical approach to identify dominant ideologies and trends (based on the quantitative findings) and link them to the media framing they observed. Despite the economic and political progress we have made—based on our own limited daily experience—social chasms continue to result in the flagrant flouting of laws and violations of human rights. Through Alice Pung’s “The Shed”, which is based on her experiences, published in the anthology, Freedom: Short Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, compiled and published by Amnesty International (UK). In particular, the story was used to illuminate Article 25: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care”. This offers students a qualitative and empathetic approach to the motivations and execution of crimes. To help students to question preconceived ideas—perpetuated in society as unquestioned truths as well as their own assumptions—we focused not just on what was presented, but the gaps present. This module culminated in a video produced by students in groups to showcase the perspectives presented; the voices that have been left out; and the root causes or underlying issues that have often been ignored in the transnational crime they chose to examine. Ultimately, the project allowed them to learn to navigate trans-media content, learn to learn, and learn to work with others.