Literary modalities: literature teaching and literary literacy in the context of German as Foreign Language

Abstract

The present paper reports the development of the Research Project entitled Mobilidades Literárias [Literary Mobilities] within the Licentiate Degree in German, at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), Campus Belém, during the project’s four-year span (2019 to 2023). Viewing art as fundamental to reflection on culture and society, and literature as an artistic expression and therefore a human right (CANDIDO, 2004), the Project turns to reflection on the teaching of Literature in both mother language and foreign language contexts, and their possible intersections. Literature is understood as a social discourse prone to being discussed, as well as a means of building a historical and cultural universe that broadens readers’ worldviews, thanks to the potentiality of its effects. Thus, practices of Literary Literacy (COSSON, 2016, 2018, 2021) were discussed and adopted in specific activities throughout the Project. Reader formation was also forefronted, as the Teaching of Literature from Elementary Education is also intent on building a reading community. The Project comprised the following activities: (1) a Study Group; (2) supervision of Scientific Initiation Work Plans; (3) Reading Circles; (4) organization of activities with the presence of writers, researchers and translators. It should be mentioned that such activities were offered to UFPA’s internal and external public, with the exception of Scientific Initiation, restricted to undergraduate Licentiate students.