124080 VK BEd 08a.3: VK Literature and Language Education (2025W)

Poetry readings, performances, poetry clips. We often encounter poetry not in books but as spoken word, on the radio, at public ceremonies, festivals, open mics and poetry slams, or on social media. Events such as Amanda Gorman’s much-noted performance at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in 2021 demonstrate once again that poetry is an art of the voice. This course will explore poetry in its spoken form, which is often neglected in literary studies but which is immensely popular with young people and a valuable resource in the EFL classroom.
Paying close attention to the medial specificities of oral poetry performance, we will critically interrogate ideas around the ‘authenticity’ of the performing voice in relation to the generic conventions of lyric poetry and the dramatic monologue. We will further examine the identity politics enacted by poetry performances, which can often be understood as forms of socio-political activism, resonating, for instance, with #MeToo and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The course will include an excursion to the Austrian Academy of Sciences for a lecture by Prof. Claudia Benthien (Mon 3 Nov, 5:00pm), which is integral to the course, as well as guest appearances by Prof. Deirdre Osborne and by Mag. Claire Palzer, who will guide students’ didactic work on poetry performance in two sessions.
AIMS:
Students will become familiar with a range of spoken word texts (partly of their own choosing). They will learn to apply various critical perspectives to these texts, such as media studies, performance analysis, genre theory, gender studies, life writing studies, and postcolonial criticism. Students will also become familiar with a range of methods for incorporating spoken word poetry in the EFL classroom and will have the opportunity to implement, and reflect on, some of these methods.
METHODS:
Short lectures, classroom discussions, group work, presentations, individual research/writing/teaching assignments.
-- The course further includes one observed session and one teaching session at a school of your choice (contacts can be provided, if required), between early November and Christmas. These sessions must be arranged by the students, and you are advised to schedule your session as soon as possible. You must have set the date, school and age group by 24 October!