Teaching Literature and Culture of the Past at the University: Some Personal Reflections Cover Image

Enseigner la civilisation des siècles passés à l’université: quelques réflexions personnelles
Teaching Literature and Culture of the Past at the University: Some Personal Reflections

Author(s): Tomasz Wysłobocki
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: teaching; learning; university; literature; culture; philology
Summary/Abstract: Teaching culture and literature of the past at the university is not easy, even at language studies departments where students are supposed to be willing to read books and learn about the history and culture of foreign countries. It appears that young people are reluctant to express themselves in academic classes and prefer to wait passively for the teacher to dictate them what is worth noting. In my opinion, this is not what academic lectures should look like. The university should use different means, adapted at best to the contemporary students’ profiles, to help them learn how to think critically and to debate democratically. The great responsibility of the university is to form future citizens. This much depends on the academic teachers who elaborate the lecture programs and ought to shape a creative atmosphere in their classes, a base for the exchange of ideas and opinions, which is essential to prepare students for their adult life.