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PORT20220

Academic Year 2024/2025

Reading Portuguese Texts (PORT20220)

Subject:
Portuguese
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Languages, Cultures & Linguis
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Ana Vera
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

*** Not available in the academic year indicated above ***

This module is designed to facilitate a direct engagement with Portuguese language literature, employing a structured path of guided reading. The module will provide a critical survey of some of the most acclaimed authors and works in various literatures written in Portuguese, ranging from 19th century novels to contemporary postmodern narratives. Students will investigate the main characteristics of each period and how these reflect the cultural, social, and political issues of the Luso-Brazilian peoples.
Texts are read in English for students with no command of the Portuguese Language and in Portuguese with translations, synopses, and vocabulary lists made available for those studying Portuguese at an intermediate level. This will aid students in their reading, comprehension and literary analysis of the original Portuguese language texts.
The module will entail the study of various genres of literature.
The aim of the module is to empower students to become independent, critical readers of Portuguese-language cultural texts. Using close reading skills, students learn to reflect upon their own readings, to use appropriate terminology and strategies and to express their analysis in carefully crafted commentaries and tutorial setting.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- use close analysis to develop a persuasive argument about prescribed texts in relation to their historical and cultural context.
- Explain selected parts of Portuguese and Brazilian literature from a thematic or chronological perspective, in particular after 1800.
- Apply knowledge and relevant methods to the analysis of literature.
- reason, argue and clearly express in written English (or Portuguese if desired) their readings of the prescribed texts in terms of both form and content
- present ideas orally and engage in discussions

Indicative Module Content:

This module introduces excerpts from texts taken from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries Portuguese language literature.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary, it is envisaged that the course will include the following topics:
- What is literature? What makes a literary text?
- Literary operators and reading methods.
- Introduction to Brazilian and Portuguese literary histories
- Romanticism and Realism in Brazil and Portugal
- Literature and gender: Feminin voices in modern Brazilian Literature; The “Three Marias” and the contestation of power.
- African Literature: memory and reconstruction
- Contemporary Brazilian fiction

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

50
Autonomous Student Learning

48
Lectures

12
Tutorial

12
Total

122

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This module is delivered through one weekly 50-minutes lecture and one weekly 50-minutes tutorial. Attendance of both lectures and tutorials is crucial for successful engagement with this modules.
Task-based learning (close work on constructing commentaries), in the form of group-work, lectures, seminars, critical writing. Active participation in tutorials and full engagement with material and tasks made accessible on Brightspace is expected every week.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Group Work Assignment: Oral presentation (individual) related to one of the topics and material of the module. Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No
30
 No
Participation in Learning Activities: Contributions to in-class discussions, debates and presentations Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11 Graded No
20
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Essay: Written essay (1500-2000 words) based on material examined throughout the module Week 14 Graded No
50
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Culler, Jonathan (1997), Literary Theory. A very short introduction, Oxford University Press.
Parkinson, Stephen, Pazos Alonso, Cláudia, Earle, T.F. (ed.) (2009), A Companion to Portuguese Literature, Boydell & Brewer, Tamesis.
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