The Merits of Knowing Socio-historical Context: Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice as an Example

• Main Authors: Jenny Tzu-Yin Lee, 李姿穎
• Other Authors: Yung-Chih Cheng
• Format: Others
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/rmtz43

碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 英美語文學系 === 102 === Without much literary training in senior high school, English majors in Taiwan often have to build their literary skills and knowledge about Western history and culture in their college years. Many studies have focused on using literature to enhance students’ language abilities; however, few discuss the instruction of literary context. The goal of this research was to discover the effects of context instruction on students’ interpretation. By using Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, the researcher taught the socio-historical context of Renaissance Venice and Elizabethan England to six senior college students. There were four lessons; the context of each lesson was based on a New Historicist literary analysis. The researcher utilized a variety of instructional strategies to facilitate students’ understanding and interest. The research results showed that all of the students found context instruction to be rewarding and informative. The lessons had a significant impact on one student’s interpretation, and influenced the other five students’ interpretations to lesser degrees. The study also revealed that teaching socio-historical context could motivate students’ interest in learning literature. With the adequate planning of instructional strategies, students agreed that learning socio-historical context could moderately enhance their interpretation and motivation.