Aspectos en la redacción de un ensayo con base en una obra literaria, en clase de niveles intermedio-superior y avanzado en lengua extranjera

Abstract

Writing an essay based on a literary work is a common practice in foreign language courses. The task is assigned when students have achieved a certain mastery of the target language, and it may be assumed that they are capable of writing a text of some length. Through contact with a literary text, students can interpret the author’s vision, the features inherent to the culture described, and the era, continuance and universality of the characters and events portrayed in the text. In this article, the formal and conceptual characteristics of the essay are identified in the framework of academic literary analysis. The importance of reading literary texts is also discussed. The learning environment and the best learning stages for writing literary essays in a foreign language are related to the literary criticism theories of Roland Barthes and literary philosophy theories of Hans-Georg Gadamer. The article concludes by contextualizing the limits and scope of the proposal.