A valuable book in the genre of african oral literature is ruth finnegans oral literature in africa. Ect 315 topic 4 teaching oral literature page 1 of 3 topic 4 teaching of oral literature topic objectives by the end of this topic you should be able to. Praise songspoetry, teasing songs, lullabies a lullabies. Oral literature, the standard forms or genres of literature found in societies without writing. According to okoh 1, since oral literature as a concept comprises two words, oral and literature, it is appropriate to take as our starting point an examination of both terms. Important concepts and methods have emerged from this scholarly tradition. Oral literature is the repository of the critical knowledge, philosophy, and wisdom for nonliterate societies. Explore their characteristics as well as the features. Issues of definition the ter m, oral literature, has been variously referred to as folklore, folk literature, oral narrative, oral tradition, traditional literature and. It enables you to position your research in the broader academic community, synthesise existing ideas and arguments without adding your own, and identify any gaps in the literature. While oral assessment can be applied to almost any kind of learning outcome, it seems to be particularly useful in relation to students applied problemsolving abilities, where they need to apply what they know to moreorless complex scenarios.
Identify three main genres categoriesforms types kinds classes of oral literature. For many people around the worldparticularly in areas where history and traditions are still conveyed more through speech than in writingthe transmission of oral literature from one generation to the next lies at the heart of culture and memory. Even when these are collected and published by scholars such as folklorists and paremiographers, the result is still often referred to as oral literature. Oral literature by ruth finnegan investigates how culture, tradition, and various forms of communication have been passed down from different parts of africa. So literature and language are closely interconnected. Songs oral narratives oral poetryriddlestongue twisters 3. Oral poetry and songs english notes secondary school. Robert giddings, tribune this classic work explores the vast differences between oral and literate cultures and offers a brilliantly lucid account of the intellectual, literary and social effects of writing. A study of oral literature amounts to studying the society which creates it. Oral narratives include folktales, myths, legends, and epics. Folktales are stories rendered by bardsgriots in the form of songs or narratives.
Anthropologists wh,2have study oral literary forms, mainly through. Pdf oral narrative genres as dialogic resources for. Examples from both the fiction and nonfiction genres of literature are explained in detail below. Storytellers in africa sometimes use callandresponse techniques to tell their stories. Primary literature research articles, journal articles found in scientific journals represent the experimenters original research and interpretations of results. The second and weightier is derived from the latin word, littera letter of the alphabet. Robert giddings, tribune this classic work explores the vast differences between oral and literate cultures and offers a brilliantly lucid account of the intellectual, literary and social effects of writing, print and electronic technology. Spoken, acted and performed art whose transmission presentationmedia is by word of mouth. The perception of african oral literature 29 nineteenthcentury approaches and collections.
Oral presentations typically involve three important steps. Oral literature includes folklore, ballads, myths and fables. Epics have often been passed on orally and may have anonymous authors. It deals with the role of theory in the study of oral literature. This is the first volume in the world oral literature series, published in association with the. The term oral literature is also used to describe the tradition in written civilizations in which certain genres are transmitted by word of mouth or are confined to the socalled folk i.
Recent trends in african studies and the revival of interest in oral literature. Myths are stories that explain objects or events in the natural world as resulting from some. Significance of literature in foreign language teaching. Written science while not all of these formats qualify as scienti. Alternatively another term, oral poetry is used too, but oral literature is a broader area, since it includes also prose forms. Mar 25, 2020 the two types of literature are written and oral. As a genre, literary analysis differs from other types of writing you may have done about literature, such as an evaluation. Reiterating the values of oral literature in africa, sone 2009, p. The paper argues that while it is easy and desirable to choose a facilitative theory in the analysis of a written work of literature, such a process poses challenges when it comes to the oral type of african literature.
This paper examines the origin, evolution and emergence of folklore oral literature as an academic discipline in africa and its place in the humanities. War songs work songs hunting songs lullabies childrens songs initiation songs dirges songs marriage wedding songs sacred songs praise songs. The difficulty of such choice lies in the unpredictable and ephemeral nature. The studies of oral literature are countless, and the educational function of storytelling is certainly one of recurring topics. Literature is rooted in language and language gets life through literature. Oral literature or folk literature is a literature that is spoken or sung as opposed to that which is. Vilmos voigt three forms or three kinds of oral literature. Oral literature in africa is part of the world oral literature series published in conjunction with the world oral literature project. There are various types of folktales in african oral literature and they include. Oral literature is a broad term which may include ritual texts, curative chants, epic poems, musical genres, folk tales, creation tales, songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs, riddles, tonguetwisters, word games, recitations, life histories or historical narratives. It draws attention to the richness of indigenous knowledge contained in oral literature and demonstrates how the ethical and moral gap in the existing educational system can be filled by the moral precepts embedded in oral literature. Planning oral presentations require a good deal of planning. Oral narratives oral poems songs proverbs riddles tonguetwisters puns.
Grand in length and scope, an epic provides a portrait of legends, beliefs, valves, laws, arts, and ways of life of a people. Alternatively another term, oral poetry is used too, but oral. Oral literature read on oral narratives, oral poems, proverbs, riddles, tongue twisters and puns. Five components of effective oral language instruction. Some items of these texts may have an artistic form, and these would belong to oral literature. For the sake of this study, i assume that ethiopian culture during ayla. The theories will then be applied in the analysis of oral literature material. Theory and methods in oral literature unit description. Oratory, formal speaking, and other stylized forms. The prose is often mythological or historical and can include tales of the trickster character. This paper grapples with the question of choice of theory in the study of african oral literature.
Rewards and issues in studying oral literature language. The book is available as a free pdf and ebook download thanks to the generous support of interested readers and organisations, who made donations using the crowdfunding website unglue. Oral literature in africa pdf open book publishers. Scholars estimate that approximately 50% of all mistakes in an oral presentation actually occur in the planning stage or rather, lack of.
The former are relatively well knownat any rate the recent writings in european languages much work remains to be publicized on earlier arabic and local written. Dirges, wedding songs war poetry 4 function examples. African literature is literature of or from africa and includes oral literature or orature, in the term coined by ugandan scholar pio zirimu as george joseph notes in his chapter on african literature in understanding contemporary africa, whereas european views of literature often stressed a separation of art and content, african awareness is inclusive. It also has subsections of prose, fiction, myths, novels and short stories. Scholars estimate that approximately 50% of all mistakes in an oral presentation actually occur in the planning stage or rather, lack of a planning stage. To read the fulltext of this research, you can request a copy directly from the author. This document contains oral literature questions and answers. Preliterate societies, by definition, have no written literature, but may possess rich and varied oral traditions such as folk epics, folk narratives including fairy tales and fables, folk drama, proverbs and folksongs that effectively constitute an oral literature. The study and appreciation of oral literature is more important than ever for understanding the complexity of human cognition. Africa possesses both written and unwritten traditions. Furthermore, teaching language skills through literature, advantages of various kinds of genres of literature to language teaching and some issues faced by language instructors in teaching language via literature are considered in the present study. Theory and methods in oral literature unit description the unit is an introduction to the theoretical approaches to the study of oral literature.
The second and weightier is derived from the latin word, littera letter of the alphabet, litterae letters, is one commonly used in modern term. In such contexts, oral assessment can provide insight into students cognitive processes. The different types of literature that have stood the test of. A song s words often resemble lyric poetry, having to be of a tight metrical. Oral literature cannot be seen as arts for arts sake. Oral literatures forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but.
Literature was obtained by searching the education resources information center eric, psycinfo, dissertation abstracts international, and econl. This literature through narrative, poetry, song, dance, myths and fables, and texts for religious rituals provides a portrait of the meaning of life as experienced by the society at its particular time and place with its unique. Oral literature is a performed art which in most cases uses words as a medium of communication. Ect 315 topic 4 teaching oral literature page 2 of 3 songs the songs are the examples of oral poetry that are taught in the secondary schools. Whether narratives, song, proverbs or riddles, it relates to the culture of the people who create it. This can best be appreciated in the context of the countrys precolonial cultural traditions and the sociopolitical histories of its colonial and contemporary traditions.
The scholar examines literary issues which relate to the performance of folktales in traditional africa. The social, linguistic, and literary background 51. Types of literature literature types range from the highly technical and dry to the entertaining to the absurd. Joseph conrad was polish, robert burns was scottish, james joyce was irish, dylan. Ruth takes us on a journey where you will learn several ways in which they express themselves from drums, dance, songs, parables and childrens. Th compose orally, but not without the te scene construction, and plots that allow the result as an oral performance rath.
Differences in terms of the channels complex forms of singular channelse. These are the traditional stories about animals or human beings that are usually passed down from one generation to another in a particular society. An epic is a long story often told in verse involving heroes and gods. Unlike written literary genres, oral literature is conveyed or passed down to future generations by word of mouth, typically through memorization and recitation. The literary forms in philippine literature monday, june 16, 2008 the diversity and richness of philippine literature evolved side by side with the countrys history. Lyrics, myths, legends, folktales, epics, proverbs, praise poetry and ritual dramatic forms will be studied. These are short, occasionally in verse, sometimes with an ending that echoes the explanations embedded. According to the historical development of literature and literary modes of presentation, literature is divided into two major types, namely, oral.
This is a body ofliterary productions, either oral, written or visual containingimaginative language thatrealistically portrays thoughts, emotions and experiences ofthe human condition. The significance of performance in actualization, transmission, and composition. Two kinds of folk narrative, the legend and the fairy tale, have a special legitima tion. Pdf version by solitude preface the term english literature refers to literature written in the english language, including literature composed in english by writers not necessarily from england. Three forms or three kinds of oral literature researchgate. You should guide the students to categorise songs as follows. Literature and english language teaching and learning. The authors of this issue of the nordic journal of.
Mar 27, 2020 oral literature is a term generally applied to spoken literary traditions such as folk tales, musical theater, proverbs, riddles, life histories, plays, proverbs, epic poems and historical recitations. Oral literature english notes secondary school esomake. Classification of oral poetry oral poetry can be classified based on the following criteria 1 the performer of the poetry, for example. This detailed genres of literature list is a great resource to share with any scholars.
Literature therefore, need not be what is written only, it can as well, be spoken as long as it is rendered in a language of man. Eng124 introduction to oral literature 2 units this course carries out a descriptive survey of major poetic, dramatic and narrative genres of traditional african oral verbal forms. Humanities free fulltext african oral literature and. There are several genres of literature that fall under the nonfiction category. Oral literature or orature may be in prose or verse.
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