A Didactics of Cultural Readings

Mikkel Jensen

doi:10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.22

Authors

Mikkel Jensen Aalborg Universitet

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.22

Keywords:

cultural reading, close reading, transparent performance expectations, imitation, literary studies

Abstract

This article makes a case for the effectiveness of using imitation-style teaching as a way to introduce how to write theoretically informed pieces of literary or media criticism to undergraduates. By making a case for the relevance of teaching this form of criticism in the undergraduate classroom, as well as exploring exactly how imitation-style teaching can be used to teach this skill, this article argues that teachers can fruitfully study closely with students pieces of literary criticism in the undergraduate classroom. The article argues that this teaching practice is able to live up to the idea of “transparent performance expectations,” one of didactician Hilbert Meyer’s 10 central criteria for good teaching.

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Author Biography

Mikkel Jensen, Aalborg Universitet

Mikkel Jensen is assistant professor of American and media studies in the Department of Culture and Learning, Aalborg University (Denmark). His research focuses on how American media texts engage with contemporary historical tendencies, such as deindustrialization, anti-urbanism, and populism. In 2022, he was awarded as Teacher of the Year in the Humanities at Aalborg University. His first monograph, David Simon’s American City, is forthcoming with Manchester University Press.

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