COMPARISON OF CONTEMPORARY AND TRADITIONAL YAL

Both contemporary and traditional works of young adult literature focus on young adults as their main characters. They focus on issues that young adults normally face and how they resolve the issues. However, contemporary works can focus on realities that are too harsh yet undeniably true challenges that young adults face nowadays. Contemporary young adult literature touches on the problems that young adults usually go through. The issues are pressing and quite complex in nature. Due to sociological changes that society goes through at present, the physical as well as psychological challenges are much more complicated. Changes in technology, communication, demography, economy put more demands on teenagers and many of the literature highlight the dilemma that young adults face in order to cope in the current complex world. The demands are emotionally taxing and many authors capture this as the essence of their story such as in “Hero” and “”Chocolate War” More traditional works of young adult literature have different types of challenges than the contemporary ones. The surrounding factors at those times seem not as complex as in the current society. The central issue normally lies on character building of the protagonist such as “Tom Sawyer” and how the character develops himself throughout the challenges and problems that he faced. However, the classical works has more complex sentence structures. They are richer in details using language in much more complex manner. The use of imagery, word choice and literary language is more prominent in the traditional works. On the other hand, contemporary works normally relies on simpler and more authentic use of language that appeals to many teenagers or young adults. It is interesting to note that more traditional works of young adult literature has very minor roles for female. Most protagonists are males and females normally appear as mentoring adults in the stories. It can be said that different styles of writing young adult literature emerge in different eras.

ROLE OF DISCUSSION AND WRITING IN READING

Discussion forces us to come up with words to describe our experiences through reading. We will need to choose our words to convey the ideas that we have about the story. The feedback that we receive from others would help trigger more ideas that we might have overlooked. It could go to details of the scene, plot and characters. It refines our thoughts and understanding of what we have absorbed from the story. Normally, I would use discussion to clarify my jumbled thoughts on various issues that were raised in a story. Discussion with my friends helps me gather and sort my thoughts together and later declare a revelation based on the reading and discussion activities. What we read on our own might be a misinterpretation of what the author tries to convey. Discussion would help to shape my understanding of the story more accurately. Writing is almost as useful as discussion to generate ideas and form understanding of a story. It is a method to convey thoughts and reflections on the story. It is also a channel to deliver interesting insights, which might be gathered through reading. Sometimes it requires me to have an in depth response in order to put my point across for others to understand. However, writing does not give the opportunity for readers to get feedback from other people immediately. It is a solitary activity and somehow introspective. Our interpretation and view towards the story could be distorted and would remain distorted without comment from others. Relaying information through discussion and writing usually helps clarify my thoughts and ideas and make them crystal clear. I would be more appreciative towards the story after that.

WORKING IN PAIRS OR GROUPS

I think working in pairs or groups helps students form better understanding of the stories that they are reading. By working with another person, a student can relay his or her opinion about the story and receiving feedback from his or her partner. Students may need to share their perception or express their emotion when reading the story. Thus, sharing with other students will give them opportunity to do so. Working with others is also good to help students analyze what they have read and put the story into perspective. While talking to others, students might be able to explore the characters and plot in depth. It helps them to build ideas and stimulate responses that otherwise might be dormant. Therefore, they might have clearer understanding after sharing their thoughts with others. Students might also have questions on what they have read. Sharing or group work would provide them with an avenue to raise the issues that they do not understand and need insights from others to promote understanding. It is not just sharing experiences, but enriching the experiences that they acquire through reading. Talking helps students to express what they really feel about a book. If previously, students feel threatened when asked to read, talking with another student may help alleviate some of this prejudice. It helps to open up their mind that reading is not just a passive activity but can be interpersonal as well. In general, talking and reading seems to be compatible in learning literature. It appeals to different types of intelligence and makes reading a more dynamic process.

INFLUENCING FACTORS

I’ve read Beethoven in Paradise, If You Come Softly and Ganesh. They all have different issues and types of characters portrayed. In general, I would choose books that have both male and female as the main characters. Reading only-male-characters book is exhausting for me since it’s difficult for me to relate to male characters. Perhaps female characters shed some light into what the male characters are going through. Without female characters, I have no clue on what the issues are and what the males are feeling; is it anger, frustration, pride or something else. I also go for stories that have some humor despite of the seriousness of the story. Reading a very dramatic book without injection of humor evokes too much sadness and provides a bleak outlook on life. I might feel depressed after completing the book. I don’t normally dwell in sadness and I prefer not to find a chance to do so. I love books that portray the character in a balance perspective; someone who is realistically facing difficult challenges in life but somehow manages to have things in the right perspective at the end, taking appropriate course of actions to cope with the problems. Setting could also be a factor. We should be able to connect to a place and enjoy the descriptions as part of our mental exercise. A place that is not inspiring may also cause negative perception on the characters in the story. Furthermore, dialogues should not be very formal or reflecting the academic language. It should be realistic or authentic, something that suits the characters background and pragmatically appropriate to the situations. The front cover images are usually not very accurate depiction of the content. In order to get the above information that determines whether or not I will read a book, I usually glimpse at the blurb at the back cover and scan the book a bit to get some ideas on setting and dialogues.

MY FAVOURITE LITERATURE TEACHER

I did not have any literature subject during my school years. The first time I took a literature class was when I had to enroll in Diploma in Education programme in Maktab Perguruan Ilmu Khas, Cheras. I had a few lecturers teaching literature subject. We actually did worksheets and activities to study the novel of the Pearl and the Short Stories collections. One interesting method that a lecturer used was to ask us students to draw the character and setting with explanation on why we drew them that way. It helped make the story less abstract and more concrete for readers. It is also a method to help readers visualize what they have read. Furthermore, having drawn pictures based on the author’s description helps clarify the author’s viewpoint and make the story less forbidding to read. I think, this method helps grab the attention of students who are kinesthetic and loves visuals for learning. It gives them excuses to move around and use their physical bodies to help them understand what they have learned. It also aids comprehension for those who need concrete representation of concept. So, instead of just devouring the words in texts, teachers might want to try to ask students to draw, sing or role play parts of the text to make the stories as realistic as possible for students. Group work should help enhance the learning process since student would have opportunities to share their ideas and understanding of the story.