Cover not available

In:Scientific Approaches to Literature in Learning Environments
Edited by Michael Burke, Olivia Fialho and Sonia Zyngier
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 24] 2016
► pp. 227–252

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 12. Empirical stylistics as a learning and research tool in the study of narrative viewpoint

 | University of Nottingham
Published online: 22 July 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.24.12sot
This chapter reports a study on students’ responses to a passage by Virginia Woolf which displays frequent shifts in viewpoint and a variety of speech and thought presentation modes. The students were asked to attribute the viewpoint in the passage and to demarcate the boundaries of individual viewpoints. The aims of the study are: to (1) assess the agreement among readers on how to assign viewpoint; (2) test the differences in interpretation between more experienced and less experienced readers; (3) expose students to the empirical investigation of literature in an experimental setting; and (4) reflect on the usefulness of incorporating empirical studies in the learning process. The findings demonstrate the level of readerly agreement on the attribution of viewpoint and the boundaries of individual viewpoints in an experimental text. The use of empirical methods as a learning tool in the stylistics classroom is assessed.
References (27)
References
Adamson, S.M. (1999). Literary language. In S. Romaine (Ed.), The Cambridge history of the English language, Volume 4: 1776-1997 (pp. 591-690). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Andringa, E. (1996). Effects of ‘narrative distance’ on readers’ emotional involvement and response. Poetics, 23, 431-452. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Banfield, A. (1982). Unspeakable sentences: Narration and representation in the language of fiction. Boston, MA: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bellard-Thomson, C. (2010). How students learn stylistics: Constructing an empirical study. Language and Literature, 19(1), 35-57. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bray, J. (2007). The ‘dual voice’ of free indirect discourse: A reading experiment. Language and Literature, 16(1), 37-52. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, P., Bortolussi, M., Twilley, L.C., & Leung, A. (1993). Literary processing and interpretation: Towards empirical foundation. Poetics, 22, 5-35. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dorfman, M. (1996). Evaluating the interpretive community: Evidence from expert and novice readers. Poetics, 23, 453-470. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fludernik, M. (1993). The fictions of language and the languages of fiction. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herman, D. (1993). Towards a pragmatics of represented discourse: Narrative, speech and context in Woolf’s Between the Acts . Poetics, 21, 377-409. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
László, J. (1986). Same story with different point of view. SPIEL, 5, 1-22.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leech. G., & Short, M. (2007[1981]). Style in fiction. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miall, D. (1996). Empowering the reader: Literary response and classroom learning. In R. Kreuz & M. MacNealy (Eds.), Empirical approaches to literature and aesthetics (pp. 463-478). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Palmer, A. (2002). The construction of fictional minds. Narrative, 10(1), 28-46. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2004). Fictional minds. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sanders, J., & Redeker, G. (1993). Linguistic perspective in short news stories. Poetics, 22, 69-87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simpson, P. (1993). Language, ideology and point of view. London: Routledge Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sotirova, V. (2006). Reader responses to narrative viewpoint. Poetics, 34, 108-133. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2007). Woolf's Experiments with Consciousness in Fiction. In M. Lambrou & P. Stockwell (Eds.), Contemporary Stylistics (pp. 7-18). Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2011). D.H. Lawrence and narrative viewpoint. London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2013). Consciousness in modernist fiction: A stylistic study. Houndmills: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Toolan, M. (2001). Narrative: A critical linguistic introduction. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vandelanotte, L. (2009). Speech and thought representation in English: A cognitive-functional approach. Berlin: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Peer, W., & Pander Maat, H. (1996). Perspectivation and sympathy: Effects of narrative point of view. In R. Kreuz & M. MacNealy (Eds.), Empirical approaches to literature and aesthetics (pp. 143-154). Norwood, NJ Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2001). Narrative perspective and the interpretation of characters’ motives. Language and Literature, 10(3), 229-242.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zunshine, L. (2003). Theory of mind and experimental representations of fictional consciousness. Narrative, 11(3), 270-291. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zyngier, S., & Fialho, O. (2010). Pedagogical stylistics, literary awareness and empowerment: A critical perspective. Language and Literature, 19(1), 13-33. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (8)

Cited by eight other publications

Grisot, Giulia, Kathy Conklin & Violeta Sotirova
2020. Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Readers’ responses to experimental techniques of speech, thought and consciousness presentation in Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 29:2 ► pp. 103 ff. DOI logo
Jaashan, Hasan Mohammed
2020. The Impact of Incorporating Stylistic Models of Inversion in Teaching Grammar on Students’ Comprehension of Literary Text. Issues in Language Studies 9:2 ► pp. 126 ff. DOI logo
Wirag, Andreas
2020. The scope of empirical narratology. Frontiers of Narrative Studies 6:1 ► pp. 113 ff. DOI logo
Cushing, Ian
2018. Stylistics goes to school. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 27:4 ► pp. 271 ff. DOI logo
van Krieken, Kobie
2018. Ambiguous Perspective in Narrative Discourse: Effects of Viewpoint Markers and Verb Tense on Readers’ Interpretation of Represented Perceptions. Discourse Processes 55:8 ► pp. 771 ff. DOI logo
Cui, Yaxiao
2017. Reader responses to shifts in point of view: An empirical study. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 26:2 ► pp. 122 ff. DOI logo
Lugea, Jane
2017. The year’s work in stylistics 2016. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 26:4 ► pp. 340 ff. DOI logo
Viana, Vander & Sonia Zyngier
2017. Exploring new territories in pedagogical stylistics: An investigation of high-school EFL students’ assessments. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 26:4 ► pp. 300 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue