Two Oral Exam Formats for Literary Analysis in the Tertiary English as a Foreign Language Seminar

Abstract

For novice students, developing disciplinary literacy in literature courses in English as a Foreign Language education (EFL) at university entails mastering a number of skills. The purpose of this small-scale action research study is to investigate the extent to which two different oral exam formats can serve to make explicit commonly held warrants in the discourse community of literary studies. The material consists of observation notes from Socratic seminars and Thought-Question-Epiphany (TQE) seminars, both of which are analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that most students adopt disciplinary conventions, such as building on each other’s ideas, using critical lenses, showing contextual awareness, and supporting claims with textual evidence. While the Socratic seminar format generates lively discussions, the sole focus on questions prevents students from preparing textual evidence for specific literary elements in the analysis. In the TQE seminar, some students react negatively to the forced inclusion of an epiphany, but the format also gives an opportunity to identify significant quotes in advance and to expand on interpretative ideas prompted by the three components.