Integrating the Community Awareness into American Literature Teaching for Multi-Ethnic Frontier Universities: Text-based Comparative Teaching Strategy

Abstract

As a core major course for English undergraduates, A History of American Literature covers a large number of ethnic and immigrant literary texts, which provide natural comparative perspectives for cross-cultural humanistic education. For multi-ethnic frontier universities in Yunnan, the routine teaching of this course is faced with the prominent dilemma of lacking localized supporting materials and fragmented excavation of humanistic connotations disconnected from local ethnic life. Based on undergraduate research training project, this study adopts three qualitative research methods including literature sorting, close textual reading and teaching case induction. Nine canonical American literary works across five literary periods are selected to sort literary themes of ethnic harmony and cross-cultural exchange. Centered on text-based comparative reading, this paper constructs a three-stage closed-loop teaching framework including pre-class material preparation, in-class progressive speculation and after-class reflective tasks, and puts forward standardized classroom operation norms, so as to provide replicable localized teaching strategies for literature teachers in frontier colleges and realize the integrated cultivation of literary appreciation ability and inclusive humanistic quality. This complete targeted teaching design fully fits the key overall new liberal arts construction reform demands of local border ethnic higher education institutions in southwest China.