Postscript: Pedagogical stylistics: Past and future

Abstract

It is my pleasure to contribute to a volume in honor of Urszula Clark. It was her intense involvement in pedagogical stylistics and commitment to education that brought us together and, upon her retirement, I am honored to pay tribute to her dedication and enthusiasm. Throughout her career, Urszula has always encouraged educational initiatives that, as we will see, have by now rendered substantial results and expanded into new territories. In this postscript, my aim is to briefly address 45 years of pedagogical approaches to stylistics and highlight Urszula Clark’s valuable contribution to the field. Deciding what actually inaugurates a new domain is rather tricky. Long before any founding stone can be said to have been laid, trends, ideas, and perspectives have already been circulating for some time. In the 1970s, interest in using literary texts in the classroom grew as a consequence of communicative approaches, especially in L2 learning, and the need for authentic materials and situations (see Brumfit, 1983). Literature was seen to provide both a rich source of life experience and of creative communication. These first concerns are expressed in the introduction to a collection of articles published by The British Council: