Reading The Word And The World: Intertextuality In Teaching Literature

Reading The Word and The World: Intertextuality In Teaching Literature

Jonnelle D. Fagsao, Ed.D. & Julie Grace K. Mi-Ing, Ed.D.
Teacher Education Department, Mountain Province State Polytechnic College, Bontoc, Mountain Province 2616, Philippines

ABSTRACT

A timely and relevant teaching strategy is a continuous quest in teaching and learning, especially in literature. Thus, this study discovers and explores the effect of intertextuality instruction in literature teaching in a state college in a rural area.  Using semi-formal interviews, the researchers asked open-ended questions to discover the answer to the topic. Qualitative research was used for this research study to find effective qualities with the students’ real-world experiences when the Intertextuality Approach was applied during modular learning. Qualitative research allowed the researchers to see the effects of intertextuality instruction in teaching literature to pre-service student teachers. Results show that there is a very beneficial teaching and learning experience and assessment. Students learn new and unencountered literary texts (because some selections were new to them) or any intended assessment activities to do, and they become more knowledgeable in exploring similar texts which are found on the internet and in some of the researcher’s published research papers. Students are not only faced with new explorations but also allowing them to have close encounters with whatever literary texts are explored because they can relate to the texts. Also, such an approach created a well-structured and reflective atmosphere among students, especially when they develop confidence in their interpretations of the given texts, and are then willing to ask some fine questions with gusto in their group chat (GC) through Messenger. Inevitably most students wrote in their analysis that their memories were refreshed concerning the terms nostalgia, de javu, og-ogfu, and requiem in terms of assessment.

Keywords: intertextuality, teaching literature, approach

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

With the problems brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors in the MPSPC – Teacher Education Department (TED) have to face modular classes or blended learning with many things to think about. They may easily neglect to have the doors closed to shut out many issues and concerns about the pandemic. Learning, which is what a classroom is for, requires the freedom to create such strategies and methods in teaching. The very center of learning, the brain, is protected in a strong skull. Classroom learning is physically protected by its four walls and needs to be psychologically protected in even more important ways.

Most educators face their classes without comparable skills. The substances everyone deals with as educators with the myriad of individual differences, which sometimes guess at and sometimes ignore. If they have explosions, they do not shake or shatter the walls. They appear in flunks, and some sharp observers point out their failures rather than their students. Everyone as an educator deals with hundreds of students guaranteed no two individuals are alike. The instructors in the academe need to know how to make students learn. Yet teaching is not so much a matter of tools, it requires an understanding of the nature of students and the learning process; thus, as educators and institutional researchers in TED, there is a need to encourage pre-service teachers to become more aware, and articulate of, their professional knowledge so that “they can better understand and improve their teaching” (p117) as cited in Peter Chin’s article, Teaching and Learning in Teacher Education: Who is Carrying the Ball? published in 1997. In line with this, there should be an expectation no less from ourselves. There is a need to know how the students differ, what they have in common, and above all how they learn. Knowing a subject matter makes a scholar, knowing students makes an instructor.

To determine the fact of learning, there is a need to adopt or create methods for educating the students in today’s dilemma. Remembering the past that the researchers (as members of the TED faculty) grounded literature in its historical periods without attempting to show the students how either literature or the period in history from which it came is personally relevant to them. Thus, the researchers adopted a better approach to teaching literature to change the traditional way one is used to. The better the result the better one reveals the learning. Evidence that students have learned is the real reward and joy of the tireless instructor, surpassing such problems the COVID-19 conveyed. As such, this paper describes how and why the researchers as literature teachers “practice what they teach” by focusing on elements of their professional knowledge as literature teachers. There would be an expectation to begin by expressing some significant experiences that have informed their beliefs about teaching and learning within the teacher education context. Then they highlight certain ways that these beliefs are lived within their application with pre-service teachers.

As the country continues to confront different issues brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there were problems noticed in utilizing a modular approach for students in MPSPC, particularly in teaching literature.  One of the researcher’s introductory words in his enhanced module in Teaching of Literature clarified that “before we can understand others, we need to understand ourselves, and our views of teaching and learning” (p.2). This supports the significant dialectical connection between teaching and learning in the New Normal, where each element informs and is informed by the other. More specifically, understanding the learners in today’s era may help that person to understand why one holds certain perspectives about learning any discipline. In line with this, it is for the reason why the researchers thought of adopting a useful pedagogical approach in teaching literature as a response to today’s circumstances and unique challenges presented by COVID-19 and beyond. According to fellow researchers who are literature instructors, the achievement gap of students particularly in literary analysis has been stagnant for the past years. The dilemma from literature instructors continued to reveal that a problem in literary analysis and appreciation of pre-service student exists. They are experiencing difficulties in teaching literature because the students don’t mind reading literary pieces at all. Improvement is needed to increase pre-service students’ literary analysis achievement. What more in today’s modality of learning due to the pandemic or after the pandemic? This is where the process, strategy, practice, and theory of Intertextuality effective literature instructors applied during literary reading analysis instruction to meet the needs of pre-service teachers. The effectiveness of the approach was based on the data collected and analyzed from the researchers’ students who are enrolled in literature classes particularly in Literary Criticism under the BSED-English program. One of the biggest obstacles facing literature teachers in MPSPC is the increase in the population of English major Learners and not knowing how to meet their academic needs within the literature classroom. It was pointed out from the researchers’ experience that there was an achievement gap that exists among students when intertextuality was applied as an approach in their modular teaching. This gap has produced a need for literature instructors to determine that simple intertextuality process, strategy, practice, and theory should be implemented in modular learning to meet the varied needs of all students enrolled in literature during this time of pandemic or after the pandemic. As Fagsao, one of the researchers noted that literature teachers in should seek to incorporate contemporary instructional and effective teaching approaches. Thus, Intertextuality was incorporated into the modular lessons to meet the needs of the widely varied students in the academe. Mi-ing, another co-researcher, revealed in an open conversation that for literature teachers to be effective, one should need to do an alternative approach to be effective to increase student appreciation and achievement in the field of literary analysis, particularly in its content, the learning target or standards that are being learned in the teaching of literature which is what a student should know. As Boyd-Batstone, (2006) went on to say that [literary] content is what is often differentiated by providing different levels of material for the different levels of learner academic ability within the classroom. While reading is the most common way in the literature classroom, intertextuality is adopted to provide reading comprehension materials that are above, below, and at the level and deliver content through flexible modular instruction.

It is foolish to conclude that students do not do close reading. Of course, some past students were certainly capable of understanding and appreciating the literary pieces on their own merits because they bring their life experiences into the act of close reading and seeing the text about their history; however, some students were not necessarily convinced of literature’s extraordinary value, and some do not even bother to read for reasons. There are some students also who are more prone to enjoy the unsteady ground of literary pieces discussed in high school than they would to the selected literary pieces in their modules. It was based on the past experiences of the researchers who intend to engage the students to use common short stories discussed from high school, while encouraging the significance of their solicitous and exploratory analysis of texts, to stimulate a host of responses from their students.

The experiences from the past are scratches on the surface revealing that teaching great literature is not as interesting as before because for now students are no longer enjoying reading great (long) writings. Some students (e.g. majoring in English) don’t have a full and elegant facility with the English language which they do not seem to possess. Some of them don’t have the broad practice of reading to see some fragments that are studied as parts of the whole when they read literature. Some students do not even know how to research ways to perceive the interconnectedness of varied literary pieces without knowing that such interconnections can be found on the internet (if they do the constant reading). Much to the researchers’ surprise that these are similar heard sentiments from fellow literature teachers made plain in class after class and semester after semester.

Inspiring students to build their English language competencies is often difficult, but there are ways to encourage them which are not met by insurmountable struggle. This subject is worthy of much further consideration, but for now, the researchers will maintain their focus on the importance of appreciating literature for the students in their literature classes. This is where intertextuality was applied.

As for the BSED-English major students, the application of the intertextuality approach was useful in helping them gain a better understanding of how such literature teaching impacts their learners’ learning. As literature teachers and learners, the researchers constantly gaze for the dominant equivalents between what one does in flexible learning with the students, and what one encourages them to do in their teaching-learning relationship with their pupils. These parallels are interwoven into a tapestry of one’s dedication and passion as a literature teacher.

As fans of Mikhail Bakhtin, the researchers encountered the formal sense of intertextuality with Bakhtin’s contributions who enlightened them with different perspectives of intertextuality.  Unfolding the intertextual thought methods that most MPSPC students practice as they acquire knowledge in their literature subjects, required a fair amount of trial and error in the classrooms where the researchers teach. Ultimately the researchers found that students quickly became proficient at finding similarities between different works of literature on the internet, no matter how contrasting those works have been discussed in their modules. There is an inclusive sense of literature that grows and develops within the mind of the reader when they can see the whole instead of the parts. Based on past experiences, some students did not spend their formative years reading books and looking at literary pieces selected for discussion in their lessons as isolated and unconnected most often. In the application of the intertextual approach, there was a relationship among different literary works that were central to reading and discussion, and the students soon realized that the literary pieces were no more capable of existing in a state of isolation. By underscoring the importance of interconnections among the works of literature, the teacher showed the student again and again that narratives were all part of a variety, and that they rely on one another for existence. Without both context and contrast, no work of literature would make sense.

Although what follows is somewhat sequential, the researchers enhanced the intertextuality approach adapted from Payne’s (2008) practical application of the intertextual method for comparing different works of fictional prose and poetry that are intended for teaching literature to college students and Pecorari and Shaw (2012) who proposed a typology of intertextuality based on tutors’ responses to examples of intertextuality in student writing. Their typology of intertextuality includes; firstly, ‘Indirect Intertextuality’, which includes the use of formulaic language and other sets of phrases that may or not be signaled by the writer and which may be unnoticeable by the reader; secondly, ‘Conventional Intertextuality’ refers to a clear relationship to earlier sources which includes proper referencing and legitimate uses of sources as an academic practice; and, third is the ‘Unconventional Intertextuality’ which refers to inappropriate use of earlier sources by lack of attribution. This may be unintentional.

With the application of the ‘Intertextuality’ Approach, the researchers’ purpose is to offer pre-service student teachers a pedagogical strategy that will make their transition from graduate student to professional teacher a smooth one. This strategy casts a certain image about who the researchers are as literature teachers, and the fusion of the intertextual perspectives profits a product that has more clarity and depth than the traditional way he does before the pandemic.

This paper then is an offering for pre-service teachers as guides in teaching literature who are ready to do so which the researchers applied in their teaching of literature during the pandemic catastrophe.

This basic qualitative study was completed by collecting data from the students’ assessment activities embedded in their modules. Within this qualitative study, the researchers were able to discover the effect of the Intertextuality Approach as a practice, strategy, process, and theory effectively in modular learning. The data analysis revealed that Intertextuality Approach is another alternative approach for daily instruction in the literature classroom under the umbrella of differentiated instruction.

CONCEPTUAL/THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Teachers face many challenges during the pandemic especially when trying to divide their time among a class full of students with varied learning needs. Some of these challenges are the application of alternative methods to encourage students to appreciate and engage themselves in the study of literature. It was recognized that there are literary pieces uploaded on the internet that suits the interest of our millennial learners and these will be useless if not to be studied. Therefore, adapting academically challenging teaching approaches like Intertextuality Approach is an effective one to fuse old and new literary pieces. It was observed from Tomlinson’s study in 2003 that many students [who finished senior high school] have different learning styles and levels of academic ability which further creates a challenge for classroom teachers.

Employing Intertextuality in the Modular Learning

Teachers of literature know how difficult it is to teach students whose interests differ from the ones they are to study. They must also be aware of the obstacles that prevent proper understanding and appreciation of a literary piece. By using the Intertextuality Approach of literary analysis and applying it to items of cultural differences, chosen from the selected literary pieces, it is perhaps possible to develop an index showing what aspect of a cultural pattern of behavior is more difficult or easy to understand by the pre-service student and to prepare explanations and material aids accordingly to supplement modular teaching.

Intertextuality Theory

The Theory of Intertextuality was traced back from Saussure’s (2012) linguistics. According to him which resembles his Semiotic Theory, he regards language as a system composed of signs but different from each other. These signs can be achieved through the process of interaction with other meanings of linguistic signs. He considers the sign as a whole no matter what idea or sound is associated and surrounds it.

In addition to Saussure, Bakhtin (1981) once said in his Dialogism Theory: “I live in a world of others’ words.” He believes that all texts possess dialogic nature and that everything in the world is a text. He emphasizes the social and historical contexts within which language is used. It is on his theory that Kristeva introduced, reformed, and developed the term intertextuality in her book published in 1969 which is the absorption of both Saussure’s view of linguistic signs and Bahktin’s dialogism; however, because of its broad and abstract meaning, it is difficult for people to understand and does not attract widely-received attention. Going through the analysis of Kristeva’s (1969) intertextuality, she says that “every text is constructed as a mosaic of citations; every text is the absorption and transformation of other texts.” (Cited in Ferguson, 2020 & Zhang, 2018) Kristeva conjures Mikhail Bakhtin’s idea of the ‘literary word’ “as an intersection of textual surfaces rather than a point (a fixed meaning), as a dialogue among several writings” (1969, 36). Intertextuality to Kristeva allows for double readings, stating:

The word as a minimal textual unit thus turns out to occupy the status of a mediator, linking structural models to the cultural (historical) environment, as well as that of the regulator, controlling mutations from diachrony to synchrony, i.e., to the literary structure. The word is spatialized: through the very notion of status, it functions in three dimensions (subject-addressee-context) as a set of dialogical, semic elements or as a set of ambivalent elements. Consequently, the task of literary semiotics is to discover other formalisms corresponding to different modalities of word-joining (sequences) with the dialogical space of texts (1969, 37).

Kristeva argues that the word is ambivalent to the dialogue which exists between various texts. Thus, the dialogue gives new meaning to words depending on their context, or the space between texts.

Until such time that the concept of intertextuality was introduced as a literary approach, it develops and attracts rapidly much attention to research enthusiasts in such fields as linguistics, translation, discourse analysis, and pedagogical research on teaching and learning where this study is focused to.

From the researchers’ encounter regarding this approach, they found out that different researchers have different standards to categorize the classification of intertextuality. In its general sense, intertextuality can be seen either from a narrow or broad sense as what was analyzed by Zhang in his 2018 study. According to him [Zhang], narrow intertextuality is concerned with relationships between the present text and other texts which can be proved to exist in the present text; and, in a broader sense, intertextuality refers to the relationship between the present text and any knowledge, code or semantic manifestations which can endow meanings to the present text.

Another point of view regarding Intertextuality Yan (2017) prefers the term as the relationship of mutual perception among texts, no text stands alone but is interlinked with the tradition that came before it and the context in which it is produced. Any context is indispensable to any text and intertextuality indicates at least two contexts corresponding to each text.

In this paper, the researchers will adopt Payne’s (2008) intertextual approach whose perspective regarding the intertextuality approach is the relationship between two or more texts. It begins when a listener to one story and then another will weigh them against each other in comparison.  Another is Pecorari and Shaw (2012) who proposed a typology of intertextuality based on tutors’ responses to examples of intertextuality in student writing for comparing different works of fictional prose and poetry. These are intended for teaching literature to Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) pre-service education students with whom the researchers are affiliated. Adopting Payne’s perspective as well as Pecorari and Shaw, it stands as an avenue for the researchers’ purpose in sharing this intertextuality approach in making the students’ transition from pre-service teachers to in-service teachers to be a smooth pedagogical one.

Segments of Progress in the Intertextual Reader

The literature teacher will benefit from a brief consideration of the different segments through which a reader moves during his or her progress as an intertextual reader of and thinker about literary texts.

As far as the segments of progress in the Intertextual Reader are concerned, it is obvious that the: First Segment is a simple appreciation of interesting, compelling, entertaining, or instructive literary texts which give value in the mind of the reader or listener; the Second Segment is where the beginnings of comparison will take place. This is the segment when a reader will start to think of stories in much the same way that he thinks of members of a family or group of schoolmates. At first, there will be a separation into groups based on personal likes and dislikes. Then these first categories will split into smaller, more specific groupings in a manner that is quite similar to the division of a developing mass of cells; in the Mature Segment, the student in a formal classroom has moved beyond the intertextual reading process, as guided by the teacher, to a point that in all likelihood corresponds with the full development of his or her cognitive thinking processes, where the student makes connections between texts based on his or her intellectual development. In other words, the last stage is the one when the student has internalized all the necessary apparatuses for intertextual reading and reads accordingly, without undue effort or concentration, so that the comparisons and conclusions occur automatically. This practice frees the reader to savor the end product of the intertextual process without maintaining a constant awareness of that process itself; there is a Developmental Segment when a student is first made aware of the links which exist between works of literature that make them an interrelated complex rather than a simple collection of personal keepsakes, to give one example. This segment would be followed by the developing sense within the student reader that literature is not a disconnected and enormous collection of books on library shelves, but is one highly complex literary “organism” that is alive and continues to grow. More important, literature is not only waiting for that student to discover and appreciate it, but it is dependent on each reader to keep it alive, sustain it with thought and memory, and add to it with other texts, whether printed and bound or intangible and internal to that particular recipient.

That is, the notion of intertextuality will be expanded to include aspects of the genre.

Forms of Intertextuality

Pecorari and Shaw’s (2012) typology of intertextuality, categorized intertextuality based on (a) indirect; (b) conventional; and, (c) unconventional. The exact definition, of each category from Pecorari and Shaw (2012) is as follows:

“(a) Indirect intertextuality is the relationship that arises between texts which have commonalities in areas such as topic, purpose, or readership, creating structural and phraseological similarities’ (p.157); (b) Conventional intertextuality [which] involve[s] direct reference to another scholar’s work, presented as quotation or paraphrase (p.158); and (c) Unconventional intertextuality [which] involves a direct relationship with a given source text, and is not adequately signaled by the writer and in that sense is not legitimate (p.159).

That is, according to Abdulelah (2016) indirect intertextuality gives a similar resemblance between two versions of texts in terms of language, purpose, or distribution which may result from having a shared theme or subject matter, field, or discipline. Conventional intertextuality is a correct acknowledgment of a source of a text by writing conventions of referencing and citation. However, according to Pecorari and Shaw, conventionality sometimes depends on the individual reader’s perceptions when they give examples of literary allusions in writing. Unconventional intertextuality is using any source texts without proper attribution to the source or by not being clear about it.

Types of Intertextualities

Wagner (1996) employs Tom Mitchel, Grant Scott, and James Hefferman’s two major types of intertextualities which are the ekphrasis and iconotext. According to them, Ekphrasis is applied when there is a verbal representation of a visual representation. However, David Carrier sees it as a “verbal re-creation of visual artwork” (Wagner, 1996-10). By this definition, both authors mean that ekphrasis comes into being when a writer describes a visual object such as a painting or sculpture with verbal media such as a novel, poem, or other writings. However, according to Barthes (1973), all ekphrasis is notional and seeks to create a specific image that is to be found only in the text as its resident alien. For instance, pictures do not have a voice but when one describes pictures in writing, he is intentionally or unintentionally, directly or indirectly giving voice to the picture. This brings us to the second category of intertextuality called iconotext.

Iconotext is the use of reference or allusion, in an obvious or implied way to any image in a text or vice versa. Micheal Nerlich defines it as a mingling of pictures and words in one object or within a given framework. Iconotext can also exist in such works in which one medium is only implied, for example, the reference to a painting in a fictional text (Wagner: 1996, 15-16). Examples can be found in most newspapers, where articles sometimes carry pictures (Santaella, 1998). It can also be seen in any type of fiction in which pictures are used to provide a clear image to the writing.

Genre Theory

Genre is a key concept that has been developed in several fields (e.g., literary studies, folklore, and linguistic studies), and was brought into second language writing through John Swales’ research in the 1980s (Paltridge, 2014). Swales (1990) used the genre to describe certain characteristics that are shared by members of a discourse community, and genre analysis explores the textual characteristics of a written text and how these relate to the discourse community in which it was produced (Swales, 2009). He explained that these textual characteristics, including ‘patterns of similarity in the terms of structure, style, content, and intended audience’ (p. 58) may establish expectations in the discourse community to which it belongs. In other words, writers may be expected to use rhetorical features that are acceptable in the discipline they write for. In this respect, a genre approach is useful for understanding higher-level literacy demands across different disciplines (Bazerman et al. 2009).

Theory of Imitation

     The Theory of Imitation has occupied researchers for a long-time in teaching literature. There are groups of researchers who shared their views of literary representation which are largely derived from their allegiance to philosophical idealism. The researchers’ original starting point was on Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilla whom he found his interest in becoming more precise and focused on the discussion of the intertextuality approach related to the theory of imitation.

Some guiding ideas of these theorists began to crystallize, and these the researcher sought to pursue. According to Plato, a work of fiction is a copy of a copy that highlights intertextual relation while Aristotle holds that we, as the most imitative creature in the world, learn at first by imitation which is natural to man from childhood, with great pleasure, other than our instinct to enjoy works of imitation; it is inborn instinct (Still & Worton, 1990). With Aristotle’s Theory of Imitation, it is natural for all to delight in works of imitation.

Quintilla also remarks that “imitation is not repetition; it is a highlight in which by reading and writing, the translator declares his/herself, while also engaging in a process of self-alienation” (cited in Shakib, 2012-2). He [Quintilla], together with Cicero emphasizes that imitation is not only a means of forging one′s discourse but it is a consciously intertextual practice (Bakhtin, 1986). This is so because by imitating a text according to Shakib (2012), one tends to mix one’s ideas with the ideas contained in the imitated text, thus leading to a product of hybridity.

By pointing out these theories, it is related to this paper’s focus which underlines the fact that imitation has to do with texts known to the authors. Logically, one cannot imitate something one does not know about.

Theory of Quotation

Another theory commonly found in student academic writing is the Theory of Quotation. The use of quotations for support and to provide evidence in writing is one way of using sources to create an argument. Adding quotations follows certain rules that should be properly adhered to when citing written work. As to what Kristeva elaborated on reading, she mentioned that it is an avenue where everyone participates aggressively and as readers, we endeavor to incorporate every quotation into the unified textuality which makes the text a semiotic unit. The reader as cited from Shakib (2012); consequently, seeks to read the borrowing not only for its semantic context but also for its topological or metaphoric function and significance. It is in this theory that every reading material the reader encounters will quote without the presence of quotation marks and no knowledge even that what was quoted from the material is also borrowed from other people’s material.

     Overall, the theoretical framework captures how Intertextual Approach in teaching literature in the new normal define, organize, and communicate the literary expectations embedded in the genre with an end-view of educating and enculturating pre-service education students to become in-service literature teachers in the New Normal.

To describe the application of intertextuality in literature teaching, this paper frames the genre of literary analysis for intertextuality teaching. All of the theories embedded in this study are captured in the paradigm (see Fig. 1).

Overall, the pedagogy of intertextuality anchored from genre theory cascading to the theories of imitation and quotation, if established, can be an offering for the pre-service education students to analyze, understand, and exploit in their literary interpretation to innovate and respond to contextual situations in this time of the pandemic. It can also be a shift in the focus of literacy pedagogy from the traditional way of teaching reading and writing to the most appreciative way where there is a textual description of the knowledge, processes, performance, and resolutions that makes the literary text possible and relevant to a socio-intertextual context.

This framework, although narrowly catered to MPSPC pre-service education students, is wide in vision by anchoring it on existing policies of the CHED. It situates the role of literary genres in the Philippine context to offer solutions to pedagogical problems during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic where module learning is the new trend in every school.

Figure 1: Paradigm of the Study

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This research study is focused on the intertextuality approach in literature teaching as revealed in the selected literary texts and activities found in the students’ modules.

Specifically, this paper answers the following questions:

1. What is the effect of intertextuality instruction in teaching literature?
2. What forms and types of intertextualities are prevalent in the critical analysis among the pre-service TED students?
3. How do pre-service TED students adapt to intertextuality as a new approach in teaching literature, specifically with academic literary analysis writing and source use?
4. How do the students perceive the study of literature based on their experience applying the Intertextuality Approach? 

METHODOLOGY

1. Research Design

Creswell (2005) explained that qualitative research is educational research. The main purpose of educational research is the acquisition of new knowledge (Merriam, 2009). Merriam described a basic qualitative study as “constructivism (p. 22).” The researcher is seeking to construct the meaning of the phenomena for those involved within it. Therefore, a researcher who is using basic qualitative research would be interested in the participants’ real-world experiences with the phenomena as well as how these people interpret and analyze their experiences within the phenomena (Merriam, 2009).

Therefore, basic qualitative research was used to discover and explore the effect of intertextuality instruction in literature teaching in MPSPC.  Using semi-formal interviews, the researcher asked open-ended questions to discover the answer to the research question. Qualitative research was used for this research study to find effective qualities with the real-world experiences of the students when the Intertextuality Approach was applied during modular learning. Qualitative research allowed the researchers to see the effects of intertextuality instruction in teaching literature to the pre-service students of TED. Using qualitative research for this study created an opportunity to collect valuable information it allowed the researcher to explore the problem and gain insight into the problem (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). This basic qualitative design allowed the researcher to obtain data and information that could not be collected through quantitative research since it included real-world experiences (Merriam, 2009). Using a basic qualitative research study provided the researchers with the opportunity to seek the answers asked through personal stories in a natural setting (Merriam, 2009).

1. Locale and Population

b.1. Selection and Recruitment

The researchers made initial contact with the students whom they selected based on their outputs in their modules. Once the student confirmed, the researchers explained detailing the purpose of the study.  The selected participants were contacted by the researcher directly by messenger to schedule a face-to-face or online interview.

b.2. Participants’ Profiles

A total of ten (10) students were selected from the different classes under the researcher’s literature subject. Table 1 provides further information regarding these positively selected students.

1. Research Procedure

The qualitative inquiry on field focused will be intended to establish Payne’s intertextuality method employed in literature teaching, what is the effect of intertextuality instruction in teaching literature?  To this end, the researchers will have to be intimately connected to the given modules where this study will be taking place to better understand the results based on the context in which it is occurring.

To respond to the second research question, samples of pre-service students’ texts will be collected for textual analysis. The texts that will be chosen for this study will be the students’ assessment activities attached to their modules which will be based on the rubrics prepared by the instructor. These texts will have to have elements of evaluation, an analytical dimension, and critical thinking which would allow the researchers to examine how forms and types of intertextualities developed in the text.

Following the textual analysis, students’ who owned the selected critical analyses will be chosen for further examination through personal interviews to focus on their past educational experiences in learning literature but with asserted confidentiality and anonymity (Question number 3 and 4). Informing the [selected] students of the entire procedures of the interview and the principle of confidentiality is one of the most important ethical pieces of information that should be communicated in interviews (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009 cited in Abdulelah, 2016).

Another step that the researchers will take to answer the last question is to openly discuss the real purpose of the study with the selected students via the invitation through messenger and then again at the beginning of the interviews. The interview data will be used to respond to the third and fourth research questions.

Presented below (Fig 2) will be the mapping of how research questions for the study will be answered.

Figure 2. Mapping of the Methods onto the Research Questions

C.1. Data Analysis

Creswell’s (2009) model for qualitative data analysis (see Figure 3) was used to analyze the data in answering research problems No. 3 and 4. The collected data was, first, organized and prepared by transcribing interviews verbatim and summarizing field notes. Second, the researchers reviewed the data to get a sense of the information. Third, the interviews were organized and managed in qualitative analysis. Fourth, a description of the participants’ experiences was given compiling similar experiences in preparation for developing qualitative narratives. Finally, the organized data were interpreted.

Figure 3. Creswell’s (2009) Model for Qualitative Data Analysis

C.2. Interview

Qualitative interviews were used to collect data for this study. According to Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) as cited in Flammer (2013),

“Interview[ing] as a research method is nothing mysterious: An interview is a conversation that has a structure and a purpose. It goes beyond the spontaneous exchange of views in everyday conversation and becomes a careful questioning and listening approach to obtain thoroughly tested knowledge (p.3).

The interviews were used to draw out how successful and effective the Intertextuality Approach was implemented in the development of effective literature teaching.

The main researcher interviewed the selected students on a face-to-face basis in Bontoc, Mountain Province, and online via messenger. The interview occurred right after the selected students confirmed their participation in the study and understood the purpose of the interview. Although certain questions were used to organize the interview, any related dialogue was encouraged.

The interview questions were designed primarily to elicit students’ perception toward the Intertextuality Approach as an alternative approach in the study of literature with an emphasis on critical thinking and lasted only for a short period.

The main researcher encoded what transpired during the interview session and later transcribed them to provide accurate data. The following questions in Table 2 provide the protocol designed for this study:

Answers to individual questions were carefully analyzed and translated from vernacular to the English language to determine recurring as well as unique attitudes or perceptions. The critical thinking activities were based on pieces of popular literature.

The researchers tried to interpret the implications of students’ perceptions concerning the literature study using the Intertextuality Approach to the basic research questions which directed this study. These questions concerned students’ perceptions of previous literature study experience, of literature study emphasizing critical thinking using the Intertextuality Approach, and of the effects of the Intertextuality Approach on the process of attempting to understand literature. These basic research questions structured the presentation of interpretations and conclusions.

1. Ethical Considerations

There will be related ethical issues that will arise in this research study. The first is the fact that investigating intertextuality in students’ assessment activities, and more specifically the use of sources in answering their literary critical essays is a somewhat sensitive topic. That is, in tackling source use in literary analysis writing, the concept of copying might be taken into consideration. The second is that through the study, there is an ethical issue that may arise due to the examination of students’ assessed assignments and thus, participants may fear having their work under additional analysis.

To address these ethical issues in the study, different measures will be taken. First, the participants were not coerced in any way to participate in this study. To protect the confidentiality of the participants, pseudonyms were asserted in writing the paper and interviewing. Personal affirmation of confidentiality will be confirmed once the student responded in a private message via Messenger or a text message confirming a personal interview. This procedure is very important as Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) reminded the researchers that informing the participants of the entire procedure of the interview and the principle of confidentiality is one of the most important ethical pieces of information that should be communicated in interviews. Another step that the researchers will take is to openly discuss the real purpose of the study with the selected student through SMS text message and then again at the beginning of the interviews. The students will be informed that the purpose of choosing them is through their interpretation regarding their literary analyses which can be of help to the ongoing research study on the Intertextuality of the researchers-instructors.  The students should will be reminded that they will not be placed under the spotlight, but rather explore the ways of applying the theories of Intertextuality in their academic writing not present to some of their classmates.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

This section presents the results and discussions guided by the questions that first aim to explore literary texts that are envisioned for employing intertextuality in teaching literature; to present how intertextuality is employed in teaching literature; and to provide activities to foster analytical and critical thinking skills that support meaningful intertextuality learning;  secondly, it aims to present forms and types of intertextuality with examples that are prevalent in the critical analysis among the pre-service TED students; thirdly, to document pre-service TED students’ past experiences in academic literary analysis writing; and the last is to present the effect of intertextuality as a new approach in teaching literature to the pre-service TED students, specifically about academic literary analysis writing and source use.

To provide information and evaluation to the students studied, the researcher chose to engage in selected poems under the theme of “Imaginative Representation” from a different time frame and methods of instruction that would allow a wider range of research. The first occasion is given to the students as their motivation is to start with questions that seem rather elementary to be answered through their imagination because precisely, they don’t have other access to the poem’s fictive world than through such a close reading which is the most basic requirement in teaching literature. The students have to be in the words of Moore who once mentioned: “literalists of the imagination.” (Cited in Abad & Hidalgo, 2003) Out of close reading, the researcher was able to employ intertextuality that supplement the lectures and discussions for the lesson in teaching literature.

Employing Intertextuality in Teaching Literature

          As one colleague during the seminar-workshop on module making once mentioned that “close connection established between the student and the subject matter is a bond between a person and his society of which he is a part; thus, one should plan an effective pedagogy of teaching that should result in the student’s engagement with whatever effective course material you will prepare.” With this in mind, the researcher applied this pedagogical method of teaching to win the students’ connection with literature and underscore their development as readers and thinkers rather than letting them answer assessment tasks only to comply with the requirements embedded in their learning modules without appreciation and understanding.

          To answer the first research problem, the researcher introduced the term “Intertextuality” with simple points of explanation in his way. Examples were provided for the students to comprehend and form their thoughts to expose their own opinions about what was read and learned based on whatever literary texts encountered throughout their lives. Whatever was read and heard goes directly into their minds and from then on it will be a springboard for them to understand whatever new things face within the social world. This part is the overview of what the course is all about offering a kind of narrative amorphous talk in their module which is the first step in a process that has proved to be highly effective for teaching students to appreciate literature.

          This is where “Intertextuality” comes in; as students learn new and un-encountered literary texts (because some selections were new to them) or any intended assessment activities to do, they become more knowledgeable in exploring similar texts which are found on the internet and some of the researcher’s published research papers. With this process applied, students are not only faced with new explorations but also allowing them to have close encounters with whatever literary texts are explored because they can relate to the texts.

To answer the first problem, the following literary texts were envisioned for employing intertextuality in teaching literature.

          The first examples mentioned in the module are the poems “Ili-na” (1925) by M. de Gracia Concepcion, The Site of My Grandfather’s House (1979) by Dominador Ilio, Bontoc, Ili ay Kalalaychan (2002) by Sofia O. Bacwaden, and John Denver’s “Back Home Again” (1973) (see complete texts in Appendix A). From the results of assessment activities, many students have probably read it, heard it, encountered it, and understood it because of the theme discussed in their module clearing the ground about human experience poetically represented in the selected texts.

The interconnection of the selected poems provides the essence of what the term “Intertextuality” means. It is about the comparison of the different texts, but, more important, it is about bringing out the poetic representation of the interrelated texts dramatizing the experience in details that serve to make such experiences of nostalgia come alive, as it were, in the students’ imagination. Concepcion and Bacwaden’s poems are written incorporating native or indigenous words combined in English terms.  From a certain standpoint, Abad and Hidalgo (2003) mentioned that language [in poems] may be regarded as an empty vehicle in that what the poet has put into his poem may not always be what the reader takes from it. They certainly don’t mean that the poems’ words bear no meaning; rather, since meanings are social, they are determined by both the poet and the students. The analysis of the students does not come from the words themselves and their associations or relationships, but from their lives lived. Their interpretation was brought out from their engagement through a close reading of a poetic text. It is rather a matter of reading and interpretation in light of both the students’ present understanding of their own experience and their imaginative construction of what “Intertextuality” is as an approach to teaching literature.

Second examples were the lyric poems of Joyce Kilmer’s “Trees” compared to Scott Magkachi Saboy’s “Requiem for a Pine Tree” which typically represented an imagined speaker who speaks and acts for in his or her person; which is then essentially in the dramatic mode. For that reason and convenience, Abad and Hidalgo (2003) called it a dramatic lyric. What the poem’s speaker says is his speech, which is the poem on the page that we read is his action for speech is already action just like in Saboy’s poem stating:

“That tree somehow connects us to the grandeur of Rome itself. How so? Well, it reminds me of the twin Stone Pines shadings on one of the Eternal City’s streets and the great bronze pine cone at the heart of the Vatican. If you accept the connection, then we’d better show that we’ve got a good appreciation of the Classical by matching the décor on the crown with another at the foot of dear old Session Road [in Baguio City] and the creation of a replica of the Pantheon at People’s Park” (p. 54)

          For that reason, comparing the two poems of Kilmer and Saboy is a superb example where students will remember Kilmer’s poem which anybody from the class knows, and its connection with Saboy’s poem, bringing out a spark ready to ignite the class and kindle the type of discussion during which the students are usually eager to offer their opinions through on-line discussion which was scheduled right before they submitted their outputs in school.

What the students need to keep in mind is they are likely to have different interpretations and that is the whole point of using the Intertextuality approach. It is expected that every student in the literature class forms their own opinions and be ready to defend them through literary critical analysis in their self-assessment activities and post-tests. Teaching literature based on an intertextual approach, in the fullest sense of what that term implies, requires a fundamental change from a more traditional system of presenting formal lectures. New instructors will certainly develop their arts for teaching if doing intertextuality. Payne (2008), stressed from his experience:

“The intertextual approach requires teachers to master teaching literature, while also remaining alert to the changing viewpoints of [millennial] students we have right now in the classroom. Accepting the values and often idiosyncratic notions of students is required if we are to succeed in convincing our students that literature means much to them largely because of what they mean to it”. (p.52)

          However, as an instructor of literature in the academe, the researcher depends patiently on the hearts of the students for his task is to present the poem’s evocative power which moves the students to bring out their critical interpretation and personal experience where the discipline of close reading controls and guides it.

          The [students’] interpretation is of course the hypothesis as concluded by Abad and Hidalgo (2003) where there is a negotiation among and between possible readings done by the students. It is a work of their imagination which is the main gist of literary criticism in the Intertextuality Approach. From the selected poems envisioned for employing intertextuality in teaching literature, the researcher’s motive is to let the students enter the poets’ fictive world. They were encouraged to grasp the power of the words used by the poets not the meaning but rather meaningfulness. With the selected poems for the students, they became consciously human again despite the dilemma the COVID-19 pandemic brought globally because every imagination related to the poems creates humanity which is the highest morality.

Assessment Activities Applying Intertextuality

          The researcher finds that creating such a well-structured and reflective atmosphere among students is extremely beneficial, especially when students develop confidence in their interpretations of the given texts, and are then willing to ask some fine questions with gusto in their group chat (GC) through Messenger. After making a few introductory remarks and input (in the module) about someone’s experience simply of one human being as imagined by the poet, the instructor poses questions asking students what they think of their close reading regarding the first examples of poems they have just completed. Inevitably most students wrote in their analysis that their memories were refreshed concerning the terms nostalgia, de javu, og-ogfu, and requiem as were mentioned in the introductory part of the module. Consider the example activities below where most students received satisfactory merits from the instructor

Example 1

Self-Assessment 2.5

DIRECTIONS: Compare the two experiences as depicted in “Ili-na” and “The Site of My Grandfather’s House.”

This activity was formulated to combine the true essence of homesickness and traveling to one’s hometown which is timely and relevant in today’s problem regarding the effect of COVID-19. From the result of this activity, the students were encouraged to have personal revelations, personal involvement with literacy, and expanded personal horizons related to the poems.

Another activity on the poems of Kilmer’s “Trees” and Saboy’s “Requiem of a Pine Tree” is given which is a good way to show appreciation for the poems read. One surely can prove the understanding of the poem’s message through close reading. This is when the student communicates the private, personal, unique experience of the poet/persona.

Example 2

Self-Assessment 2.6

DIRECTIONS: Describe in your own words the site of Grandfather’s house as the persona finds it. You may employ quotations in your description to help you imagine concretely the scene.

The application of quotation as another intertextual form means quoting others’ words or sentences from the previous texts. The quoted words or sentences are either the same as the whole source text or a variation of the source text.

Example 3

Self-Assessment 2.2

DIRECTIONS: Answer what is asked.

1. In light of the poems about trees as a whole, what significance do you find in Saboy’s initial description of the pine tree?
2. Present any photo about a situation in which you have felt depressed and how it made you feel about what happened to trees. Don’t forget to give a caption to the image.

Example 4

Post-Test

DIRECTIONS: Write a brief composition you would have about the visual object below. In what way was “Og-ogfu” depicted in the figure compared to Bacwaden’s poem? Do you believe people nowadays can help and work with each other with kindness?

The above examples of activities employing the Intertextuality Approach provided in the students’ module were effective for students’ achievement that led to more personal connections giving the full measure of their revelations, personal involvement with literacy, and expanded personal horizon related to the poems considering that poetry is far more difficult to understand compared to fictional prose.

With these concerns in mind, the instructor hastened to accept the point that reading the poems as straightforward, original fabrications by the poets is perfectly effective and rewarding. Of course, since the method is based on Intertextuality and its benefits in teaching literature, connections to other, older poems will, however, be pointed out with clock-like uniformity, and should, therefore, be expected by the students.

The Forms of Assessment Employed on Intertextuality

          The Forms of Intertextuality

The researcher will start by presenting the findings based on the framework of analysis for the study before discussing these findings as bases to give a comprehensive answer to the second research question: What forms and types of intertextualities are prevalent in the critical analysis among the pre-service TED students?

The following table represents the framework of analysis. It includes the forms of intertextuality reviewed from the selected essay writings of the students based on activities similar to the examples above and is anchored from Pecorari and Shaw’s (2012) typology of intertextuality.

In this paper, different levels were looked at in the students’ submitted modules. These levels were developed by looking first at the typology and finally going over each instance of intertextuality identified in the corpus of student writing.

Table 1. Framework of Analysis

          This section begins by analyzing indirect intertextuality at its word level, and paragraph level. There are no instances of sentence-level indirect intertextuality because the use of sources at the sentence level is always conventional (with proper acknowledgment) or unconventional (without proper acknowledgment).

Indirect Intertextuality

          Indirect Word level Intertextuality

One way of looking at indirect intertextuality in the selected writings of the students is to look at some bundles of words commonly used in the student writings. At this level, there were only a few selected students’ outputs to enumerate commonly used words and phrases throughout the selected assessment activities of the students. The researcher classified them as 3-Word, 4-Word, and 5-Word Bundle. The following figures and tables show the most frequent 3, 4, and 5-word bundles used in the selected students’ critical essay writings.

Figure 5. Most frequently used 3-word bundle in the selected students’ assessment activities.

To summarize the most frequently applied 3-word bundle in the students’ assessment activities, consider Table 2.

Table 2. Ranking of 3-word bundle.

Figure 6. Most frequently used 4-word bundle in the selected students’ assessment activities.

To summarize the most frequently applied 4-word bundle in the students’ assessment activities, consider Table 3.

Table 3. Ranking of the 4-word bundle.

Figure 7. Most frequently used 5-word bundle in the selected students’ assessment activities.

Table 4. Ranking of 5-word bundle.

          One way of looking at indirect intertextuality in the students’ writings was to look at some frequently used generic phrases, words, or bundles of words that are common in the students’ critical essay writing. The above bundles of words were expected to be frequently used because of the assessment questions given to their modules. Although there are other frequently used word bundles from the whole word count in each selected student’s writing, the researcher decided not to include those that are below five (5). Only those word bundles above were selected because they contributed to the meaning and coherence of the student’s assessment activities based on their literary analysis. The researcher found out that those bundles of words that ranked No. 1 were the most commonly applied in the students’ papers.

          The following word bundles deliver an intertextual relationship that occurs in the student’s papers following a familiar pattern of academic writing common to students in the Teacher Education Department.

          Finally, and again, although the above findings are quite limited in terms of quantity, it was worth looking at that at least the students were able to apply transitional words and phrases to provide a smooth flow of intertextual relationship of sentences and paragraphs; hence, representing evidence of intertextuality in their interpretation of the lessons in their module.

          Indirect Paragraph Level Intertextuality

          Indirect paragraph-level intertextuality is focused on the standard format of paragraph writing which was taught by our English teachers at the primary level. The standard format is always repeated yearly in our English classes that should be followed. Although there are common problems in the students’ writings, the researcher was able to focus only on the organization of the student’s ideas related to the question and based on the provided rubrics where there should be a typical pattern of organization of the paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting sentences, then, in some cases a concluding sentence at the end of the paragraph. The following example is from one of the activities above of Student X, who gave a personal interpretation of the question: Compare the two experiences as depicted in “Ili-na” and “The Site of My Grandfather’s House.”

          Student X: (Edited by the researcher)

          In both poems, you have the essence of “There is no place like home”: as shown in the poem “Ili-na,” the speaker of the persona returns to his hometown in a dream and after a long absence working hard abroad. In the poem, “The Site of My Grandfather’s House,” the speaker travels to his family’s hometown to visit his grandfather.

            In the first poem, the speaker was so strange because the town he left after many years had changed including the children whom he left were already fully grown up and with families. He yearns for the “long lost ties of long ago”. In the second poem, the speaker was disappointed because he found nothing except for a barren land his father used to play when he was a boy. There, he cried realizing the fact that his father left the place to leave and work in a foreign land because he doesn’t have means of livelihood in the past.

            The experience of the two speakers became an eye opener to us generations to have an answer why there are parents who have to leave their hometown just to work abroad.

          This selected example presents an indirect paragraph-level intertextuality that reminds of genre analysis because of its paragraph pattern in composition writing. This paragraph-level example does not suggest that the student’s analysis makes more use of the particular pattern than other students, nor that this is the only student paper chosen because it follows a correct paragraph pattern; rather, it establishes this form of intertextuality.

Conventional Intertextuality

Conventional intertextuality, according to Pecorari and Shaw (2012), is a proper acknowledgment of a source of a text by writing conventions of referencing and citation. This section begins by looking at conventional intertextuality at the word level and then moves to the sentence and paragraph levels.

Conventional Word level Intertextuality

This level of intertextuality pertains to the words or phrases/bundles of words directly copied, substituted through synonymous terms, paraphrased, or grammatically changed taken copied from the module, and integrated into the student’s assessments. There are papers also with similar words used but the position of the words was changed. Some students copied the vernacular words taken from the poems but were not enclosed with quotation marks. Some papers added paraphrased words and kept some of them showing that the student wants to keep the meaning of the source, but at the same time changed some words, including the order of words and structures of the paragraph. Consider the example below.

Student Y

In the poem of Ma. De Concepcion’s Ili-na which he wrote in 1925, is an Ilokano term meaning “his town,” and azucena is also a Spanish term borrowed which means white lily…

          Source: (Module in Literary Criticism, p. 7)

            The poem “Ili-na” is of course in English. But “ili-na” is Ilocano for “his town,” and “azucena” is Spanish adopted into several languages for the white lily (Lilium Candidum). (Abad & Hidalgo, 2003-19)

The output of Student Y is still considered conventional because there was an applicable acknowledgment to the source where the student mentioned the author and the year the poem was published (Ma. De Concepcion Ili-na written in 1925). However, there are no quotation marks for the vernacular terms taken directly from the source but still, but the sense of what he wrote is still there. Although there are matches between the source and the student’s paper which were not put between quotation marks, they are still acceptable. In addition to that, there are also alterations of the source text using synonyms like the word: adopted-borrowed, as well as changing the word order and the structure of sentences.

Conventional Sentence level Intertextuality

Conventional sentence level intertextuality is the application of source text sentences with correct acknowledgment; that is, indicating the author, the date of publication, and the page reference next to the parts taken from the source which are paraphrased or quoted. A paraphrase may also include key terms that may be central to the meaning, yet appropriately cited such as the example below.

Student Z:

In the poem of Scott, Magkachi Saboy entitled, Requiem of the Pine Tree (2009), he believes that the controversial tree can be a fitting symbol of the New Baguio which is enveloped in the horrible smoke of vehicles instead of fog and pine scent. Baguio City is a place where the natural and native are being replaced or superimposed with something artificial and imported…

Source: Saboy (2009)

“I believe that the controversial tree can be a fitting symbol of the New Baguio: a city enveloped in odious car fumes instead of fog and pine scent; a place where the natural and native are being replaced or superimposed with something special and imported; a commercial area where some have become insensitive to the commodification of our indigenous culture exemplified by cute, toothless grannies at Botanical Garden posing in front of a tourist camera…” (54-55)

The example written by Student Z shows an acceptable way of incorporating information from Saboy’s (2009) lines cited in their module, by paraphrasing and attributing the source properly. The source text by Saboy (2009), above, shows an ellipsis at the end of the paragraph which indicates that there is still a continuation that the student, for some reason, chose not to use.

Conventional Paragraph level Intertextuality

This form of conventional paragraph-level intertextuality is associated with a long quotation taken from a source necessary to heighten the idea in an academically acceptable way. This is a format in academic writing where long quotes between quotation marks were presented as an indented block of text, and this block of text may or may not be put between quotation marks. The example of Student Z exemplifies this level of intertextuality.

Unconventional Intertextuality

Unconventional intertextuality, according to Pecorari and Shaw (2012), is an inappropriate use of earlier source texts by lack of acknowledgment. This may be unintentionally done. This section looks at unconventional intertextuality at the word, sentence, and paragraph levels. The word and sentence levels have been combined into a single section.

Unconventional Word and Sentence level Intertextuality

Applying unconventional word-level intertextuality relates to using words or phrases from a source without proper acknowledgment. Even if the scope of copied words or phrases is not extreme, incorrect or lack of acknowledgment makes the intertextuality unconventional. In the selected students’ assessment activities, unconventional word level intertextuality is related closely to unconventional sentence level intertextuality where the entire copied sentence(s) from the source was not properly acknowledged.

A paper by Student A displays an interaction between unconventional intertextuality at the word and sentence levels. The example shows how Student A copied a sentence from the internet, keeping some keywords/phrases and substituting others (both forms of word level intertextuality), but overall keeping the same structure and order of words of the source (sentence level intertextuality) and also providing no reference to the source.

Unconventional Paragraph level Intertextuality

This level of intertextuality is applied when longer languages are taken from the source in large amounts that are close to each other or use similar ideas as the source but using a different language. This form of intertextuality seems unconventional as it shows full copying of whole paragraphs and doing very few changes, or using paragraph-long quotations from the source (but if attributed then this would be conventional intertextuality).

Overview of the Forms of Intertextuality

The above table shows the kind of occurrences of the forms of intertextuality in this study. The table avoided providing exact measures of frequencies because this research study aimed to label the forms of intertextuality present in the TED pre-service students’ writing – providing an exact frequency, or comparing frequencies with other groups of writers is not an aim of this research paper.

The various forms of intertextuality in the study indicate a combination of indirect, conventional, and unconventional use of intertextuality in the TED pre-service students’ assessment papers as a requirement in modular learning. That is, most of the students who participated in this study use sources in a variety of ways, indicating their effort because they learned the process of citation in Senior High School, on different levels, to meet the expectations of literary analysis in the MPSPC context.

The Types of Intertextualities

          Ekphrasis Intertextuality Analysis

          As was mentioned by Wagner (1996), ekphrasis comes into being when a writer describes a visual object such as a painting or sculpture with verbal media such as a novel, poem, or other writings. In connection with this, the students were tasked to capture any image related to Kilmer’s “Trees” and Saboy’s “Requiem of the Pine Tree” and describe it using any verbal media they prefer as seen below:

          Iconotext Intertextuality Analysis

          Still, on Wagner, he mentioned Iconotext as the usage of reference or allusion, in an obvious or implied way to any image in a text or vice versa. Micheal Nerlich defines it as a mingling of pictures and words in one object or within a given framework. Iconotext can also exist in such works in which one medium is only implied, for example, the reference to a painting in a fictional text (Wagner: 1996, 15-16). The students were tasked to capture any image as a reference to John Denver’s “Back Home Again” and Bacwaden’s “Bontoc, Ili ay Kalalaychan” as seen below:

Image A:

The rice terraces of Bontoc, Mountain Province which is the pride of the “Ifuntoks.”

Students Past Experiences

          This section, is an exploration of the confirmed selected students’ previous educational experiences as a response to the 3^rd question: What are the pre-service TED students’ past experiences of academic literary analysis writing? As was mentioned earlier that there were ten (10) selected students based on their literary outputs who responded online for an open-ended interview which provided the researcher insights into their educational background. This section is organized into identified themes relevant to their outputs. This includes sub-sections on their experience of writing, the experience of citation and referencing, and the experience of applying in-text quotations. The exploration of the participants’ experience within the identified themes was enabled by a more detailed coding of the data as seen below:

          Writing Experiences

During the online interview and personal interview, the researcher directly asked the students about their past experiences in composition writing. The researcher gave a positive complement based on the outputs handed by the students to him. As a researcher, he mentioned to the participants that he wasn’t hard up to check their outputs because as far as the essay writing is concerned, there was an organization of ideas from the first paragraph down to the conclusion. Above all, the essay did follow the guidelines on how to write a critical essay which was first introduced in the first module. As one participant revealed that even though they learned the forms and styles in essay writing through discussion inside the classroom, what matters most is the application on how to use them is where the participant learned the most of it.

Experiences in Form and Style

In the same way, another participant points out how he and his classmates received only limited information during his senior high school years in his locality about paraphrasing and citation. It was introduced as part of their group research project that they had to complete. As shown in the extract from the interview, the participant admitted that they had to rely on the internet how to do citations and paraphrasing because they just only received very limited knowledge about it, as a result, they applied citation and paraphrasing in their research study but not so much complete.

          Extract A:

          The Researcher: “Okay, can you please share how did you learn the art of paraphrasing and citation”? Did you learn that when you were in senior high school?

            Student B: “We had in Grade 12, a kind of research, a basic one that should be passed as our requirement. The teacher gave us a very limited explanation on how to apply it, but frankly, I learned more about it when I am in college already”.

So far, out of all of the participants, they mentioned that they have a few ideas on citation and paraphrasing. Only when they are in college that they learned them in their English subjects.

          Experience in Evaluative and Critical Essay Activities

All participants who were interviewed noted that critical essay activities were the major way of assessing students in schools. Evaluative assessments were usually directed towards testing students’ knowledge that was presented in class or their modules. Student C, in the following extract (Extract B), talked about how she was expected to research to be able to pass her English subject, which seemed the basis for assessment in her Grade 12 level which is the opposite of Student D’s revelation.

Extract B:

Student C: “In fact, I have to apply the target points which were indicated in the given rubrics of the essay activity. This is where you have to emphasize the citation, quotation, and composition format. Although it needs to have thorough research work, you have to make sure that you applied the forms of writing because that is where you will be graded. And I did it.”

Extract C:

Student D: “With the modular learning we have in school today, I learned it by following what is in store in our module.”

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