Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe selection and role of literary texts in the ESL classroom( 1995)This study investigated five secondary teachers selection of literary texts and perception of the role literature plays in the ESL language classroom. The teachers were chosen from four schools in the Melbourne metropolitan area and were interviewed individually except for one school where two teachers were interviewed for the research. The interviews were tape recorded and transcribed and formed the main body of data As supplementary data interviews were also conducted with ten students (one 'good student and one weak student chosen by each teacher). The case studies revealed that criteria for text selection were related to considerations for students needs features of the text the teachers preferences in reading practical issues related to the availability of text and examination requirements. The research confirmed the perceptions of writers on this area who have maintained that literature is often used as a context for generating language activities and for imparting knowledge about the target culture The data also found that literature was used to affirm the students own cultural identities.
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ItemPersonal knowledge and the teaching of literature( 1981)The study explores the place of pupils' personal response in the teaching of literature. The same short story was taught by a different teacher to each of four year-eight classes. The classes were taped, the students' written work was collected and the teachers were interviewed about a number of issues relating to English teaching and the development of personal response. The teachers' comments and practice were juxtaposed against central tenets of Michael Polanyi's thought, with a view to identifying the degree to which his account of "personal knowledge" accorded with intuitive practice of good teachers. His ideas were found to have considerable relevance to the teaching of literature. In an effort to relate classroom strategies to pupils' personal responses, Roy Thomas' adaptation of Eisner's objectives, and his own notion of a "teaching point" were employed as a framework for comparison. While these tools of analysis proved ultimately inadequate in accounting for all the elements contributing to such engagement, they did make possible the identification of a number of important features of classroom practice. The study closes with some general observations about strategies, attitudes, values and beliefs, likely to result in a deeper awareness of the text and in a personal engagement with it.