published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

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Jacques Derrida argued that a supplement "adds only to replace." Since the blind Milton dictated his epic to amanuenses, the text of Paradise Lost may be conceived as a supplement to an aural performance. This dissertation itself supplements another project, a digital "audiotext" or classroom edition of Paradise Lost on which I am collaborating with Professor John Rumrich and others. In the audiotext, we reassert the duality of the work as both a print text and an oral epic by integrating an audio recording with an electronic text of the poem. This pairing is informed by our own experiences teaching Paradise Lost as well as by cognitive research demonstrating that comprehension increases when students read and hear a text sequentially or simultaneously. As both a wellspring of the audiotext project and a meditation on its aims, this dissertation investigates the actual effects on readers of print and digital supplements putatively designed to enhance their appreciation or study of the work. The first two chapters examine the rationale and influence of the authorial and editorial matter added to early editions. The final two chapters explore the ways in which digital technology is changing how scholars and readers interact with Paradise Lost and other works of literature. I begin by examining why the first edition of Paradise Lost arrived in 1667 bearing no front matter other than a title page. In Chapter Two, I argue that critics have undervalued the interpretive significance of the prose summaries or Arguments that Milton appended to Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. Chapter Three relates the current emphasis on electronic textual encoding in editorial theory to the ideological dominance of Richard Bentley's conjectural approach in the early seventeenth century and of Fredson Bowers's copy-text approach in the 1960s and 70s. Chapter Four introduces the audiotext project and contrast its goals with those of other projects in the Digital Humanities. The audiotext's interface offers multiple viewing modes, enabling the user to display the reading text alone or in parallel with annotations and other supplements. Unlike prior editions and archives, therefore, it accommodates both immersive and analytical reading modes. / text

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

This study aims to investigate how isiZulu literary texts that are prescribed at secondary schools perpetuate and reinforce gender stereotypes. Situated within the interpretive paradigm, the study is a qualitative case study of one secondary school at Nkandla area, in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. Semi-structured interviews with teachers at the school as well as the Department of Education official were used to collect data. The DoE official that was interviewed is one of the personnel responsible for the selection of isiZulu literary texts for schools. Teachers interviewed were also responsible for the selection of isiZulu literary texts in the school for grades eight to ten. A semi structured interview schedule was developed as a research instrument. Content analysis was used to analyse selected literary texts as well as the Department of Education guidelines document for the selection and prescription of isiZulu literary texts. Pharr's (1988) theory of oppression as well as two of the five faces of oppression formulated by Young (1990) were used to develop a conceptual framework for the study. Findings of the study indicate that in ten out of the eleven books that were analysed, both males and females are stereotypically represented. In these books women are portrayed as nurturers, housewives, dependent, and so on. On the other side, men are portrayed as heads of families, independent, successful, artful, business people, strong, and so on. Only one book was found to challenge the stereotypes about women and men. Recommendations were formulated. Among others, it is recommended that further research be conducted to explore gender issues during the process of selection and prescription of isiZulu literary texts to be used in schools. Lolu cwanmgo luWose ukuhlola ukuthi imibhalo yobuciko yesiZulu efundwa ezikoleni zamabanga aphezulu iyigqugquzela kanjani imibono emlswe ngokobulili. Ngaphansi kwepharadaymu yomhumusho (interpretive paradigm) lolu lucwaningo lwesimo sotho (qualitative case study) lwesikole esisendaweni yaseNkandla, enhla nekwaZulu-Natali. Kusetshenziswe inhlololwazi esakuhleleka ukuqoqa ulwazi kothisha nasesikhulwini soMnyango WezeMfundo. Isikhulu soMnyango WezeMfundo esahlanganyela kulolu cwanmgo slymgxenye ekuqokweni kwemibhalo yobuciko yesiZulu efundwayo ezikoleni. Othisha abangabahlanganyeli (ababebambe iqhaza) kulolu cwaningo bayingxenye futhi ekuqokweni kwemibhalo yobuciko yesiZulu yamabanga esishiyagalombili kuya kweleshumi esikoleni abafundisa kuso. Kusetshenziswe isheduli yenhlololwazi esakuWeleka ukuthola ulwazi esikhulwini soMnyango WezeMfundo kanye nakothisha. Kuphinde kwasetshenziswa uhlaziyo lokuqukethwe (content analysis) ukucubungula imibhalo yobuciko kanye nomhlahlandlela woMnyango WezeMfundo olawula ukuqokwa kwezincwadi (imibhalo yobuciko. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

This study investigates issues around the teaching of the literary essay in the high school. The purpose of the study is to explore the instructional approaches used by selected high school teachers in respect of the literary essay, and to gain an insight into teacher and student perceptions of the essay and its place in the English syllabus. This study also examines the effect of the genre-based process on student argumentative writing at the senior certificate level. A review and theoretical consideration of principles and approaches to teaching the essay is included. The sample comprised two groups. The first was made up of six teachers from schools in the Northdale/Raisethorpe area, Pietermaritzburg, and the second of a class of eighteen standard ten students at a high school in the same area. Data drawn from a survey of the teachers, a content analysis of the students' essays and a Pre-process questionnaire was synthesized with information from relevant literature to formulate the genre-based writing process to which the students were subsequently exposed. The fmdings revealed that current methodologies and perceptions of the essay are product centred with minimal focus on the writing process itself and on specific genre requirements. They indicate that there is a need for teachers and students to develop an awareness of writing as a process of refinement which involves their collaborative effort. It was concluded that the genre-based process is an appropriate methodology for instruction in literary essay writing. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1995.

This study concerns the writing of Geoffrey Hugh Durrant. Durrant’s writing is to a large extent academic in nature, but he also comments on the broader South African society during the course of the 1940s and 1950s. The study has two interrelated objectives, the first archival in nature and the second more theoretical. The archival objective entails bringing to attention Durrant’s writing produced during the period he spent in South Africa. At present this archive remains largely unexplored. The second objective is to relate this body of writing to current thinking regarding the mission of university English Studies in South Africa. The study of languages and literatures in South Africa today finds itself in a complex situation of ongoing changes within the university as an institution, the broader system of education, and a society which in many respects can still be described as becoming a “New South Africa”. This is also true for university English Studies. It will be argued that in this process of transition Durrant’s writing, informed by the challenge to university English Studies to define itself as an independent academic discipline with an essential educational and social function, offers a valuable perspective. In defining the task of English Studies at the university Durrant aligns himself with the critical tradition which at a conceptual level originated in the writing of Matthew Arnold by the middle of the nineteenth century, but came to full fruition only after 1917 in the Cambridge English School. Durrant has to be credited for a measure of original thought and for making a personal contribution to this critical framework in for instance his definition of the concept “practical criticism”. He also has to be credited for including politics into the cultural analysis implicit in this critical framework, something which was never done by the Cambridge critics. This, for Durrant, means that his duty as citizen is not to be separated from his duty as university teacher. Durrant believes that indifference and failure to judge unacceptable political developments will ultimately endanger the values of society and make a self-respecting existence impossible. For university teachers an attitude of indifference will eventually leave the universities with no authority, unable to fulfil their essential task. Durrant sees the university as guardian of a specific type of intellectual activity and therefore as indispensable to society. The essential duty of the university is to cultivate an ability of critical discernment, and it is in this realm that the task of the university and that of English Studies coincide. For Durrant the social mission of English Studies depends on the fostering of a critical ability through engagement with the particular form of language use unique to the literary text. The standards of thought and understanding set by the literary text function as touchstones for life in all its various aspects, and mastery of this type of text affords the level of critical discernment necessary as foundation for a civil self capable of critical judgement. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

In hierdie mini-skripsie word daar na fantasieliteratuur in die multikulturele Afrikaans klaskamer gekyk. Die aard van fantasieliteratuur, naamlik die fabel, sprokie, volksverhaal, mite, legende en toekomsfiksie word omskryf. Die studie poog ook om die ooreenkomste wat bestaan tussen fantasieliteratuur in Engels, Afrikaans, Zoeloe en SeSotho uit te wys en om aan te dui wat die implikasie van hierdie ooreenkomste binne die multikulturele Afrikaanse klas is. SUMMARY This mini-thesis focuses on the study of Fantasy literature in the multicultural Afrikaans classroom. Different genres, ego fable , myth, folktale, fairytale, legend and science fiction will be looked at. The study will also try to look at the similarities present in the fantasy literature of English, Afrikaans, Zulu and seSotho and the implications thereof in the multicultural Afrikaans class. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1999.