This qualitative study explored the potential for decolonizing the secondary English Language Arts classroom. An interdisciplinary approach was used to explore contemporary theories of literary criticism relevant to the study of Aboriginal literature, including an approach through colonial and post-colonial discourse and the growing body of theory and criticism written by North American Aboriginals; to incorporate literary theory and pedagogical knowledge of content into the development of Aboriginal literature units FOR secondary school classrooms; and to incorporate these new interpretive and pedagogical understandings into the practices of two secondary English teachers using North American Aboriginal literature in their classrooms.<p>A document was prepared that explored the interpretive potentials of postcolonial and Aboriginal literary theories and given to the two participating teachers who were able to use this information to develop instructional units for their literature classes. Action research framed the approach used to implement, revise, and evaluate the units of study in the two grade twelve classrooms. <p>The participating teachers found that the critical lenses enabled them to approach Aboriginal literature with more confidence and insight. They also found that their classroom use of Aboriginal literature disclosed the misconceptions their students held concerning Aboriginal peoples. The teachers were frustrated by the systemic racism evident in their classrooms. They were also frustrated by the resistance shown by their teaching peers toward incorporating Aboriginal literature and anti-racist methodologies into their instruction.<p>The findings of this study suggest that more exposure to critical literary theories and minority literatures in the context of teachers pre-service and in-service education may help to decolonize Canadian classrooms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-10252006-070549 |
| Date | 25 October 2006 |
| Creators | Balzer, Geraldine Ann |
| Contributors | Ward, Angela, Robinson, Sam, Ralph, Edwin, Marken, Ronald N. G., Gingell, Susan, Gambell, Trevor, Battiste, Marie |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-10252006-070549/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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