This Research Report critiques the English Home Language Literature setwork
selection for the period 2009-2011 in terms of the National Curriculum
Statement for English Home Language for Grades 10- 12 to establish whether
there is consonance between policy and practice in this section of the syllabus
and to determine whether the new national syllabus offers a traditional or a
transformational approach to the subject.
In order to do this, the National Curriculum Statement is analysed in terms of
the principles and outcomes which it intends to be actualised in the study of
English and selects those that seem applicable to literature studies. Questions
are formulated encapsulating these principles and used as the tools to critique
the new national literature syllabus both as regards its individual constituent
parts and as regards the syllabus as a whole.
A brief comparison between the current prescribed literature selection and
setworks set from 1942 to the present day establishes whether the new syllabus
has departed from old syllabus designs, whether it acknowledges the new
target group of pupils in multiracial English Home Language classrooms by
offering a revised, wider and more inclusive selection of novels, dramas,
poems and other genres such as short stories, or whether it remains
traditionally Anglocentric in conception.
The conclusions reached are that although the setworks conform to the letter of
the requirements set down in the NCS, the underlying spirit of transformation
is not realised. The inclusion of some poets from Africa and South Africa is
merely content addition to a Eurocentric core curriculum, a form of tokenism
which does not reorientate the syllabus significantly or move it away from its
traditional trajectory. The report suggests that literature of merit from both
Africa and South Africa be included in every part of the syllabus so that it
reflects in some degree the contributions that the continent makes to English
literature, in this way including in its scope the interests and identities of the
wide range of learners studying English Home Language in the South African
context.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/7670 |
| Date | 15 March 2010 |
| Creators | Silverthorne, Rosemary Ann |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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