A genre-based assessment of the approaches used by selected teachers in the teaching of the literary essay in the high school.
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Date
1995
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Abstract
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.
Description
Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1995.
Keywords
Theses--Education., Literature--Study and teaching (Secondary), English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching (Secondary)