Teachers’ approaches to and experiences of teaching literature to English second language learners at selected high schools in the Pinetown District, South Africa.

Abstract

Teaching literature in the English Second Language (ESL) classroom has been a core aspect of the English curriculum for decades in local and international contexts. The primary aim of this study was to explore the ESL teachers’ experiences and the approaches they use to teach literature in the selected high schools in South Africa. Literature is known to be a source of language development, imagery, critical thinking, learner motivation, social awareness, tolerance, self-awareness, and other skills and values. It is also believed that such skills and values are harnessed in learner-centred classrooms, with the teacher as a facilitator. However, findings also show that teacher centredness is also necessary but should be limited, so the teacher and the expertise cannot be entirely removed from the ESL literature classroom. It was noted that teachers’ childhood, high school, and tertiary experiences and approaches used have a direct influence on how they teach literature in their classes. The constructivist learning theory underpinned this qualitative case study as a theoretical framework. ESL literature classrooms must be constructivist by evoking learners’ prior knowledge and propelling them to use that knowledge to create new knowledge by assimilating it with what they already know. Traditional classrooms are often the cause of the lack of motivation for literature reading, lack of language proficiency, and, eventually, poor academic performance in literature. The approaches used by the teachers also have a direct influence on how learners engage in the classroom. Findings showed that teachers use different approaches to teaching literature, and they integrate skills and not just teach literature independently but infuse listening, writing and presenting. The interpretivist paradigm was adopted, and data were generated from a purposive and convenience sample of 12 English high school teachers from three schools within one education district. The researcher employed a qualitative questionnaire with open-ended questions, a visual method, semi-structured face-to-face interviews, and classroom observations to generate data. This thesis contributes to knowledge by showing that the teachers’ experiences and how they were taught have a direct bearing on their current teaching practices.