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Explicit teaching of narratives at the upper secondary level
Author
Jaswant Singh
Supervisor
Kramer-Dahl, Anneliese
Abstract
This study examines the impact of explicit teaching of the narrative genre in a local neighbourhood secondary school. The primary impetus for the study was provided by perceived shortcomings in the current approaches practised in the secondary school with respect to narrative writing; such approaches are ad hoc and produce little development in students' narratives across the four/five years they are in the school.
The study involved an intervention centred on the explicit teaching of narratives in accordance with Rothery's curriculum cycle (1996), which is designed to complement a genre-based approach to the teaching of narratives. The principled approach advocated by the curriculum cycle is justified in this study through a comparison with current practices, an exploration of the literature justifying such an approach, and by suggesting how the curriculum cycle can address current shortcomings. The intervention thus aims to provide evidence for the adoption of principled, explicit teaching of narratives on a school-wide context through the curriculum cycle, using the results of an intervention involving a smaller sample size of twelve students who have consistently performed relatively poor in writing tasks, particularly narrative writing tasks.
The secondary thrust for the study was provided by the introduction of the new EL 2001 syllabus, which requires the teaching of various text types (genres). It was felt, for reasons discussed in Chapter 1, that explicit teaching using the curriculum cycle would directly complement the realisation of the EL 2001 syllabus in practical terms, particularly with respect to writing.
The intervention, carried out over fifteen sessions in total and involving selected Secondary Three and Five students, aimed to provide evidence of specific development in terms of students' staging of narratives, and the specific aspects of register that develop as a result of the intervention. To maintain the validity of the claims made at the end of the study, the data gathered at the end of the intervention was only evaluated for genre and those aspects of register which were covered in the intervention. Chapter 4 discusses the gains observed in terms of genre, and reports on the students' generally improved staging of narratives. Chapter 5 discusses the development in specific register variables of Field, Tenor, and Mode, in particular the use of appropriate theme-related lexis, use of circumstantial information, the development of protagonists' subjective worlds as part of development in Tenor, and the increased use of complex sentences with multiple clauses to link and present information more cohesively. Chapter 6 provides a summative account of the feasibility of utilising the explicit teaching approach on a larger context based on these reported gains, addresses some of the concerns arising from the intervention, the limitations of the study, and directions for further research.
The study involved an intervention centred on the explicit teaching of narratives in accordance with Rothery's curriculum cycle (1996), which is designed to complement a genre-based approach to the teaching of narratives. The principled approach advocated by the curriculum cycle is justified in this study through a comparison with current practices, an exploration of the literature justifying such an approach, and by suggesting how the curriculum cycle can address current shortcomings. The intervention thus aims to provide evidence for the adoption of principled, explicit teaching of narratives on a school-wide context through the curriculum cycle, using the results of an intervention involving a smaller sample size of twelve students who have consistently performed relatively poor in writing tasks, particularly narrative writing tasks.
The secondary thrust for the study was provided by the introduction of the new EL 2001 syllabus, which requires the teaching of various text types (genres). It was felt, for reasons discussed in Chapter 1, that explicit teaching using the curriculum cycle would directly complement the realisation of the EL 2001 syllabus in practical terms, particularly with respect to writing.
The intervention, carried out over fifteen sessions in total and involving selected Secondary Three and Five students, aimed to provide evidence of specific development in terms of students' staging of narratives, and the specific aspects of register that develop as a result of the intervention. To maintain the validity of the claims made at the end of the study, the data gathered at the end of the intervention was only evaluated for genre and those aspects of register which were covered in the intervention. Chapter 4 discusses the gains observed in terms of genre, and reports on the students' generally improved staging of narratives. Chapter 5 discusses the development in specific register variables of Field, Tenor, and Mode, in particular the use of appropriate theme-related lexis, use of circumstantial information, the development of protagonists' subjective worlds as part of development in Tenor, and the increased use of complex sentences with multiple clauses to link and present information more cohesively. Chapter 6 provides a summative account of the feasibility of utilising the explicit teaching approach on a larger context based on these reported gains, addresses some of the concerns arising from the intervention, the limitations of the study, and directions for further research.
Date Issued
2003
Call Number
PE1471 Jas
Date Submitted
2003