Nisha's Reflection 4

Literature in Nan Chiau High

The school does literature in a programme called English Communicative Arts (ECA). The secondary 1s are doing Emily of the Emerald Hill while the Secondary 2s are doing Macbeth.  This programme combines both English and Literature in an attempt to link those two subjects so that students see how they are related to each other. However in my opinion, it has made students hate literature. None of the four sec two classes that I teach, love Literature and they hate English even more because the literature text is used to teach English. I also learnt from my CT that they choose texts based on the canon and when I asked her and another teacher why the Secondary twos are doing Macbeth instead of a local text, their reply was that they are traditional and would prefer to stick to a canon. More importantly they felt that if the kids are not exposed to Shakespeare then they have not learnt literature.  This misconception of what is literature was a disapointment to me with addition to their reason for teaching a Shakespearean text.

Therefore it came as a no surprise when I found out that only half a class is doing Literature in upper sec this year and with none last year. Thus the most they had in Upper Secondary doing Literature was half a class with alternating years none.

The reasons why certain students like Literature was because of the plot in the story. The main reason why they don’t enjoy literature is because of the “alien” language used in the Shakespearean texts and thus they tend to only read the English translation in their text. Other then the fact that the language is discouraging to them, they also dislike literature because they don’t like memorising quotes in a “foreign language” and quoting them, which is what my CT expects. Futhermore, because English is combined with Literature, students feel that in order to do well in literature they need to be good in English. This discourages students who are not good in their language to dislike Literature.

Literature is taught in their school using the texts as a basis to teach English. For example through a fill in the blanks worksheet to test students on their grammer using the Macbeth plot as the pasage and so on. Also because Literature is combined with English, students are not exposed to the full depth of the text as only themes, plot summary, characterization and language is covered in an overview for each Act in Macbeth. Literature for Secondary 2s is taught by going from Act 1 till Act 5 using worksheets. When I start teaching from next week I am supposed to cover Act 3 in 4 periods in which 2 periods to cover the plot summary, 1 period for character analysis only for scene 2 and language and the atmosphere for secene 4, which is the Banquet scene. Thus only selected scenes and selected areas are emphaised, which to me defeats the purpose of doing literature and is no surprise that students don’t enjoy the subject. Also because Nan Chiau High has a 10-day timetable, this means that out of the 13 periods of ECA only 4 periods are allocated for literature and rest for English. Literature is generally taught using PowerPoint slides which are so wordy and boring and worksheets, which are so language, based.

Assessment for Literauture comes as no surprise as the traditional exams and tests. The principal is very exam and results driven so that is why their school days are way longer then typical schools and they are tested for Literature with English via written homework, test papers, CA1, SA1 and so on. Due to how Literauture is being taught and tested, it is no surprise that students see Literature as a memory work in which they just blindly memorise and regurgitate and for those who don’t like the subject, they just focus on other subjects that they can score well in becaue of the results driven system of the school.

With such a mechanial and technical teaching and learning of Literature that has its depths and richness in the ability to connect with the students emotionally because of how they are all emotional feeling beings like every human is the reason why Literature is a declining subject. I feel that teaches should spend some time to share with students the purpose and skills that this subject emparts them and to teach it in a way that involves not just their ability to memorise but more importantly their ability to think and feel. Students need to be shown how Literature stands out from other subjects because it is the only feeling subject in their curriculam with a no right or wrong answer as long as they are able to substantiate their answers logically.

I am deeply discouraged by the fact that I am not allowed to teach Literature as how I feel it deemed to be taught for my practicum but to use the school’s worksheets and structure to teach it. On a final note, if Literature is to be saved the teaching, learning and assessment of Literature needs to change or it will just be like any other techincal subject with no meaning and purpose in which students choose other technical subjects as language is not a hinderance for them to ace the subject. I believe that once students see the relevance, meaning and purpose of any subject that they are studying, they would be more intrinsically motivated to learn it.