English Teaching: Practice and Critique
The literature study programme trial: Challenging construction of English in the Seychelles
Volume 4 Number 2 September 2005
Margaret Moumou (School of Education, University of Waikato)
This paper provides an outline of the development
and trialling during 2004 of the Literature Study Programme (LSP), a
literature programme designed for use in the junior secondary classes
of Seychelles. The programme was developed as a teaching and
learning component concerned with the study of literature within the
English language programme in the Seychelles, which had been hitherto
absent in both the enacted and intended English language curriculum of
the country. This paper reports on the structure and organisation
of the LSP, its design philosophy, the assessment procedures employed,
the results of the evaluation, and the implications for teaching
literature at the junior secondary level in Seychelles. The
results of the evaluation show a high level of support for literature
as an area of study by both students and teachers. The programme
as an initial design for teaching literature has also received a high
level of approval from participants. Recommendations for the
programme are also highlighted in this paper. The writer
concludes with a word of caution against relegating literature study to
the background.