THE ROLE OF LITERATURE CURRICULUM

Literature in Secondary Schools appears to be losing its prestige and lacks popularity among our adolescents. Can we conclude that this a consequence of the poor treatment of the subject or our  inability to disseminate its importance to our students?
As educators, have we understood the role of the Literature Curriculum to effectively teach pass this on to our students?

Richardson and Miller (2001) assert that Literature has four fundamental roles in the School's Curriculum. They include:

1. Literature helps students become emotionally involved with events and people.
      Smagorinsky and Gevinson postulate  that teachers must help students " to respond 
       emphatically to literary characters and their experiences." Thus, to assist our students in   
      developing their emotional and interpersonal skills, we need to 
      select material which will help evoke this feelings from our students in an effort to help with
      the transition from the events in the book to the realistic events which await them.
      Additionally, as teachers we need to ensure that we are able to make these connections with 
     the texts in order to effectively develop this skill within our students. 

Additionally, Richardson and Miller posit that the Literature Curriculum assists students in understanding reality. Students develop analytical and  comprehension skills through their readings and experiences with Literature. They are therefore able to solve the issues which they may encounter more critically and make sense of the world around them. Moreover, it is our responsibility to allow our students to take ownership of their reading and responding to Literature. To begin this process, we need to vary our approaches such as response journals, book clubs and materials to encourage a group of readers who read for more than just acquiring information but for pleasure or mere self-indulgence.

The International Reading Association's Adolescent Literacy Commission contend that "adolescents deserve access to a wide variety of reading material that they can and want to read." (Moore, Bean, Birdyshaw & Rycik, 1999, p.4) Succinctly put, the literature must be captivating to the students and provide stories of satisfactory endings ( Richard-Miller 2001). These stories should provide  a sense of hope for the students and encourage them to transfer this to their daily lives when resolving conflict. Likewise, educators in an effort to place greater emphasis on the importance of Literature, should select themes which are connected  across the curriculum in order to help students make connections and see its relevance (Marshall George 2001).

Furthermore, Richardson (2001) state that the Literature Curriculum should provide a common, shared experience for the teacher and all students. Thus, the materials which form part of the curriculum must relate to the students mixed backgrounds,  emotional needs and their learning diversities to promote both efferent and aesthetic reading among our pupils. Louise Rosenblatt (1995, p. 37) cements this view saying " literature must have some connection to students' lives"

Is it safe then to conclude, that the importance of Literature can be accentuated through the efforts of us, the edducators?