Policing the Text: Structuralism’s Stranglehold on Australian Language and Literacy Pedagogy  

Oleh:

Watkins, Megan

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Language and Education (Full Text) vol. 13 no. 2 (1999), page 118-132.
Fulltext: Vol. 13, No. 2, p 118-132.pdf (517.92KB)

Isi artikel

Language and literacy pedagogy is a hotly contested site. Various theoretical perspectives jostle for dominance with the needs of teachers and students very often given little consideration within the debate. In Australia, ‘structuralist’ approaches to text, in particular those based on systemic functional theory, are clearly in the ascendancy. Their dominance is evident in syllabus documents and curriculum material across Australia. While this move has led to a more explicit teaching of literacy than was the case during the 1970s and 1980s when more naturalistic methodologies prevailed, the structuralist notion of text which frames these approaches is having a marked effect on classroom practice. Text is generally understood as type, a taxonomic conglomerate of formulaic stages. In teaching text as such teachers problematically assume the role of ‘textual police’ ensuring students understand and reproduce these textual ‘rules’. This paper is based upon a recent study of the implementation of such an approach to text in primary school classrooms. It examines the pedagogic practice of one teacher, highlighting the impact of a restrictive and reductive approach to text on her teaching methodology.

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