Teachers' approaches to teaching Patrick Flanery's novel Absolution to Grade 12 learners at two IEB schools in Johannesburg

Abstract

As a prescribed Grade 12 IEB (Independent Exams Board) English Home Language (HL) text, Absolution written by Patrick Flanery (2012) has proven to be a very difficult text to teach. It is for this reason that I have chosen to conduct research into the various ways that Grade 12 teachers have approached the teaching of this novel. In my experience as a Grade 12 English teacher my engagement with a vast variety of IEB prescribed English texts has been wholly accessible to learners and teachers, offering complete engagement and understanding of the various concepts explored within each text. As IEB (Independent Exams Board) prescribed English texts remain prescribed for the duration of two years, each year provides an opportunity to further develop my experience in conveying the nuances relating to theme, character and style. In my experience, such a process has always been achievable, satisfying and highly rewarding; however the option to select Absolution as the Grade 12 English Home Language set text for 2015 and 2016 presented challenges due to the complexities of both style and content inherent in this text. The unusually dense nature of this text has made it extremely difficult for Grade 12 learners to engage with the novel in a profound way. It is for this reason that I would like to conduct research into the methods and underlying models for teaching literature that IEB English teachers have used when approaching the teaching of this specific text in their Grade 12 English classrooms. Drawing on the models for teaching literature as first proposed by Ronald Carter and Michael Long (1991) as well as Gillian Lazar (1993), various teacher approaches will be investigated. Using a qualitative method of research, questionnaires were completed by two teachers from an independent school for girls and three teachers from an independent school for boys. Focused group interviews were conducted with one teacher from each of the schools as a way of clarifying certain responses to the questionnaire that was initially completed. Careful analysis of the data provided through both the questionnaire and the focused group interview, led to the conclusion that understanding literary theory as well as the context in which the novel is set is fundamental in allowing for an intensive study of the novel as well as a clear understanding of the nuances contained within the novel.