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Teaching Australian Literature Survey Final Report TEACHING AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE SURVEY FINAL REPORT T MAY 2010 teaching.austlit.edu.au/ R REPO Teaching Australian Literature Survey – Final Report Grants Scheme Teaching Australian Literature Survey 2009 DS7 625 Lead Institution: University of Tasmania Partner Institution/s: The University of Queensland The University of Western Australia University of South Australia Project Leader/s and contact details: Winthrop Professor Philip Mead English and Cultural Studies, M202 School of Social and Cultural Studies The University of Western Australia 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 [email protected] Kerry Kilner Director AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource School of English, Media Studies and Art History The University of Queensland St Lucia QLD 4072 [email protected] Dr Alice Healy David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research (DUCIER) University of South Australia City West Campus GPO Box 2471 Adelaide SA 5001 [email protected] Project Manager Anna Gray Awards, Grants and Fellowships Office Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Students & Education) University of Tasmania Locked Bag 1343 Launceston TAS 7250 [email protected] Teaching Australian Literature Survey – Final Report Contents Table of Acronyms v List of Figures vi List of Figures vii 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY 5 2.1 Approach 5 2.2 Project Management 5 2.3 Questionnaires 6 2.4 Results of questionnaires 7 2.5 The Teaching Aust. Lit. Resource website (http://teaching.austlit.edu.au) 7 2.6 The Teaching Aust. Lit. Resource (http://teaching.austlit.edu.au) 9 3. QUESTIONNAIRES: SUMMARY FINDINGS 13 3.1 Quantitative analysis 14 • Senior secondary teachers of Australian literature questionnaire 14 • Undergraduate questionnaires 16 • Teachers and co-ordinators of university level Australian literature study questionnaire 20 • Overseas Academics’ and Tertiary Teachers’ questionnaire 22 3.2 Qualitative Analysis 23 1. THE POLITICS OF TEACHING AUSTRALIAN LITEraturE 23 • The question of the canon 23 • The importance of Australian literature studies in schools 26 • A national curriculum 26 • Decline or change in Australian literary study at tertiary level 30 • The importance of Australian literature study 31 2. TEXTS FOR TEACHING 35 • Availability of texts 35 • Influences on selection of texts (tertiary level) 37 • Influences on selection of texts (senior secondary level) 39 3. TEACHING, TECHNOLOGY AND RESOURCING 43 • The use of online resources and other communication technologies 43 • Availability of online resources and technologies 45 4. TEACHING METHODOLOGIES AND DISCIPLINARY APPROACHES 47 • Disciplinary contexts 47 • Teaching methodologies in the tertiary sector 49 i) Overall aims for teaching Australian literature 49 ii) Influences on Australian literature teaching 50 iii) Changes in teaching approaches and unit design 51 iv) Critical approaches to unit design 52 v) Indigenous literature and postcolonial paradigms: 53 iv Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Australian Literature Survey – Final Report Contents • Teaching methodologies in the secondary sector 54 i) General learning objectives in teaching English and other Humanities subjects 54 ii) Specific approaches to teaching English and other Humanities subjects 56 iii) Changes to teaching approaches and course design 58 • Undergraduate students’ impressions of Australian literature in tertiary study 60 5. STUDENT EXPERIENCE 61 • Tertiary teachers’ impressions of student experience of Australian literature 61 i) Factors influencing approaches to teaching 61 ii) Tertiary teachers’ impressions of students’ attitudes towards Australian literature 62 iii) Tertiary teachers’ awareness of student experience 63 iv) Tertiary teachers’ impression of previous student experience of Australian literature 64 v) Tertiary teachers’ impressions of student enrolments 65 vi) Tertiary teachers’ impressions of how work commitments effect student engagement 66 • Senior secondary teachers’ impressions of student experience of Australian literature 66 i) Senior secondary teachers’ impressions of students’ general attitudes towards Australian literature 67 ii) Senior secondary teachers’ impressions of student demographic 68 • 1st-year undergraduate students’ experience of Australian literature 69 i) 1st-year students’ experience of Australian literature at secondary school 69 ii) 1st-year students’ impressions of how secondary study of Australian literature prepared them for tertiary study 71 iii) 1st-year students’ impressions of their knowledge of Australian literature before tertiary study 72 iv) 1st-year students’ impressions of their interest in Australian literature at senior secondary level 72 v) 1st-year students’ impressions of Australian literature study 73 vi) 1st-year students’ engagement with Australian literature 75 vii) 1st-year students’ impressions of effective learning 77 viii) 1st-year student familiarity with Australian literary texts prior to tertiary studies 79 • 2nd/3rd/4th year students’ study of Australian literature in first year 80 i) 2nd/3rd/4th year students’ motivations for studying Australian literature 80 ii) 2nd/3rd/4th year students’ engagement with Australian literature 82 • How commitments outside university affected student experience of Australian literature 84 6. TEACHING-RESEARCH NEXUS 86 • The influence of research activities on teaching practice 86 7. EduCatioN AND POSTGraduatE TRAINING 88 • Secondary teacher educational background and research interests 88 • Professional development for senior secondary teachers 90 • Sustaining and strengthening Australian literature teaching 90 8. AUSTRALIAN LITEraturE AND PERSONAL spaCES 92 • Extent to which Australian literature is read in leisure time 92 • Motivators for reading Australian literature outside the education context 92 9. THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIAN LITEraturE TEACHING 94 • Resources to support Australian literature teaching 94 i) Resources – texts and tools 94 ii) Training of next generation students and teachers 95 May 2010 v Teaching Australian Literature Survey – Final Report Contents iii) Teaching Australian literature online facility 95 iv) Teaching Aust. Lit. Resource 96 • Senior secondary teachers 97 i) Resources to support Australian literature teaching 97 4. SURVEY ACHIEVEMENTS AND LIMITATIONS 99 5. ImpLEMENTATION OF SURVEY OUTCOMES 101 6. SHARING SURVEY OUTCOMES ACROSS SECTORS AND NATIONAL BOUNDARIES 103 7. DISCIPLINARY AND SECTORAL LINKS 105 Bibliography and References 107 – 109 Acknowledgements 111 Appendix: Questionnaires 112 vi Australian Learning and Teaching Council Teaching Australian Literature Survey – Final Report Table of Acronyms AATE Australian Association of Teachers of English ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation ACARA Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority ADB Australian Dictionary of Biography ALEA Australian Literacy Educators’ Association ALTC Australian Learning and Teaching Council APAFT Australian Public Affairs Full Text APAIS Australian Public Affairs Information Service ASAL Association for the Study of Australian Literature ASO Australian Screen Online DET Department of Education and Training, New South Wales ERA Excellence in Research for Australia ESL English as a Second Language ETAQ English Teachers’ Association of Queensland HSC Higher School Certificate ICT Information and Communications Technology InASA International Australian Studies Association JASAL Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature MLA Modern Language Association of America NCB National Curriculum Board NeAT National eResearch Architecture Taskforce NESB Non-English Speaking Background POD Print On Demand SEI Socio-economic Index SETIS The Sydney Electronic Text and Image Service SOSE Studies of Society and Environment TAFE Technical and Further Education TAL Teaching Aust. Lit. Resource TER Tertiary Entrance Ranking VCE Victorian Certificate of Education YA Young Adult May 2010 vii Teaching Australian Literature Survey – Final Report List of Figures • Figure 1: Home page of original Teaching Aust. Lit. website 8 • Figure 2: Home page of the Teaching Aust. Lit. Resource. Example content changes automatically 10 • Figure 3: Authors appearing most often on courses teaching Australian literary texts 10 • Figure 4: Most frequently represented texts 11 • Figure 5: An individual text entry showing units it is taught in and other texts (based on frequency) with which it is taught 11 • Figure 6: Subjects that included Australian literary texts 14 • Figure 7: Text selection influences 15 • Figure 8: Influences of availability of resources 15 • Figure 9: Is Australian literature a priority? 16 • Figure 10: 1st-year distribution by state 16 • Figure 11: 2nd/3rd/4th/Honours year distribution by state 16 • Figure 12: Degrees being studied 17 • Figure 13: Unit types containing Australian literary texts 17 • Figure 14: Importance of studying Australian literature 18 • Figure 15: Student experience of studying Australian literature 18 • Figure 16: Impact of paid work on students’ experience of studying 19 • Figure 17: Upper level units with Australian literary texts 19 • Figure 18: Student attitude to Australian literature 20 • Figure 19: Current status of respondents 21 • Figure 20: Perceptions of the decline of Australian literature teaching 22 • Figure 21: Assumptions about a literary canon: tertiary teachers 23 • Figure 22: Assumptions about a literary canon: secondary teachers 25 • Figure 23: Prioritising Australian texts: secondary teachers
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