Course Description

This course explores what the relationship might be between contemporary culture and literature education in the secondary school. Central to the challenge of literature education is the ongoing rapid growth of the mass media, youth-targeted consumption culture and the change in gender expectations of men and women, along with the more ‘traditional’ problems of youth gangs and how literature in English should be taught in a multi-ethnic/multi-lingual context. The social category ‘youth’ itself is affected by such cultural changes. Given these challenges, the roles of cultural literacy and complex written texts remain important as they are linked with the educational potential of developing creativity, strong identity and expanded formal and informal learning capacities. However, for literature education to be effective, teachers cannot ignore both the challenges and opportunities offered by contemporary culture. This course investigates the implications of contemporary culture for education, and the potential uses of youth culture as foci for the teaching of literature and the development of a more general cultural literacy.