Applying Critical Theory to The Teaching of English (EDEE598)
Semester 2 / 2012

Texts

y separately published work icon The Rabbits John Marsden , Shaun Tan (illustrator), Port Melbourne : Lothian , 1998 Z139449 1998 single work picture book children's (taught in 11 units)

"The rabbits came many grandparents ago.

They build houses, made roads, had children.

They cut down trees.

A whole continent of rabbits..." (back cover)

An allegorical story using rabbits, an introduced species, to represent the arrival of Europeans in Australia and the subsequent widespread environmental destruction.

y separately published work icon Cloudstreet Tim Winton , Melbourne : McPhee Gribble , 1991 Z204365 1991 single work novel (taught in 16 units) 'From separate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint called Cloudstreet, where they begin their lives again from scratch. For twenty years they roister and rankle, laugh and curse until the roof over their heads becomes a home for their hearts.' (Source: Publisher's website)
The English Studies Book: An Introduction to Language, Literature and Culture!$!Pope, R.!$!Routledge, 2002!$!!$!
The French Lieutenant's Woman!$!Fowles, John!$!Vintage, 2004!$!!$!
y separately published work icon True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2000 Z668312 2000 single work novel historical fiction (taught in 29 units)

'"I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silences my dear daughter you are presently too young to understand a word I write but this history is for you and will contain no single lie may I burn in Hell if I speak false."

'In TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG, the legendary Ned Kelly speaks for himself, scribbling his narrative on errant scraps of paper in semi-literate but magically descriptive prose as he flees from the police. To his pursuers, Kelly is nothing but a monstrous criminal, a thief and a murderer. To his own people, the lowly class of ordinary Australians, the bushranger is a hero, defying the authority of the English to direct their lives. Indentured by his bootlegger mother to a famous horse thief (who was also her lover), Ned saw his first prison cell at 15 and by the age of 26 had become the most wanted man in the wild colony of Victoria, taking over whole towns and defying the law until he was finally captured and hanged. Here is a classic outlaw tale, made alive by the skill of a great novelist.' (From the publisher's website.)

y separately published work icon Strange Objects Gary Crew , Port Melbourne : Heinemann , 1990 Z349485 1990 single work novel young adult mystery (taught in 3 units)

A sixteen-year-old Western Australian boy mysteriously disappears after he discovers valuable relics in the remains of a seventeen-century shipwreck.

y separately published work icon Looking for Alibrandi Melina Marchetta , Camberwell : Puffin , 1992 Z88038 1992 single work novel young adult (taught in 4 units) 'Josephine Alibrandi is seventeen, illegitimate, and in her final year at a wealthy Catholic school. This is the year her father comes back into her life, the year she falls in love, the year she discovers the secrets of her family's past and the year she sets herself free.' (Source: Back Cover)

Description

This unit begins with a working model to deal with ways of relating theory to practice. It explores the principles of significant critical theories like poststructuralism, postmodernism, postcolonialism, and feminism and applies these theories to a range of texts commonly used in secondary schools. It examines the teaching, learning and assessment practices appropriate for implementing and synthesising these theories in the classroom.

Assessment

Assessment notes (a plan of application of critical theory to the classroom - 3500 words) 60%; Essay (on texts in terms of critical theories - 2500 words) 40%.

Other Details

Offered in: 2009
Current Campus: External
Levels: Undergraduate
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