TECHNOLOGY, TEACHING & LEARNING
Calls to Adopt an English Lit Imperative
Making English Literature mandatory at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level could help stem the decline in language skills among students exiting secondary schools.
T hat’s the view of Instructor in the Cave Hill Campus Dr. Agnel Barron , who has suggested this could lessen complaints from tertiary institutions and employers about the poor quality of English skills among students and workers. Her recommendation was made during a round-table discussion on the relevance and future of literature in the Caribbean entitled “Literature: To Be or Not to Be” that was hosted Academic Literacies Programme at the
insisted that more students should be encouraged to do English Literature, thereby increasing the likelihood of them having a better command of English as they exit the secondary school system. “Students’ performance in English Language may improve if they do English Literature up to the fifth-year level and it was mandatory for all students. I think that should be communicated to school administrators. I also think that less focus should be placed on the numbers and the statistics and the pass rate, and more attention placed on the qualitative elements of the student product.” Coordinator of the Linguistics
Dr. Agnel Barron Instructor in the Academic Literacies Programme The UWI, Cave Hill Campus
by the Department of Language, Linguistics and Literature in March 2022. The instructor said although students would benefit from the integrated teaching of English Language and English Literature at the CSEC level, literature is increasingly being seen as dispensable as evidenced by the declining numbers of those sitting the subject. She
Programme at Cave Hill Dr. Janice Jules agreed on the need for action to reverse the movement away from literature: “We have to do something within our realm to pull it back and let persons see the real importance of literature because if literature
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