34;Investigating and Developing an Approach to Critical Literacy by Using the South African Short Story". Critical literacy therefore contrasts with current classroom practice, based on a cultural heritage approach, which includes a Leavisite approach to teaching texts.
LITERACY PRACTICES AS SEMIOTIC DOMAINS
By placing meaning in the social language of the semiotic field of the Critical Literacy approach, students must engage with the design grammar of Critical Literacy, which requires a more active engagement of textual practice. 1 People who have successfully entered the affinity group of the semiotic domain have gained insider status.
CULTURAL HERITAGE AS A SEMIOTIC DOMAIN
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
English as a school subject arose out of fears and panics about the development of the city and the emergence of a mass population of the urban working class (Ball et al, 1990, 48). Leavis's belief in "essential Englishness" (Eagleton transformed the study of the English canon by redeploying the Great Tradition of English literature.
THE DESIGN GRAMMAR OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AND ITS APPRENTICESHIP OF LEARNERS
The design grammar of this approach positions the teacher as a particular subject, a subject cast as a zealous missionary belonging to an elite brotherhood capable of full appreciation of the literary text. In terms of the design grammar of the semiotic domain of cultural heritage, this research suggests that current classroom practice in former HOD schools in KZN is largely cultural heritage, whereby engagement with selected texts goes beyond identifying mere surface details to acquiring habits of control that discern nuances , contexts and values.
CRITICAL LITERACY AS A SEMIOTIC DOMAIN
THE RELEVANCE OF POSTSTRUCTURALISM TO CRITICAL LITERACY
- LANGUAGE
- DISCOURSE
- THE SUBJECT
- NARRATIVE THEORY
- GENRE THEORY
These insights are useful for conducting a critical analysis of the texts of the short stories used therein. These insights into Todorov's narrative theory will be applied to the critical analysis of the short stories in chapter four.
CRITICAL LITERACY AS AN ALTERNATIVE SET OF LITERACY PRACTICES
In this chapter, I first briefly define the South African short story that forms part of the twelfth grade curriculum. To this end, I examine the use of the Commercial Guide, which uses a version of the cultural heritage approach to teaching texts.
A BRIEF DEFINITION OF THE SHORT STORY
For the purpose of this research, I focus on three of the eight stories prescribed for grade twelve learners. As examples of the short story genre, these stories therefore offer the possibility for questioning and critical inquiry for both learners and teachers.
THE COMMERCIAL GUIDE AS AN AID TO LITERACY PRACTICE
THE 'INTRODUCTION - GUIDELINES'
However, the summary of the stories presented in the guide is limited to a content-thematic analysis of texts, based on a simple reading of the story. Therefore, the summaries presented in the guide attempt to unravel the meaning and message contained in the dominant reading of the story.
STRUCTURE OF THE SHORT STORY SUMMARIES IN 'GUIDELINES'
THE WIND AND THE BOY
The outside world (urban life) is constructed as a foil for the harmonious world of the town. Instead, the suggested answer is entered in the single reading of the 'Content' and 'Comment' sections.
BRUNS
Instead, the limitations of the narrator's role are highlighted and criticized throughout this section. Instead, the 'commentary' deals with the narrator's role as central to its engagement with the story. This version of the story is limited to a critique of the narrator's role in the story.
THE MUSIC OF THE VIOLIN
GAPS AND SILENCES
Disrupting the dominant reading could examine the character of Dorcas, who resists submitting to the hardships of the African urban lifestyle. Critical discourse analysis of race and class is absent from the dominant reading of the guide. In addition, the approach to textual practice that is part of the guide is concerned with respecting the high cultural value of the selected texts.
THE SHORT STORY AS A SUB-GENRE
In this regard, the profit motive can also be observed in the mass production of these texts. Insights from genre-based theory can be used to interrogate the text in terms of the power relations conveyed by the discourses at work in the text. The short story also uses important language features such as cohesion, vocabulary, grammar, and other general language features that build characters and themes in the story.
POSTCOLONIATITY AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN SHORT STORY
Second, it is a post-199421 production that includes literary work in the form of short stories that deal with issues of race and class in a South African context. Postcolonial practices of reading and writing involve the study of power relations, as they question the extent to which colonial attitudes and values are embedded in the sociopolitical structures of postcolonial states. These tensions, which are presented in the form of postcolonial discourses in the content of the short stories, will be critically explored in the next chapter, when I will explore three short stories using critical analysis tools.
TOWARDS A CRITICAL READING OF THREE SHORT STORIES
A BRIEF DEFINITION OF 'TEXT'
These insights into the production and construction of texts have implications for critical analysis of short story text within a Critical Literacy framework, as they enable a critical understanding of the ways in which texts are produced, constructed and read. Texts are thus seen as vehicles that convey meanings and messages that have historical and cultural location and specificity. In the next section, I lay out the analytical tools that can be used for a critical reading of the text of the short story.
IDENTIFYING AND ESTABLISHING ANALYTICAL TOOLS FOR A CRITICAL READING OF THE SHORT STORIES
Narrative theory, described earlier, will be applied to the stories in the following chapter, as it enables an understanding of, for example, how the hero is constructed through the equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium or abundance he/she experiences in the telling of the short story . A critical analysis of the discourses inscribed in these narratives draws on semiotics, which enables an analysis of the sign systems to convey certain meanings in texts. The analytical tools that I have established in the preceding discussion provide an introduction to developing a critical reading of the three short stories in what follows.
A FOCUS ON POSTCOLONIAT DISCOURSES CONVEYED BY THE SHORT STORIES
However, it can be noted that particular contradictions appear in the presentation of the short story narratives in that some elements of the dominant European cultural position are simplified in favor of an African cultural position. These contradictions along with postcolonial discourses will be further investigated in the next chapter, when three short stories will be critically analysed. These insights will be investigated in the next chapter, when the short stories are critically analyzed and a different understanding of them is created, one that is poststructuralist and engages with the issues of power that the text conveys.
THE WIND AND THE BOY
- CONSTITUENT SEGMENTS OF THE STORY
- A NARRATIVAL ANALYSIS OF THE STORY
- USING ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE THEORY TO ANALYSE THE STORY
- PROBING THE GAPS, SILENCES AND ABSENCES IN THE STORY
- CONCLUSION
The characters of both Friedman and Sejosenye are constructed as special, extraordinary and different from the rest of the townspeople. Would that have made her as dear in the eyes of the women of the town as with Friedman. In this story, I investigated how, through the critical analysis of the different discourses in the text, different understandings of the story can be produced.
THE MUSIC OF THE VIOLIN
- CONSTITUENT SEGMENTS OF THE STORY
- USING ELEMENTS OF NARRATIVE THEORY TO ANALYSE THE STORY
- USING INSIGHTS FROM NARRATIVE THEORY TO ANALYSE CHARACTER FUNCTIONS IN THE STORY
- EXPLORING GAPS AND SILENCES IN THE STORY
- CONCLUSION
This leads to the ridicule he endures from the gang of boys and his peers, as well as being forced to play against his will). The construction of the character of Dorcas presents her as a vehicle or narrative device, conveying the thematic tension in the story. The discourse based on class can also be examined in terms of the gang of boys.
BRUNS
CONSTITUENT SEGMENTS OF THE STORY
In the following story, I focus on the first-person narrative, in which I examine the role of the narrator and her representation of what is happening in Keteng. Du Toit arranges for Bruns to be beaten one night by one of the local Bakorwa men. This act of self-immolation resulted in the arrest of Du Toit and forced a process of socio-political transformation in Keteng.
A NARRATIVAL ANALYSIS OF THE STORY
I examine Du Toit's role as he is the one who orchestrates the assassination of Bruns. Bruns is attacked and severely beaten by one of the Bakorrwa men as arranged by Du Toit. The new equilibrium occurs when Du Toit is arrested for the death of Bruns and political transformation becomes possible in Keteng.
FIRST PERSON NARRATION IN "BRUNS"
These contrasting character constructions of Boer men and Bruns can be represented as binary opposites. In fact, all the results offer spaces for the inclusion of a critical approach to textual practice. Proceedings of the South African English Academy Conference (Johannesburg College of Education, South Africa).
BESSIE HEAD The Wind and a Boy
It was all part of the games they played, but one that people didn't like. All the regiments were to join together, and each man was to thrust his sword into the side of the elephant before it died. Nicholas remained in Dikies Diek, which was a ghost town by the end of the day.
NORMAN RUSH Bruns
My intention was to show a link between diet and fertility among the Bakorwa near Tswapong, in the hills. Bruns took the position that he had control over who was in the garage and ordered Du Toit to leave. He would find himself at the center of the web, convicting Du Toit of a thousand unrecorded crimes.
NJABULO NDEBELE 1 he Music of the Violin
89 The Music of the Violin once and sat forward in her chair, her legs pressed down. It was not South African History, the story of the coming of the white man, that he was looking at; he now faced the reality of the violin. He thought of smashing the violin against the wall and then running out of the house.
MIA COUTO The Barber's Most Famous Customer
The short story is a particular form of fiction and is not simply an abridged novel. In the short story, however, the reader is thrown headlong into this world and contact between author and reader is immediate. The difference between the novel and the short story is therefore not so much one of length as one of.
PLOT
According to TES Finn, all fiction is "an effort on the part of the reader to convey his view of the world to the reader". The short story usually has one protagonist, one event, and one emotion or series of emotions, produced by one situation. H o m e c o m i n g", which for example involves the clash between an individual's values and the expectations of his society and family, develops through a series of flashbacks.
CHARACTER
The resolution focuses on the sadness and confusion of little Riekie and on the narrator's bitterness that such a situation could arise. In " T h e M u s i c of the Violin", for example, we learn a great deal about Vukani's mother through her actions, reactions and attitudes towards her children and her visitors. The term "setting" refers to the physical background, time and place, as well as the social and historical environment used in the story.
STRUCTURE
Minor characters (foils) are included in a story only to bring out a certain characteristic of the main character or to emphasize a certain point. Here the reader learns about the character through his actions and through the dialogue, as well as through the opinions and comments of other characters. The details of time and place provided immediately suggest to the reader what to expect in terms of relationships between the various groups living in this “red hot empty thorn field.”
STYLE
For example, an author may deliberately withhold certain details of his story from the reader until the end of the story, in order to create tension; or he can include a surprising twist for a more interesting plot. USE OF THE USE OF question marks, exclamation marks, brackets and dashes, as well as his use of dialogue and the way in which dialogue reads. For example, one of the themes of "Br u n s" is that of the consequences of prejudice. This theme is conveyed through m e a n s of the plot - the attitudes of the various groups towards each and the consequences of these attitudes.
POINT OF VIEW
We must examine a writer's diction to ascertain his attitude toward his subject.
SYMBOLISM
ATMOSPHERE
IRONY
BESSIE HEAD
After the boy leaves, he drives to the main road, where out of the corner of his eye he sees a fast-moving green truck approaching him. The boy was brought up in the land of the wind, which is natural and carefree. It also reflects the tremendous influence this new culture has on the African way of life.
NORMAN RUSH
Bruns remained calm throughout the exchange and eventually ordered Du Toit out of the garage. The anthropologist enjoys all these details, but is convinced that the last part of the story about Du Toit and Bruns is not correct. Sure, the storyline itself is exaggerated — the confrontation between Bruns and Du Toit is crazy, and Bruns' revenge is so incredible it's comical.
THE MUSIC OF THE VIOLIN
NJABULO NDEBELE
The situation is more or less saved with the help of the visitors, and Vukani is asked to play again. This includes her support of the nuclear family and her need for her children to succeed in school. The conversation between the adults at the beginning of the story is both Western and traditional.
