Teacher and student perceptions regarding methodology in the teaching of the novel in high school

• Main Author: Tremblett, Harold
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1973
• Subjects: Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/7539/; https://research.library.mun.ca/7539/1/Tremblett_Harold.pdf; https://research.library.mun.ca/7539/3/Tremblett_Harold.pdf

This study is an investigation of teacher and student perceptions regarding methodology in the teaching of the high school novel. The data for the study were collected from the ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade students and their teachers in the area of Newfoundland designated as the Bonavista peninsula. This study seeks to answer questions related both to the classroom presentation of the novel and the activities preceding and succeeding this exercise. -- By means of questionnaires, the basic data for the study were collected from all twenty literature teachers on the Bonavista peninsula and from three hundred and eighty-six students. The students comprised eighteen literature classes which were randomly selected from a total population of forty-six classes. The data are analysed and presented in this report. -- The results of the study indicate that lecture and large group discussion were the classroom methods used most extensively to teach the novel. Both students and teachers rated these methods highly. Role-playing was selected by the students as their choice of the most popular method but this finding was partially rejected when additional evidence from the teachers strengthened the impression that role-playing had not been used to teach novels in these schools although it may have been used to teach plays. Large group discussion was selected by the students as the most helpful classroom method. -- In most cases each teacher prepared his unit on the novel individually. In general teachers concentrated solely on the classroom study of selected novels and did not structure a guided reading program to include novels. -- For evaluation the students preferred objective tests whereas the teachers indicated that they preferred to us essay tests. Most teachers used both class work and individual work to assess the progress of their students in the study of novels. Assignments were also used by most teachers. However, most teachers did not provide their students with study guides of any kin for the novel.