Stylising agency, identity and solidarities in South African English language classrooms

Abstract

In a call for papers, the English Academy of Southern Africa (EASA) problematises what we perceive as the challenges of stylising agency, identity and solidarities in South African literature in English and English Language classroom encounters. The academy argues that speaking of literature and literacy in a single breath is to assume a linear relationship between literature and literacy. In interrogating ways of reading, this article contends that such proficiency is unstable and shifting, subject to different contexts and approaches inasmuch as these diverse ways are contingent upon material and technological changes. The strategies of particular teachers in particular contexts are shared while we draw on Rosi Braidotti’s (2019) critical research perspective, which enables us to perform two methodological moves: a critical philosophical and ethnographic exploration of the concept literacies and then generating affirmative propositions for thinking about teaching and reading for meaning in South African classrooms. Prescribed textbooks for Further Education and Training (FET) phase learners were analysed to reveal the questions posed at learners. Then, the observation of two pre-service teachers revealed questioning techniques in varied contexts, shedding light on their agency and identities as instructors in training. The data analysis are reflective and in situ while we applied hermeneutic heuristics as strategy.