INVESTIGATION OF THE PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES LITERATURE TEACHERS USE FOR TEACHING MODERN GREEK LANGUAGE IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL: A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

Anna Asimaki,Nikolitsa Berdeni,Gerasimos Koustourakis,Archontoula Lagiou

doi:10.46827/ejlll.v4i1.190

Abstract

The aim of this paper, which makes use of Basil Bernstein’s theoretical framework, is to take a sociological approach to the pedagogical practices that are implemented by literature teachers for teaching Modern Greek Language in the first year of Senior High School, which is a transitional year in the second tier of Greek secondary education. We also aim to investigate the corrective ‘strategies’ that these teachers adopt in order to contribute to their pupils’ successful acquisition of school knowledge related to the Language lesson. The research was carried out using the tools of structured observation and semi-structured interview with a sample of 14 literature teachers, who were working in Greek secondary education. The most significant research findings revealed that the pedagogical practices that were implemented by the teachers in the sample are linked to the implementation of explicit regulative and instructional rules that originate in a visible pedagogical practice. What’s more, ‘corrective’ strategies were implemented with the pupils who weren’t able to satisfy the sequencing and pacing rules of the transmitted knowledge. It also emerged that an important site for the completion of the acquisition of transmitted school knowledge is related to the field of ‘shadow’ education. Article visualizations:<img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0688/a.php" alt="Hit counter" />

Highlights

Greece has a centralized education system and school knowledge is shaped and determined by the Ministry of Education and its specialized bodies (Koustourakis, 2007; Bouzakis, 2003)
Which pedagogical practices are used by literature teachers during teaching of Modern Greek Language, to first year Lyceum students, at the Day General Lyceum?
In this research we turned our interest to the investigation of the pedagogical practices that literature teachers implement when teaching the Modern Greek Language lesson in the first year of Lyceum at the GE.L

Summary

Introduction

Greece has a centralized education system and school knowledge is shaped and determined by the Ministry of Education and its specialized bodies (Koustourakis, 2007; Bouzakis, 2003). At the beginning of the 21st century reform took place in the area of school knowledge in Greek compulsory education (primary education and gymnasium), with the establishment of new curricula which were called cross-thematic, which in turn led in 2006 to the publication of new school textbooks to support the cross-thematic approach to knowledge The objective of this reform is replacing teacher-centred teaching and rote-learning with the pupils’ active participation in the educational process for the acquisition of knowledge (Alahiotis & KaratziaStavlioti, 2006; Koustourakis, 2007). The question arises of the extent to which these particular changes related to the approach to school knowledge influenced the Greek Senior High School ( it is called Lyceum) This is because the main aim of the Lyceum is to prepare the pupils for their participation in the national (Pan-Hellenic) exams that lead to university, placing emphasis on the teaching of subjects that are likely to be examined in these exams (Bouzakis, 2003). In other words a private sector of lesson provision in the form of coaching schools or private tuition that prepare the candidates for their participation in the national University entrance exams (Giavrimis, Eleftherakis, & Koustourakis, 2018; Kassotakis & Verdis, 2013; Sianou-Kyrgiou, 2008)

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