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Abstract
This article explores the unwritten textbook of the folktale in the case of “Morongwa le Morongwanyana” [The Messenger and the Small messenger], a South African folktale recorded and published by A.T. Malepe. Against the background of current problems with the folktale tradition, it is argued that the unwritten textbook can help improve three educational practices, namely the practice of educating children at home, the practice of teaching and learning at school, and the practice of educational mass media. The nature and content of the unwritten textbook of the Batswana culture as defined by Ong (1982) and other scholars on orality are examined in a case study of the selected folktale. Lastly, the implications of the case study and of the unwritten textbook for the three practices are spelled out.
Highlights
According to Shole (1983:169) the oral and traditional literature of Setswana is a memento of an indefinite past that was handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth
If the unwritten textbook could inform these practices, it could be to the benefit of modern youth who live far from the sources of folklore
2.1 The practice of educating children at home. This practice assumes that there is a certain body of knowledge in the unwritten textbook that the child must learn
Summary
According to Shole (1983:169) the oral and traditional literature of Setswana is a memento of an indefinite past that was handed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. Folktales do not present an organised system of philosophy and of morality, they constitute an effective way of teaching and learning for they are, among other things, close to the human life and are emphatic and participatory (Ong, 1982:42, 46). It will be consider how the unwritten textbook should inform the form and content for the practice of educating children at home, the practice of teaching and learning at school and the practice of the mass media in the domain of children’s literature The context of these questions is the current state of the folktale tradition, as urbanisation, the school, new electronic technologies and the mass media have influenced it profoundly
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