Abstract:

This paper targets an inclusive audience in the sector of literary studies in higher and further education institutions as it argues for inclusivity in literature curriculum design to ensure literature degree programmes that are locally rooted, but have a global relevance. To do this, the discussion proposes a synergy of the classical “top-down” approaches and contemporary “bottom-up” methodologies in socio-economic development in order to bring together critical stakeholders such as educators and the (in)significant, yet visible learners of literature in processes of curriculum design. As can be seen, the discussion is premised on an admixture of tenets of theories of “grassroots assessment for development needs” such as “Participatory Learning and Action” (PLA) and the principles of Outcomes Based Education (OBE). Such a synthesis of diverse perspectives, the discussion argues, allows for innovation in literature didactics, for inclusive directions in the teaching of literature, for a fresh dynamic in literature curriculum design using an interdisciplinary approach. It is felt that this dialogic methodology of involving both educators and learners in curriculum design opens up ways in which the voices, concerns, and perspectives of the learners themselves are privileged to ensure study programmes that ultimately affect their lives thereby achieving the imperatives of OBE, which emphasize the notion of applied competence, and those of PLA that privilege community-oriented development programmes in fostering meaningful development in civil society in the context of globalization.

Keywords:

literature, outcomes based education, participatory learning and action, inclusivity.