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When you think back on your own literary education, did it feel more like living an experience or memorising facts? How does that connect with Eaglestone’s critique?

Even within exam-driven systems, what responsibilities do we as educators bear in protecting the essence of literature - interpretation, values, judgement - without abandoning our students to educational inequality?

If you were redesigning a literature curriculum tomorrow, what practical choices would you make to balance equity, assessment demands, and the authentic spirit of the subject?

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Can these pedagogies survive in exam-driven systems like China?

OR Does assessment itself need rethinking for the “plumbing” to work?

Would you adopt this model in your own teaching, or would the tight schedule/ pressure of assessment hold you back?

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The Core Argument: A "Mistake Under the Floorboards"

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The Core Argument: A "Mistake Under the Floorboards"

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Students, parents, and schools are deeply anxious about measurable results. A model that downplays direct test preparation may be resisted as impractical or “too risky,” especially in upper-secondary years.

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dialogic, flexible lessons requires teachers to be confident literary practitioners themselves. In exam-focused schools, teachers may not have time or institutional support to redesign schemes of work in this way.

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In China, students often rely more on memorization because the education system and teachers believe it's a powerful tool to strengthen memory and build a solid foundation of knowledge. This approach comes from a traditional belief that deeply memorizing material is the first step to truly understanding it later.

However, there's a key difference between memorizing facts about a book and experiencing its literary value.

The challenge for educators is to balance both. We can use memorization to give students the key information they need to succeed in exams, but we must also create space in the classroom for discussion, personal interpretation, and critical thinking. This way, we protect the true essence of literature without sacrificing practical success.

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If you were redesigning a literature curriculum tomorrow, what practical choices would you make to balance equity, assessment demands, and the authentic spirit of the subject?

Changing assessment is very important if we truly want to implement Eaglestone's solution to deepen students' literary understanding. As a teacher of American curriculum, being able to design our own assignments is a huge advantage to achieve that. If we can design a comprehensive assessing structure which emphasises students' effort and usage of knowledge, it might be possible to achieve what Eaglestone descibes as effective literary teaching.

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In China, students often rely more on memorization because the education system and teachers believe it's a powerful tool to strengthen memory and build a solid foundation of knowledge. This approach comes from a traditional belief that deeply memorizing material is the first step to truly understanding it later.

However, there's a key difference between memorizing facts about a book and experiencing its literary value.

The challenge for educators is to balance both. We can use memorization to give students the key information they need to succeed in exams, but we must also create space in the classroom for discussion, personal interpretation, and critical thinking. This way, we protect the true essence of literature without sacrificing practical success.

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For a dialogic pedagogy , teachers need to be skilled at consolidating students’ learning and steer students towards a clear direction.

In assessment, it becomes subjective when there is no “right or wrong answers” / accepted or unacceptable. How do we award the mark?

the need to reframe assessment guidelines - to value critical insights and interpretation , deliberative thinking etc.

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The choice of pedagogy should be made based on the phase where the students are. For phase 1 students, structured knowledge with specific criteria can be more suitable to deliver since confidence in expression and output is the key for kids in that phase.

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Differentiation and intervention can effectively ensure the equity while teaching literature