A trained teacher in a college or university undergoes the teaching methodologies during their studies. They are taught different approaches to teaching.
One approach is to teach from simple to complex, another is to teach from the known to the unknown, and the availability of materials to be used is also considered.
All these approaches are to be considered when choosing Literature texts for our students.
As we all know, Literature students don’t need to read all the recommended texts for the Senior School Certificate Examination.
Out of the eight African and Non-African texts, they are to answer questions on four of the texts. This gives room for the selection of the texts.
The first thing to consider is the availability of the texts by the teacher. The teacher needs to do a market survey to know if the ones to select are available in the market.
Some recommended texts might be scarce, especially when a new syllabus is released. The teacher must choose the ones that are available in the market.
As said earlier, a teacher must teach from simple to complex. A Literature teacher should be able to identify a simpler text for the students from the pair.
The texts are written by different authors with different approaches and language uses. It is thereby expected that one will be simpler than the other. The teacher should choose the simpler one for easier comprehension of the learners.
A simpler text can be identified through the number of characters, the volume, and the scenes. For example, An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley has just seven characters and three Acts.
While Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons has many characters and more scenes, the tendency is that An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley would be simpler than “A Man for All Seasons.”
Another important methodology relevant here is teaching from the known to the unknown. When applying this method in Literature, the teacher should consider the texts’ contents.
He will then choose the one he feels the learners are conversant with the subject matter or have the ideas of the discourse, no matter how small.
This method is relevant when choosing from African-recommended texts. In the WAEC 2026-2030 Syllabus, we have “Once Upon an Elephant” by Bosede Ademilua-Afolayan, a Nigerian author.
There is also “The Marriage of Anansewa” by Efua. T Sutherland, a Ghanaian author. These are selected African Drama texts in the syllabus.
The first text, written by a Nigerian author, discusses the Yoruba people of South West Nigeria and some of their cultural heritage. The author even uses Yoruba vocabulary in the text.
This means that some Literature students in Nigeria would be familiar with the discourse in “Once Upon an Elephant.” Even some non-Yorubas might be familiar with the events in the text.
Considering this methodology, Literature teachers in Nigeria should choose “Once Upon an Elephant” above “The Marriage of Anansewa.”
“The Marriage of Anansewa” by Efua. T. Sutherland also discusses Ghana and some of its cultural heritages. Literature students in Ghana will be familiar with these and the names of the characters in the text.
A Literature teacher from Ghana could also consider “The Marriage of Anansewa” above “Once Upon an Elephant.”
Literature teachers from countries outside Nigeria and Ghana can choose between the two. In doing so, they will consider the other approaches earlier mentioned, such as the availability and simplicity of the texts.
Another thing to be considered here is the subject matter of the texts. For example, “Redemption Road” by Elma Shaw is about the civil war in Liberia.
The students in the urban areas could be more familiar with this than those in the rural areas since it is more of current affairs.
So, a Literature teacher in the urban areas of any country can consider the above “So the Path Does Not Die” by Pede Hollist. The subject matter of “So the Path Does Not Die” is circumcision, which learners from rural areas could be familiar with.
They may not know about the Liberian civil war; hence, “So the Path Does Not Die” by Pede Hollist could be considered for these categories of learners.
The same approach should also be used when choosing the recommended non-African texts. The simplicity, complexity, availability, and teaching from the known to the unknown.
Some subject matters are popular and familiar to the learners. One such subject is racial discrimination, which can be embedded in the subject matter of a Literature text.
Such texts could be chosen above others, as in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
In conclusion, it is however advisable that Literature students read all the recommended texts.
This affords them ample opportunity to choose questions from any of the texts. They can access the questions and identify the simpler ones to choose from.
A Literature student who reads all the text can answer simpler questions than those who select from the eight recommended texts. Such a student has the opportunity to perform better than the others.