Textual selves : girls' subjectivities and the secondary school

Abstract

This dissertation will focus on the influence of the school discourse in English Literature lessons upon secondary school girls' subjectivities. A preliminary theoretical discussion about the formation of selves during interaction takes into consideration Interpretive and Postmodern Feminist conceptions as a background to an ethnographic case-study of one fourth form grammar school class. The following chapters then deal with substantive and theoretical data from this research. The impact of the school discourse upon subjectivity is investigated by exploring the relationship between the hidden private scripts the girls bring with them into the classroom, and the public script made available to them in school. The latter, determined by the teacher's performance during English Literature lessons, favours conformity to a unified interpretation of the text that is largely teacher-directed and gender-biased, refuting multiple discursive positions for the girls. By taking on this public script to succeed at school, the girls learn how to distinguish between 'selves' through a negotiated process of resistance and accommodation.