Analysis of the Literature Education Content in the Australian National Language Curriculum Based on the Understanding by Design Framework

Objectives This study aims to identify the advantages and limitations that may arise when the Understanding by Design (UbD) framework is fully implemented in the literature domain of the Korean language curriculum by analyzing the educational content of the literature domain in the Australian national language curriculum based on the UbD framework. Methods For this purpose, I selected educational content combined with performance verbs related to understanding (explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, self-knowledge) provided by the UbD framework from the literature domain of the Australian national language curriculum (version 9.0). The selected content was then analyzed according to sub-domains of literature and types of understanding. Results In terms of sub-domains, cognitive activities were distributed as educational content, focusing on the exploration of literature represented in socio-cultural and historical contexts (<Literature and Context>), engagement and response to literature (<Engaging with and Responding to Literature>), multifaceted exploration of literary forms (<Examining Literature>), and the transfer of literary knowledge (<Creating Literature>). Regarding types of understanding, the content was designed to ‘explain’ the reasons and methods of appreciating literature, ‘interpret’ by attributing value to understanding literature, ‘apply’ literary knowledge appropriately in new contexts, form ‘perspectives’ by relationally expanding and refining understanding of literature, and develop ‘self-knowledge’ by reflecting on personal understanding of literature. Conclusions The advantage of this approach is that it allows for a meta-understanding of literature by using literature phenomena as the organizing principle of literature education content and promotes the formation of a knowledge repertoire for transfer based on conditional knowledge. However, a limitation is that literature education activities tend to be biased towards the generalization of knowledge.