Arts-Based Assessment for English Literary Studies

Academic writing remains prevalent in higher education. The academic essay is the dominant mode of assessment in many university disciplines, including literary studies. Many students struggle with this genre of writing in relation to literary texts. This article presents the findings of a qualitative study of a purposeful sample of 20 participants who were enrolled in a third-year module that forms part of a four-year Bachelor of Education degree at an urban university in South Africa. The research is focused on the use of an alternative assessment, beyond academic essays, in an English literary studies module. The assessment required students to draw a book cover for the text that represented a key concept from a prescribed chapter together with a written explanation of their covers that engaged with the cover and source text. The study is framed by arts-based assessment to advance core skills required in literary studies, such as close reading, argumentation, and the application of disciplinary content knowledge for the study of Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief.