Teaching Shakespeare : a qualitative meta-analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore studies conducted in the past twenty-five years on teaching Shakespeare, and to prepare guidelines to inform classroom instruction. Principles of qualitative-meta analysis are employed to analyse the studies, and to identify purposes, methods, conclusions and implications. The results are used to prepare aggregated tables depicting the structure of the studies, and to bring to the fore any instructional guidelines that may be considered for teaching Shakespeare. The guidelines that are outstanding are as follows: implementing differentiated instruction and performance-based methodology while teaching Shakespeare is the most fruitful approach, and learning language through Shakespeare’s work is influenced by various elements such as age, language level, background knowledge, culture and even gender.