Compulsory Reading Lists and Cultural Memory. National Culture Content in the Serbian Language Curricula for the Lower Primary School Grades

Abstract

Mother tongue is not only the language of communication, but also the guardian of tradition and culture. It preserves all earlier linguistic periods and an overall cultural memory of a nation. For this reason, the school subject of the Serbian Language is important for building students’ national identity and it is indeed the most important school subject in primary education. In the processes of organizing, planning, and teaching, a due attention must be given to the elements of national culture that are built in the language and, specifically, in literary works. It is only in this way that literature can fully perform its linguistic, aesthetic, and identity role. This paper looks at the Serbian culture content in the early primary school curricula. Taking the new curricula for the first four grades of primary school as a starting point, the authors analyse the objectives, outcomes, instructions, and the prescribed content in which different layers of Serbian culture are incorporated. The goal of the research is to examine the representation, effects, and a creative impact of culture in the Serbian Language and the literary texts included in the compulsory reading lists. The paper analyses the works belonging to national and contemporary literature, as well as to different genres (epic national poetry, short stories, and contemporary children’s literature). Our conclusion is that the examined material contains the notes, guidelines, and many contents that in the first cycle of primary education draw attention to the diversity and richness of beliefs, ideas, behavioural patterns, and spiritual heritage of Serbian (national) culture.