The reader has replaced the text as the central figure in the teaching of literature. Three techniques that psychologists and educational researchers believe produce better reading comprehension are: the concept of schemata, or the kind of mental outline a reader has when perceiving something; the acquisition or development of an appropriate stance toward the text; and the conscious cognitive act by the reader of examining an experience of the text. There are three functions of a curriculum in literature: to provide literary schemata, to acknowledge that there are any number of possible statements about a text, and to provide students with a set of heuristics or strategies for being an efficient reader. (AEA)