This paper comprises a re-reading of the 1955 novel by John Wyndham, "The Chrysalids," in conversation with philosopher Rosi Braidotti's formation of critical posthumanism. The author argues that such re-readings of curricular fixtures within secondary English classrooms constitutes a necessary pragmatic intervention in a school system…

This article interrogates the role of retrieval practices in an urban, multicultural London classroom. With the advent of cognitive science-based approaches in recent years, retrieval has become a central tenet for testing foundational knowledge in English literature. I consider the implications of retrieval for classroom discourses concerning…

Our starting point is provided by two accounts of observed lessons. The two lessons happened, at more or less the same time, in the same English department in an East London secondary school. Both lessons, observed by the second- and third-named authors, involved the shared reading of the same novel. We are interested in the difference between…

Numerous scholars have called for young adult literature (YAL) to be a pedagogical avenue for educating secondary and postsecondary students about sexual violence, who are often socialized into harmful beliefs about victims. In this study, we draw on Manne's theorizing of "himpathy" and "herasure" to explore the ways in which…

This article explores how, in English classes in secondary schools, students can perfect moral concepts such as love, honesty, and happiness. As the philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch explains, people can perfect, or refine, moral concepts by paying attention to reality and altering their concepts in line with what is real. For Murdoch, the…

Background: The most recent Norwegian educational reform, in force from 2020, was the first to include games alongside more traditional language learning resources (e.g., novels, films, music) in the English curriculum for secondary school. This educational emphasis on games provided a unique opportunity to examine how games are actually used in…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is an exploration of stories told by multilingual students participating in a literacy project in a secondary English course as part of a larger three year practitioner inquiry study, in which the author analyzed students' literacy project to create a culturally responsive English curriculum. In this paper, the…

Exploring the realm of literacy involves understanding how graphic novels shape students' reading and writing journeys. Through scholarly research, the authors delve into the significant impact of graphic novels on education while highlighting their appeal to students through visual features and engaging storytelling. Included is a discussion of…

Lack of motivation to read is the culprit of many students' struggles in literacy achievement, resulting in wider gaps in reading achievement and resulting inequities in schools across America. When students are provided with the ability to choose the text they read for English class, they have an increase in interest and commitment to read, which…

This article presents the results of five open-ended surveys administered to two Advanced Placement classes in a primarily White high school in upstate New York. Surveys sought to explore how students make sense of the course diversity selection, Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart," which was inserted into a primarily White textual…

This essay considers the relative merits of critical writing and writing in role as a means of enabling and assessing students' responses to literary texts. Drawing largely on the author's experience of teaching "Frankenstein," it argues that the distinction between critical and creative writing is not as absolute as is sometimes…

While "Rebecca" is not currently a set text for A-Level English Literature, this paper argues that the novel's multi-faceted richness would justify its inclusion in any list of recommended texts. Divided into four interconnected parts, the paper offers, firstly, some approaches to the reading and teaching of fiction, generally. The…

Underdeveloped reading skills can have major implications in students' adult lives, and virtual students' reading comprehension has been steadily declining. This qualitative study explored virtual high school English teachers' perceptions of graphic novels as supplemental tools for improving students' reading comprehension. Through a multiple case…

Disrupting the canon of Eurocentric literature often used as a whole-class novel study in the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum is needed in order to push back against white hegemony in and out of ELA spaces. This disruption needs to occur at the teacher preparation level through discussion, examination, and curriculum development,…

In this classroom study, the authors examine the use of popular psychology myths as a frame for literary analysis in high school English. The study reflects a cultural studies approach to teaching that attends to students' cultural awareness in interpreting what they read. Previous research has demonstrated that students' cultural awareness, in…