The essay defines and illustrates ways in which the anxiety of separation and the fantasy of dirt play a key role in shaping the response of readers to texts loosely defined as "racial." The work of Wheatley, Wright, and Baldwin, as well as that of some of the new black poets, is examined in relation to the psychoanalytic theories which…

This study discusses the literary excellence of the King James Version of the Bible, in order to encourage its use in college literature classes. Separate chapters present a brief history of the literary treatment of the Bible, a summary of the variety of literary genres contained in the Bible, a demonstration of structural features basic to…

This dissertation presents a method for teaching secondary students many recognized critical approaches to the study of literature, so that they may choose the methods that function best for them with a given work. The novels of a contemporary American author, Jack Matthews, are used to show how the method operates. The investigator reports many…

Combining academic prose, some narrative, a poem, and some literary criticism, this project paper presents a theoretical framework for the literature base of the curriculum the teacher hopes to make operational on various levels over several years. The first section of the paper discusses the goals and various approaches of multicultural…

The two primary objectives of this dissertation were to describe the 48 novels taught in English classes in a specific secondary school in Pennsylvania and, through a survey, to determine whether these novels were unique or representative of novels taught in other Pennsylvania schools. The description of each novel includes a critical summary, the…

This study investigated certain characteristics of the attitudes of classroom teachers of English toward written student response to literature. Specifically, the study attempted to determine the preference or lack of preference for categories of student response to literature, using four categories: engagement-involvement, perception,…

The purpose of this study was to come to a greater understanding of contemporary high fantasy for children by analyzing in depth the nature and functions of four key motifs of this sub-genre of fantasy. These motifs are created worlds, time displacement, quest, and combat between good and evil. The 47 books chosen for analysis were recommended in…

This dissertation consists of four studies which identify some areas of difference between viewers who use the film medium in a personally profitable manner and those who use it less well. In Study 1 a theoretical definition of "film analyticity" is developed. An analytical film viewer is defined as an individual who (1) values the film medium for…

This study is both an interpretation and a translation of three modern Japanese plays, providing an artistic perspective on the radical reordering of experience and thought with which modern man must grapple in cross-cultural encounters. An introductory essay prefaces each play, providing a historical, critical, or appreciative perspective from…

The purpose of this study was to develop teaching strategies that are designed to enable elementary pupils to form literary concepts through inductive processes. This research has four phases in its design. In the planning phase, a theoretical base for designing the strategies is developed from a synthesis of four areas of research and theory:…

Reconstructionism is an extension and elaboration of the progressivist philosophy of education developed by John Dewey and his intellectual associates. Thomas Brameld also views reconstructionism as the beginning of a new philosphy of education, and this dissertation develops an approach to teaching literature that functions with Brameld's views.…

The major prerequisite to studying science fiction as literature is determining the criteria by which it is to be evaluated. A middle ground which recognizes both literary merit and the genre's uniqueness (scientific orientation, dominancy of idea, and interest of speculation) proves to be the most workable approach and stresses the versatility…

A narrative study was conducted of the visual models in two movies preferred by Chinese adolescents in two schools (n=152). The two movies studied were "Three Decisive Campaigns" (A Chinese Trilogy) and the American science fiction movie, "Jurassic Park." The modified approach from Bandura's modeling theory and film semiotics…

A research project implemented a program to increase skills in critiquing art at the elementary level. The targeted population consisted of students in fifth grade in a lower-to-middle-class community located in western Illinois. Evidence used to support the problem's existence included the local visual art assessment test, teacher observations,…

This study analyzed racial-attitude change that eleventh-grade students underwent after reading black literature contained in a Black Literature Package (BLP). Three intact classes of 65 students taught by one female English teacher in a nearly all-white school located in central Pennsylvania were involved in this experiment. Findings suggested…