Describes a textbook approach to teaching literature that deemphasizes recitation and emphasizes transactions between readers and texts, involving readers' personal knowledge, emotion, and experience. Sets up a reading plan including prereading, postreading, personal response, and shared response. (TB)

Considers encounters with imaginative literature as a way of suggesting alternative modes of orienting readers in a literally unrepresentable, perhaps unreadable outside world. Argues that the study of stories does not depend upon representation but upon creation, invention, and conversation. (SR)

Describes a mental game in which (1) the identification of some vividly recalled literary excerpt is postponed and, instead, the source is described as much as possible and (2) the source is identified and checked to see if the description accurately represents it. Uses this game to discuss the relation between speech and literary discourse. (JD)

Considers how the recent rise of "theory"--literary, cultural, feminist, poststructuralist, postcolonialist, and critical--has shaped the way teachers teach literature in the secondary school classroom. Reviews teacher perspectives through citations of studies and through interviews. (TB)

Reflects on a research project conducted by two professionals in language arts instruction investigating the curriculum decisions and book selection among classroom teachers. Recounts the researchers' own attempt to make sense of new ideas in the field and the application and relevance of those ideas to classroom practice. (TB)

Describes an educator's attempt to raise multicultural issues in the classroom through a course centered on Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Are Watching God." Maintains that educators have a responsibility to raise issues of cultural diversity in learning communities that provide ways for student to engage in thinking that expands their…

Discusses the role of literature in the secondary school English curriculum, then examines the current state of literary criticism and analysis in the classroom. (FL)

Studies 53 undergraduate preservice English teachers to determine their critical orientation to the teaching of literary analysis in the classroom prior to their taking methods courses. Finds that these future teachers were already convinced of the necessity of multiple interpretations. (TB)

Explores reading as discursive practice, assuming that all readings are produced by particular groups to represent their specific interests. Constructs a reading of English education over the past century, focusing on a humanist conception of individualism promoted through personal growth pedagogy, and on the shift toward a poststructuralist view…

Argues that the literal and cultural "text" of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) calls into question the entire project of teaching English at the secondary level in this country. Teases out the connection between the study of NAFTA and the study of text and what it might mean for the teaching of English in the next…

Offers several reasons why English teachers should set aside the notion of literature and center teaching around the related but distinct notion of textuality. Discusses why the study of textuality should play a major role in a full curriculum aimed toward the development of alert, aware citizens. (JD)

Discusses the connections between the study of literary texts, language, and composition and the impact of these connections on English instruction and English programs. (SRT)

Explores why Chinese students' responses to American literature appear dogmatic and predictable. Examines how Chinese typically study literature by considering (1) the officially recognized relationship between literature and politics; (2) the traditional aims and methods of instruction in middle school; and (3) students' responsibilities in their…

Responds to the common assumption among English teachers that prior knowledge of a subject enhances students' ability to comprehend materials that they read. Presents evidence from the think-aloud protocols of undergraduate students to argue that having prior experience of the subjects treated in texts does not ensure that students will make…

Examines the effects of the post-Dartmouth English curriculum revolution in the Australian context. Argues the need for a reconsideration of the English curriculum in three areas: defining the subject of English, defining growth in English, and developing of curricular frameworks. (SRT)