In forming a new curriculum for the English Department at Louisiana State University, the Literature Concentration Subcommittee faced a daunting array of competing demands. How can students gain a perspective on the terrain of literary studies, including canonical and non-canonical texts? How can they experience the rich diversity of the…

Teaching a world literature class at a public college presented an opportunity to test Allan Bloom's and E. D. Hirsch, Jr.'s charges that today's college students are not only ignorant of great literature, but also ill-equipped to seriously consider such works. Beginning with a class survey of reading tastes and experiences, it was discovered that…

A study was conducted to measure students' assessments and attitudes in two college English literature classes at Lehigh University, one in which the approach was traditional and one in which material derived from linguistics, literary theory, or philosophy of language was added. Students in the non-traditional class received additional…

A study investigated the contention that secondary school literature programs have offered, and continue to offer, what could be construed as a literary canon, a relatively small body of literary texts to which a majority of students have been and are continuing to be exposed. Several surveys of the literary works teachers assign, dating back to…

An upper school English program has been experimenting with ways to reinforce its traditional literary curriculum with contemporary works. Three contemporary novels in particular (Naylor's "The Women of Brewster Place," Walker's "The Color Purple," and Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz") have been found to foster a sense of continuity with the…

Disclosing interpretation as a meaning-making process of the active mind to students in all humanities courses, and especially in literature classes, is possible in numerous, phased writing assignments with built-in exercises in recursive and reflective thinking. The exercises are written down in each student's log (journal), a process which…

Because of its exploration of human conflicts, its examination of the capability of society and the individual relationships within it, and its focus on universal moral issues, Sophocles'"Antigone" is a relevant addition to secondary school core curricula. "Antigone" is effective in responding to each of Philip Anderson's four…

The word "grammar" can be used in many ways: a general theory of language description; a theory for describing one language; a description of a particular language, either in the form of a book (an "English grammar") or the contents of that book; an ideal as opposed to actual description of a language; the properties and processes of a language…

Through a review of literature, this paper notes that journalism has been fulfilling several elements considered crucial in the language arts program for many years, more richly and more understandably for students than many traditional English composition courses and other writing classes. In view of this, and in light of the many educational…

There are four conditions essential to developing and maintaining sound English curricula in the secondary schools. The first condition is that society hold public school education in sufficient respect that education can attract teaching candidates who are emotionally mature and committed to high intellectual and technical standards. More than…

The English program at DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana) has undergone many changes. Today, English majors at DePauw may choose from either a literature or a composition course of study. The capstone course in the 70-year-old composition program is the seminar, in which students write whatever they choose and distribute copies to the other…

The intellectual content of freshman English includes both the subject of writing itself and the subject the student writes about. Writing has often focused on personal subjects with the assumption that the student knows himself or herself and that the student has developed a point of view allowing intelligent writing. A second source of subject…

Those who argue for the inclusion of literature in composition courses point out that English teachers must teach from their area of expertise and that the use of literature endorses creative and imaginative use of language, avoids what is merely utilitarian and boring, and promotes growth in thinking. Those who oppose the use of literature in…

In planning a program of remedial English, college English faculties should ask several questions about the necessity of such a program, the needs of the students, the interests and capabilities of the teachers, the content of the courses, and the methods which can be applied in the remedial classroom. In addition, an effective remedial program…

Folklore study, too often misunderstood and maligned in the academic world, is pursued by a relatively small number of scholars (fewer than 100 people in this country have a doctorate in folklore). However, at least 170 American colleges and universities offer popular folklore courses, 71 percent of which are part of the English department…