Examines the roots of the modern language arts curriculum in Canada. Claims it is based on nineteenth-century interdependence of studies in rhetoric, history of the English language, and literature. And asserts that this curriculum was designed to develop rhetorical and critical sophistication. (JK)

Analyzes the reasons for teaching English in Canadian schools, viewing the arguments both for and against it. (RB)

Focuses on the censorship controversy in Peterborough County, Ontario, from 1976 to 1985, and examines the attack on, defense of, and counter argument to teaching Margaret Laurence's "The Diviners." Generalizes the anticensorship stance often taken by English teachers to defend the teaching of controversial literary works. (JK)

Reviews various methods of teaching literature and proposes that response to literature be an element in the teaching of literature. Considers the role of the teacher in a response-centered classroom and how to create a classroom environment that will encourage interpretation and response to literature. (SRT)

Provides a background of response theory, two Canadian perspectives on response theory, a description of transactional response theory and response-centered curriculum, a discussion of the concepts of participant and spectator roles in literature and of the idea of narration and storying as literature, and a discussion of analysis and criticism.…

Discusses early experiences of children with literature, and the development of and growth in their response to literature. Argues for a response-centered, rather than criticism-centered, curriculum. (SRT)

Considers literature as something different from the texts themselves (specifically, a way of reading that includes the writer, the text, and the reader) so that the purposes of teachers and readers may be considered, and a flexible approach to selection, organization, and pedagogy be permitted. (SRT)