Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory of reader response has been widely accepted as a means of resisting the hegemony of New Criticism. This article argues that Rosenblatt and the New Critics were pioneers of parallel, rather than opposing, pedagogical traditions, shaped by the shared influence of I. A. Richards and John Dewey. The article…

In addition to being one of the authors of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), David Coleman has become the Standards' "most visible advocate" (Smith, Appleman, & Wilhelm, 2014, p. 10) and one of their "most prominent and articulate promoters" (Rabinowitz & Bancroft, 2014, p. 4). In a talk titled "Bringing the…

This article puts forward moral-philosophical arguments for re-building and re-thinking secondary-level (high-school equivalent) English studies around creative writing practices. I take it that when educators and policy makers talk about such entities as the "well-rounded learner," what we have, or should have, in mind is moral agents…

In this review essay, Jeanne Connell examines the influence of pragmatic philosophy on the scholarly works of twentieth-century literary theorist and English educator Louise Rosenblatt through the lens of a recent collection of her essays originally published between 1936 and 1999. Rosenblatt grounded her transactional theory of literature in…

The English teaching profession, spurred on by media and federal politics, has tended to construct aesthetic reading and political reading within a dichotomous conceptual framework (Morgan, 1997; Devine, 2004; Donnelly, 2007). The article argues that this need not be so, and that the two apparently opposed modes of reading can be performed not…

The central activity of literary criticism, the understanding of literature, is related to the process of establishing a context for the works of literature being studied. Choosing not to discuss the factual elements of literary criticism, the author clarifies and concentrates on the "lower" and "upper" limits of criticism. While the "lower" limit…

Discusses the importance of teaching poetry and lists the works of poets widely liked by adolescents. (RB)

Discusses T. S. Eliot's attitude toward the teaching of English and his philosophy regarding the role of education in society. (RB)

Analyzes the writings of I. A. Richards and F. R. Leavis of the Cambridge School to show that underlying both critics' philosophies regarding English studies are unexplored questions. (DD)

Cautions teachers not to introduce an adult view of the world to students at too young an age. (RB)

Questions the practice of teaching literature which presents a negative view of man as seen in "Animal Farm" and "Lord of the Flies" unless teachers are careful to provide a balanced view. (RB)

Discusses the contradiction of teaching English literature, which has an elitist history, to students in a modern democratic society based on the postulate of universal education. (RB)

Examines the role of literature in developing cultural values. (RB)

Argues that English teachers are not asking the most important questions about a piece of literature, suggesting that they are ducking the issues that are specifically political. (RB)

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