How a multimedia program that employs concept maps and hypertext for teaching "Hamlet" facilitated comprehension in an undergraduate course is described. Results suggest factors that instructional designers should take into account to improve learning. Thirty-six upper-division college students were enrolled in a course on Shakespeare at…

Three papers given at a seminar on the state of the "discipline" of English are presented which form an introduction to an analysis of the activity of "teaching and researching English" as it is currently being done at Queensland University (Australia) and others. Following an introduction summarizing the background of the…

THIS CULMINATING UNIT OF THE 12TH-GRADE OREGON LITERATURE CURRICULUM IS BASED UPON ONE WORK, "HAMLET." THE TEACHER VERSION INCLUDES DISCUSSIONS OF (1) THE RELEVANCE OF HAMLET'S CHARACTER TO MODERN TIMES, (2) THE PROBLEMS IN THE CHARACTERIZATIONS OF THE GHOST, CLAUDIUS, AND HAMLET, (3) THE PLAY'S THREE-PHASE STRUCTURE, (4) THE PLAY'S…

Several of the important themes of post-World War II English, French, and German drama are analyzed in this book. The first chapter briefly examines the major contemporary playwrights in each national literature. Subsequent chapters discuss contemporary drama as an expression of Artaud's "theatre of cruelty," its relationship to the changing…

This is an integrated, classified listing of 18,321 Ph.D. dissertations, prepared so that doctoral students in English or American literature could determine whether or not their potential dissertation topic had been treated in the United States, Britain, or Germany. Subject classification headings also include sections for some dissertations in…

The "Introduction to Shakespeare" course in the Quinmester Program involves the careful study of the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" and the comedy "The Taming of the Shrew," emphasizing language, development of character and theme. The course also includes the study of biographical data relevant to the evolution of…

This teacher's guide for public television's 3-part adaptation of Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist" provides information that will help enrich students' viewing of the series, whether or not they read the novel. The guide includes a wide range of discussion and activity ideas; there is also a series Web site and a list of Web resources.…

Offers a critique of contemporary American Shakespeare criticism in higher education. Argues that the current movement, called New Historicism, pursues its political analysis of Shakespeare within the context of a narrow political agenda including issues of race, class, gender, culture, and power determined by specific contemporary concerns. (JB)

An analysis of four writers' portrayals of nineteenth and early twentieth century working class life reveals a progression of political thought about the treatment of people's struggles to effectively change society. In Dickens'"Hard Times" (1854), the protagonist is a martyr-saint who finds solace in subduing his anger and continuing to…

TRAGIC AND COMIC FORMS OF DRAMA ARE EXPLORED IN THIS TWO-PART 11TH-GRADE LITERATURE UNIT. A SECTION ON TRAGEDY, TREATING THREE PLAYS, EMPHASIZES STRUCTURAL DIVISIONS, CONVENTIONS, AND SUBJECT MATTER PECULIAR TO THIS TYPE OF DRAMA. FOLLOWING A DISCUSSION OF THE CLASSICAL GREEK THEATRE AND THE ARISTOTELIAN VIEW OF TRAGEDY, THE FORM AND THEME OF…

A COMPANION VOLUME TO THE COLLECTION OF ESSAYS, "ON TEACHING LITERATURE" (TE 000 393), THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY IS DESIGNED PRIMARILY TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE TEACHER OF ENGLISH IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL. IN NINE SECTIONS, EACH BY A DIFFERENT AUTHOR, IT DESCRIBES AND SUMMARIZES THE CONTENTS OF WHAT THE WRITERS HAVE JUDGED TO BE THE MOST VALUABLE AND…

The presentation of the book "Animal Farm" by George Orwell to sophomores at East Orange Catholic High School, New Jersey, as a "political document" is discussed. Through research, panel discussions and voluntary comments, the students studied the book in depth comparing it to the power struggle between Stalin and Trotsky in…

Volume 1 of the four-volume, international bibliography contains over 11,140 entries referring to books, Festschriften, analyzed collections, and articles which focus on General, English, American, medieval and neo-Latin, and Celtic literatures. A section of folklore is also included. The section on general literature includes: (1) aesthetics, (2)…

This handout is a guide to library resources in the J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte for the study of colonial American literature. The guide is intended to help readers find sources of criticism on colonial and revolutionary literature. It explains important reference sources in the Atkins library reference…

This sourcebook presents reading guides for 27 literary works frequently used by secondary school English teachers. The guides contain an overview of the work, a pool of instructional objectives for each work, a variety of activities, a series of discussion options, suggestions for evaluation, and annotated lists of related works. Included are:…