Presents a discussion tool that the author has incorporated into the classroom. Describes how she combines two approaches into a non-graded group work with a role-playing component, a technique she integrates into the classroom numerous times throughout every semester. Concludes how eventually students confidently present their well-supported…

Discusses current thinking on the theory-practice relationship within both literary and curriculum theory by presenting ideas and positions of representative figures from each discipline. Suggests an approach that seeks to capitalize on the important and common aspects of both. (KEH)

Discusses characteristics of poststructuralism, and describes some applications of poststructural theory in the English classroom. Argues that a poststructuralist pedagogy need not neglect traditional terminology and traditional close reading of texts. (RS)

Discusses recent events in American culture's ongoing debate concerning the censorship of reading materials for young adults. Considers the ways to defend reading selections from attack by potential censors. Gives advice for teachers challenged to defend their reading selections. (HB)

Argues that Toni Morrison's fiction encourages the reexamination of the relationship between the narrative structures of oral storytelling and those of the modern novel. Demonstrates how Morrison creatively draws on oral and literate language and memory. (HB)

Analyzes Egon Guba's claims about what empirical research is and about the models that have guided it. Questions Guba's claims that critics have found flaws in the models that have guided empirical research. Considers how these conclusions might affect instruction in empirical research. (HB)

Focuses on the homoerotic elements of Herman Melville's novel, "Billy Budd." Describes how these controversial elements were taught in a college literature course. (HB)

Discusses how films of Shakespeare's plays can be used to teach literary analysis in the classroom and to nurture an interest in Shakespeare. Suggests some books for teachers which specifically address Shakespeare and film. (PRA)

Describes the literary achievement of Percy F. Westerman, a prolific British writer of boys stories in the early twentieth century. Shows how Westerman's stories, often chauvinistic and ethnocentric, delineated his ideas about the proper British gentleman and his view of decency and fair play. (HB)

Discusses the poststructural impulse to displace authority over texts and their meanings from the author. Questions whether poststructuralists practice an anti-intentionalist impersonalism regarding their own writings. Describes the reactions of Jacques Derrida to readings of his own work by other critics. (HB)

Considers the recent flood of anthologies of literary criticism and theory as exemplifications of the confluence of pedagogical concerns, economics of publishing, and other historical factors. Looks specifically at how these anthologies present theory. Cites problems with their formatting theory and proposes alternative ways of organizing theory…

Proposes that English studies is not a privileged route to addressing and redressing social ills. Questions whether literary studies is now or has ever been a "serious" enterprise or whether those who engage in it are overly self-serious. (HB)

Sketches an alternative, or perhaps an addition, to critical analysis and personal response. Notes the approach is historical and intertextual. Demonstrates this method using the popular television series "The X-Files." Shows how a description of a text can be built up through various kinds of research. Argues that historical and…

John Milton presented a wide spectrum of materials and ideas illuminating the literary landscape like a rainbow which critics and authors have been discussing for centuries. One example of the multiple layers of meaning in Milton's poems is found in Sonnet XIX, which can be useful for both forensic discussion as well as for composition…

Carefully planned instruction, which involves students with literature and with each other, can and will help them become more competent, sensitive, and independent readers. (RC)