A study explored the developing literacy response of adolescents through writing by investigating three characteristics: patterns, individual variations, and the effects of genre on response. Subjects, 7 grade nine students from a small private secondary school on the west coast of Canada, were selected for their wide reading experiences. Subjects…

Athol Fugard's "Master Harold...and the boys" and Toni Morrison's "Bluest Eye" underscore the necessity of encouraging and providing opportunities for African American students to explore their own constructions of self. In the former work, "It's not fair, is it Hally?" becomes a universal human refrain at the same…

A sophomore-level course surveying world literature through the seventeenth century emphasizes the theme of heroes and heroic codes using western classics and the "Tale of Genji," a fictional account of an idealized Japanese courtier and gentleman written in the tenth century AD by the court lady Murasaki Shikubu, and often considered to…

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…

An extension of conversations that originally took place at summer institutes devoted to literary theory (sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English), this book presents diverse critical perspectives on current topics of literature, such as post-structuralism, cultural criticism, reader-response theory, and issues of gender and…

Literature is an artistic expression which teaches human beings valuable lessons about life. Literature invites the reader to share decisions with the decisions of others--the characters seen in literature. Unlike science or philosophy or ethics, which make people say "I understand" and then "I see," literature, as an art,…

Representing Australia, Canada, England, the United States, and Wales, this collection of essays focuses on ways in which teachers can adapt classroom activities and modify writing assignments to encourage personal response and exploration of texts. Essays, their authors, and nationalities are as follows: (1) "The River and Its Banks:…

Probes William Wordsworth's relationship to the young reader. Concludes that although many young people today cannot have the direct, immediate experience of nature that overawed Wordsworth, they can, in a room where they sit down together and read a poem, "learn a contemplative solitude--and respond to [a] poem in their individual…

Describes a teacher's personal memories which, when shared with students, helped make the poetry of Wordsworth and Whitman more meaningful. Suggests that for true comprehension of poetry to occur--Romantic or otherwise--teachers must lead students and model from within their own personal connections. (NH)

Argues that in the study of literature, the authority of the text is confounded by the authority of the teacher. Suggests that more effective learning takes place when the authority of both text and teacher is set aside. (FL)

Explains how to teach F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" in three stages: before, during, and after a close look at the text and outlines the novel's narrative structure. (HOD)

To assess the effects of textual variation on students' preferred patterns of literary response, 166 college students were asked to read two poems and two short stories. The findings provided support for the notion that students' preferred patterns of response are strongly influenced by the nature of the texts they read. (HOD)

Explores the literary connection between writers and readers by offering examples from the work of the writers and the responses of their readers. (HOD)

The author of "Jacob Have I Loved" and "Come Sing, Jimmy Jo" describes the characters in books she has written who are like "Wednesday's children"--full of woe. Discusses dealing with tragedy in children's books. (EL)

Approaches Susan Glaspell's work by uniting role playing and reader response to foster student understanding of their values of the text. (CRH)