Describes a method of teaching Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" to secondary students that involves their reading the text aloud and discussing the responses of modern critics to Chaucer. (AEA)

Suggests that Shakespeare's intense self-consciousness of the theatrical conventions within which he was working, associated with an emphasis on studying the text as produced, has to be an important starting point for any classroom study of Shakespeare on film. Offers ideas for teaching such films, such as the Zeffirelli production of "Romeo…

For an introduction to Shakespeare's "Tempest," dramatic interest and tension were created in the classroom through taped interviews with survivors of present-day sea disasters, student improvisations of scenes, music, and historical accounts of shipwrecks. (MF)

Presents an approach for teaching Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale" (from "The Canterbury Tales"). Recommends several reference texts related to the "The Canterbury Tales" and medieval literature in general. (MM)

Suggests that structuralist arguments in the teaching of English question the ideology that has traditionally informed the study of literature--the very idea that such a study is a "humane" activity. (HOD)

Examines the Working Party on English Literature's report on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Concludes that the report attempts both to validate and challenge some basic GCSE assumptions, and that its total rejection of criterion-referencing constitutes a much-needed stand against GCSE grading practices. (MM)

Describes several approaches to teaching Robert Westall's "The Machine-Gunners." Questions the effectiveness of several activities which are commonly used to teach imaginative texts. (MM)

Describes a classroom study of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" which concentrates on the Weird Sisters and the question of witchcraft. Advocates utilizing pupils' experience of powerful images from the general culture, introducing a selection of well-documented historical evidence to support textual study, and avoiding misguided conventional…

Offers two rules that should be followed in order to successfully teach Shakespeare's plays in a classroom setting. (DF)

Argues that the study of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" will provoke both agreement and disagreement in its premises and its particular judgments, but that the ensuing thought and discussion can constitute an education in novel reading. (HOD)

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 combination of lecture and theater techniques which made a one-month course on Shakespeare so successful for American students visiting the University College of North Wales, Bangor, Australia. (DD)

Reviews "Marking A Level English Literature" by P.A. Lapworth, which is intended as a clarification for teachers of the basis on which candidates' papers are assessed by the Joint Matriculation Board examiners at 'A' Level. (DF)

Describes the results of a study in which 32 English teachers were requested to identify passages of verse disguised as prose. Analyzes which features enabled the readers to recognize the poetry passages. (KEH)

Describes a "Shakespeare Coursework Unit" in which Shakespearean and other literary works of the Tudor era were analyzed for evidence of the gender biases prevalent in that period. Notes that by the end of the course, students accepted the assertion that textual analysis is never truly completed. (SG)