In this study of microteaching in a secondary English methods course, we intentionally stray from normative assessment practice, instead asking pre-service teachers to provide feedback on their peers' microteaching using assessment practices designed to orient them "figuratively." The term 'figurative' refers to 'figurative language':…

This article discusses ways literature is taught at the university. It describes a gap in the way English is often taught in literature programs and the way future teachers are taught to teach English to secondary students. It argues for teaching literature in ways that might be good for majors in both fields, ways that support the work valued by…

Future teachers often manifest a low confidence in their own writing and do not see themselves as writers. Developing an identity as authors requires ample opportunities for writing that sustain preservice teachers' discourses and cultural models. As writing across the content areas is considered a powerful way of learning, creating spaces for…

This paper critiques the impact of neo-liberalism on postprimary education, and in particular on the teaching of English. The paper explores the implications of performativity and exam-driven schooling on the teaching and learning of poetry. The authors argue that meeting the demands of an education system dominated by technicism and…

Although there is a vast research base on the literacy practices of adolescents and the issues surrounding the integration of technology despite current widespread access to tools and the Internet (Cuban, 2003), very little has been completed on the attempts of teacher educators to integrate technology within a specific content area to prepare…

This article argues that theoretical understandings of multimodality have enormous potential for assessment purposes in secondary school contexts. Informed by the work of three researchers in three North American high schools, the article offers vignettes of the effective assessment of communicative competence in English classrooms that draws on…

Prosody refers to features of speech such as intonation, volume and pace. In this paper, we examine teacher-student dialogue in an English lesson at a secondary school in England, using Conversation Analysis notation to mark features of prosody. We also make connections with Goffman's theoretical concept of footing. We show that, within an episode…

This document presents the proceedings of the 19th Annual Research Forum held June 26, 2014, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following 17 action research papers: (1) Using Voices to Change Minds: Oral Performance and Poetry in the English Classroom (Erika Bunpermkoon), (2) Imagining Audiences: The Use…

This article looks at the life and career of Alec Clegg. It outlines Clegg's ideas about education and how he was personally influenced by the work of teachers in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It sets this against a context of policy change and local authority governance. (Contains 1 note.)

Shows how dwelling on a great poem will continually deepen one's sense of delight. (EL)

Conveys personal response to poetry. Ponders the mystery of learning and the relationship of literature to life. (EL)

Describes how a high school English instructor used the Valdez oil spill to illustrate the meaning in Samuel Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." (PRA)

Provides five responses to Edward Lasky's article, "A Modern Day Albatross: The Valdez and Some of Life's Other Spills" in the same issue of this journal. (PRA)

David Holbrook urges teachers to encourage students to do creative, imaginative writing. (DD)

Narrates the story of how one teacher introduced a class to the drama of poetry. (DD)