This essay questions the place that conversations about 'race' hold in the English classroom. I hope to reveal the problems that may come with easily dismissing tense and racially charged dialogues about language and identity. I also explore the way classroom talk opens up an opportunity for students to create and contest different meanings and…

This article explores how Australian English teachers can thoughtfully and critically address the cross-curriculum priority 'Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia' in secondary classrooms. It builds on our prior research, which highlighted factors that shape teacher attitudes towards addressing this cross-curriculum priority, the perceived…

Fifty years ago poetry was a key element in the English programme in most secondary schools in New Zealand. Today many teachers avoid teaching poetry for several reasons, one of these being the nature of the assessment of the subject, English, by the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) set up by the New Zealand Qualifications…

Reports a survey of British middle-school teachers that supports recent British studies on teacher attitudes acknowledging the importance of poetry instruction and attributing reluctance to teach poetry to teacher lack of confidence and knowledge. Recommends promoting middle-school students' untapped interest in poetry through changes in the…

Suggests that while teachers may wish to guide students in their reading of literature--to give them only "good" literature and to help them see the "right" interpretations of it--such guidance leaves students' understanding to chance, and does not help them choose to think and construct values of their own. (JC)