Translating current principles of language learning into effective classroom practice requires a nuanced understanding of the cognitive and social factors that shape how learners engage in instructional activity. In this paper, we identify four principles that represent a current theoretical consensus in the field, which we hope will guide…

This book critiques dominant discourses and debates pertaining to cultural identity, set against the current backdrop of growing social stratification and unequal access to quality education. It addresses current discourses concerning globalisation, ideologies and the state, as well as approaches to constructing national, ethnic and religious…

Describes the "particle, wave, field" heuristic for gathering information, and shows how students can apply that heuristic in analyzing literature and in using procedures of historical criticism. (RL)

Describes how the Aristotelian model of causality can be used to help college students systematically analyze the components, point of view, organization, and purpose of a literary theory. The literary theories of Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Sidney, Pope, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Shelley are analyzed, using this model. (AM)

To help students develop a broadly generative approach to reading and writing about literature, teachers of literature should employ not only systematic procedures, but also the eclectic and utilitarian spirit of rhetorical invention. A semiotic perspective offers the most solid theoretical foundation for establishing a genuinely heuristic…

Purpose: This paper aims to analyse an initiative to provide learners on "career-based" programmes with opportunities to reflect upon their values within the context of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: An international literature review relating values and behaviour to the sustainability agenda led to the development of…

Discusses several approaches that students have found helpful for analyzing "Jane Eyre," including point of view, comparison, character development, language, imagery and symbolism, and the novel's elements of autobiography. (HTH)

Outlines the teaching of Edward Thomas' poetry over a six-week period. (SRT)

Outlines common abuses that occur when students first use dramatic analysis in oral interpretation. Offers guidelines to help make students' efforts more productive; uses William Carlos Williams's poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" as an example. (PD)

Describes how an approach, limited to the reading and teaching of lyric poems, can serve as a means of opening up the world of interpretive reading to marginal readers. (DD)

Discusses the teaching of "Bleak House" to students who are daunted by its length and complexity. Provides suggestions on how to get beyond those complexities and allow students to understand the central concerns of the book. (SRT)

Suggests the use of parody to deepen students' understanding of how and why poems work. (TJ)

Describes how to adapt a film study technique (Richard Lacey's image sound skim) to literary study (the image or scene skim) to develop students' skill in perceptive reading. (DD)

Suggests a way to motivate students' writing and thinking by having them react to critics of novels, plays, or short stories. (TJ)

Describes ways to use reading, reaction, and vocabulary extension guides to help maintain students' interest in poetry. (KS)