Intended to provide an overview of current thinking on response-oriented literature instruction and meant to stimulate dialogue leading to reform, this book reports research findings and ideas from teacher conferences of the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature at the State University of New York at Albany. The book contains the following articles: (1) "The Background for Reform" (Arthur N. Applebee); (2) "Testing Literature" (Alan C. Purves); (3) "Rethinking Literature Instruction" (Judith A. Langer); (4) "Five Kinds of Literary Knowing" (Robert A. Probst); (5) "Challenging Questions in the Teaching of Literature" (Susan Hynds); (6) "Teaching Literature: From Clerk to Explorer" (Jayne DeLawter); (7) "Literary Reading and Classroom Constraints: Aligning Practice with Theory" (Patrick X. Dias); and (8) "To Teach (Literature)?" (Anthony Petrosky). (NKA)