Interactive Fiction (IF)--a digital form of non-linear narrative writing--requires readers to respond, to make choices that shape their reading experience. I argue that such choices can be put to use in the classroom, helping teachers to facilitate metalinguistic talk. In this article, I offer a clear conceptualisation of metalinguistic talk,…

In considering how to bring joy back to education and the curriculum in England, I argue that it is also necessary to bring the joy of teaching back to classroom practitioners. A fundamental contribution to this may be leadership typologies employed by schools' senior leadership. As an experienced secondary English teacher, over the last 20 years…

Although interdisciplinary scholars have long debated the ethics of empathy, it continues to be widely seen as universal, prosocial, and reparative in education. Subject English, long associated with the work of producing civilised, moral and cultured students, is a critical locus for the activation of empathy. But what becomes of empathy in the…

From its conception in Australia, subject 'English' has been considered central to the curriculum. The English literature strand in the curriculum does not stipulate specific texts but is more explicit regarding what should be considered as an appropriate 'literary text'. Curriculum documents emphasise the need for texts to have cultural and…

The recent inclusion of "cultural capital" into the English Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (2019) caused a ripple of discontent within some educational circles, with some suggesting it is indicative of 'white, middle-class paternalism'. Here, we consider the political rise of Bourdieu's concept of 'cultural capital' within the…

This study investigates the interpretive approaches of three English teachers working in different grade levels with the same poem, Walt Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." The researcher sought to learn what the teachers identified as most valuable about studying poetry in school, what interpretive approaches they employed…

The judgment and ultimately the success of creative products should be determined by their properties. However, it has not been considered so far whether the same applies to books. Earlier research has found an inverted-U relationship between originality of stimuli and their success. Linguistic originality as a text feature could influence the…

The nature of English as a school subject -- and particularly English literature -- is a longstanding issue of debate for practitioners and researchers internationally. One dimension of this concerns the forces that shape the diet of literary texts that students are fed. In this study, we draw on the ecological model of agency to interrogate the…

This article explores how, in English classes in secondary schools, students can perfect moral concepts such as love, honesty, and happiness. As the philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch explains, people can perfect, or refine, moral concepts by paying attention to reality and altering their concepts in line with what is real. For Murdoch, the…

This paper explores GCSE English re-sits in post-16 education. The re-sit policy was introduced in England and Wales to improve national literacy rates, yet persistently poor pass rates have drawn robust criticism of the policy. This article argues that traditional discourses of literacy predominate and contribute towards antagonisms between…

Background/purpose: As teachers of the future, pre-service English teachers' perceptions towards literary genres were crucial as their thoughts and experiences during their teacher training program would be decisive on their use of literature in their future teaching professions. Therefore, the objective of this qualitative explanatory case study…

It is well researched, yet under-acknowledged in policy and practice, that prison alone is unsuccessful in reducing criminality. Though in the USA recidivism is high, recidivism is both a common and limited measure, rarely capturing individual nuances. This paper presents key findings from an ethnographically-informed exploration of a…

Reading is one of the crucial aspects of the learning process. The learning efficiency depends on the motivation and involvement of students. The paper aims to determine whether the developed online course enhances student motivation and engagement in contemporary American literature. For this purpose, questionnaires were used. The sample…

The study aims at unraveling the conceptual metaphor underlying the English verb of visual perception "see" in fiction writing. It has two research questions: 1) What are the conceptual metaphors underlying the linguistic expressions of the English verb of visual perception "see" in fiction writing and 2) What are the…

In this paper, I reflect on a series of lectures, underpinned by the principles of critical pedagogy, when engaging with Shakespeare's "The Tempest." Working with student teachers in a South African School of Education, I used a talk-back design to enable students to talk back to the canon and open the dialogue about resistance. I used…