This paper explores the possible negative implications of teacher selected whole-class reads rooted within the traditional canon of English Language Arts instruction and possible solutions for re-engaging the disengaged adolescent reader through choice reading and the implementation of more culturally relevant texts. Historically, English Language…

Selecting the appropriate texts as the authentic material for English teaching, particularly at the university level, matched with students' mastery level is still challenging. This study attempts to investigate the readability level of reading texts through the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) issued by ChatGPT, focused on…

Engaging students in the reading process is challenging when they are unable to connect to texts. It is important to provide inclusive and diverse texts (IDTs) in the language arts curriculum. To promote a positive reading experience, all students need to read IDTs with non-stereotypical depictions of girls, women, people of Color, and more. This…

In this article, Michelle Ann Abate examines the typographical features of the comics and graphic novels frequently finding their way into English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms and challenges the viewpoint that they are secondary to prose-only texts, arguing instead that many comics can be seen as requiring more advanced levels of literacy…

The context of this study is a voluntary modification in teaching focus by four eighth-grade teachers who shifted their instructional focus toward student engagement. They abandoned assigned readings in favor of student-selected, self-paced reading within a collection of high interest materials--primarily young adult fiction that students found…

Curious about the connections between the author's students' reading tastes and those of 19th-century readers, the author read Nina Baym's excellent text "Novels, Readers, and Reviewers: Responses to Fiction in Antebellum America" to gain a sense of how readers in the 1800s might have thought about the texts that they read. Nineteenth-century…

Of all the material in the English language arts curricula, poetry seems to cause the most consternation among teachers. For a number of teachers, and many students, poetry continues to be a difficult topic to teach and learn. In this article, the author focuses on the ways that young adult literature can help teachers expose their students to…

The text samples presented in this document primarily serve to exemplify the level of complexity and quality that the Standards require all students in a given grade band to engage with. Additionally, they are suggestive of the breadth of texts that students should encounter in the text types required by the Standards. The choices should serve as…

A sampling of reading materials on running that can be used in English classrooms. (RL)

Currently popular and increasingly complex adolescent literature deserves a close look by literature teachers. Authors of literature intended for this audience are becoming more adventuresome and are using a wider range of literary techniques than was previously true. Such techniques include slice of life, anti-hero, open-ending, interior…

Presents brief accounts from four secondary English teachers describing short stories and short story units that they have successfully taught. (SR)

Explains a major new book award, the Michael L. Printz Award honoring the best young adult book. Discusses the first prize-winning book: "Monster" by Walter Dean Myers, and three honor books. Discusses how these books are unusual and outstanding examples of young adult literature--structurally sophisticated with memorable characters who deal with…

Argues that if cultural literacy does not mean a list of works, it is a list, whether in the form of a canon or syllabus. Concludes that the goal of common background knowledge is worthy but distracts educators from questions that offer a chance of achieving such a goal and achieving literacy. (SRT)

Suggests educators should help students read religious texts such as the Bible, the Torah, and the Koran and that they should teach ways to reflect critically on these texts. Discusses ways to teach the Bible. (SG)

Looks at three books for young adults by Brock Cole: "The Goats" (1987), "Celine" (1989), and "The Facts Speak for Themselves" (1997). Discusses common elements in these stories: young people who rise to the occasion; adults who often do not; characters readers can empathize with; an honest treatment of sexuality; and a wonderful use of humor. (SR)