Reading is an integral part of scholarly practice, though we do not often discuss how our approaches to reading differ, and how these approaches may ultimately make interpretive impact on our research. This essay considers approaches to reading in light of the concepts of proximity and orientation. Though formal "close reading" is a…

A key instructional goal of English language arts instruction is teaching students to read and interpret complex literary texts. This report reviews the literature on the development and pedagogy of literary analysis skills. It analyzes literary analysis skills as a "key practice," a bundle of disciplinary skills and strategies that form…

This paper uses the example of an extra-curricular Graphic Novel Reading Group in order to explore the institutional critical reading practices that take place in English classrooms in the senior years of secondary school. Drawing on Stanley Fish's theory of interpretive communities, it questions the restrictive interpretive strategies applied to…

Assuming that readers' emotional responses can enhance readers' metacognitive experiences and inform literary analysis, this study of 11th-grade poetry readers features instruction that models both cognitive and affective reading processes. The author: (1) Presents a case for more explicit attention to emotion in language arts classrooms; (2)…

Reveals that both censors and adolescents interpret "Catcher in the Rye,""Go Ask Alice," and "A Hero Ain't Nothin But a Sandwich." Each group reacts only to certain subtexts (obscenity, sexuality, rebellion) rather than interacting with the books as a whole; thus misinterpretations are bound to continue. (SKC)

Highlights Canadian writer George Bowering's view of reading as metaphor and process (shaping both his fiction and his developing sense of interpretation as a political act) by focusing on two of his books, "Burning Water" and "Caprice." (SR)

Presents a model of instruction to illustrate that helping students understand a text need not be at odds with engaging them in student-oriented transactions. Analyzes effects of giving lower-track students direct instruction in how experienced readers evaluate reliability of literary characters by examining the writing and discussions that the…

Explores briefly the New Criticism that dominated literature instruction until recently and then provides an overview of reader response theory and how response approaches can be used in the classroom to enhance reading. (NKA)