Literature circles are student-led, small-group discussions that promote active learning and engagement with literary texts. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of literature circles on student engagement and learning outcomes in a pedology course. For various reading assignments throughout the semester, students either…

The construct of critical cultural awareness (CCA) is often regarded as an element pertaining to intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997, 2021). In this model, CCA is defined as the ability to "evaluate, critically, and on the basis of a systematic process of reasoning, values in one's own culture and other cultures" (Byram,…

This study aims to explore the effects of implementing the literature circles strategy for teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in levels 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of a public university in the Amazon Region of Ecuador. For this purpose, three English language teachers conducted some action research. Two hundred fourteen students of English Arts…

The French film "Entre Les Murs" ("The Class") is a somewhat unusual film in its portrayal of a Parisian working class school and its protagonist, Mr. Marin, who attempts to teach an unruly class of young and very diverse teenagers. This article explores the ways the author used the film "The Class" as a culminating…

Drawing from the importance of narrative inquiry in contemporary geographical reasoning and teaching, this paper focuses on some practices set around the relationship between maps and literature. Reader-generated maps, maps produced starting from the reading of a literary text, are at the core of a reflection on the potentialities of literary…

This article argues that the instructional scaffolding metaphor may be reconceived as distributed scaffolding when multiple means of influence are provided in a service-learning setting. In the service-learning course described here, the professor's role is largely as designer of activity settings for preservice teacher candidates, through…

For the last four semesters my courses in Shakespeare have used QwikiWiki and MediaWiki, two versions of the wiki software, for writing exercises and directed reflection on language--including both by the students about Shakespeare's language, and by the teacher/researcher regarding the students' performance in "Writing to Learn". In experimenting…

High school teacher Cara M. Arver walks teachers through her experience of setting up a virtual world to augment students' reading of "Lord of the Flies." Students interact as additional characters, discuss and solve problems based on the circumstances of the story, and complete classroom assignments within a virtual environment.

Describes a writing assignment (designed as an alternative to a traditional literary analysis paper) for a sophomore-level introduction to short story course, in which students assemble their own thematic anthology of short stories with introduction, headnotes, and annotated bibliography. (SR)

Describes an approach to paper assignments in a literature course designed to present sufficient options in essay topics to allow the individual student to develop new skills while working at his/her own level of advancement. (HOD)

Reports on a "summing up" assignment at the end of a course on the fiction of J. D. Salinger. Notes the way students used parodies to display their knowledge of Salinger's style and recurrent themes. Offers one student-written parody as an example. (RL)

Provides job cards for language activities in the middle grade classroom which pick up on ideas from "The Phantom Tollbooth," a children's classic by Norton Juster. (DD)

A TENTATIVE GUIDE UTILIZES THE SPIRALLY-ORGANIZED (SEQUENTIAL) APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CURRICULUM EXPERIENCES. THE GOAL IS TO DEVELOP RESPECT FOR THE WORK OF LITERATURE OVER THE THEORY OF LITERATURE. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT IN THE SOPHOMORE YEAR THE STUDENTS LEARN TO IDENTIFY CONCEPTS AND UNDERSTAND HOW WRITERS PUT THESE CONCEPTS TO USE. IN…

Describes an assignment for the study of Shakespeare's "King Lear" in which the students were to take a small section they thought thematically important and describe clearly how the page should be read and performed. (HOD)

Suggests that inappropriate book selections, the book report/test syndrome, and ineffective assignments turn students off to reading. Recommends alternative English classroom techniques (reading groups, oral and dramatic activities, writing, and media) to encourage students' enjoyment and appreciation of literature. (SJL)