The literary critic should be both a good detective and a naive observer in finding out what is going on in a literary work and passing on that knowledge to those wishing to use it in furthering their reading pleasure. Rather than formulating value judgments about a piece of literature, critics must use their experiences to illuminate important…

Describes the diverse responses of eight faculty members and eight graduate students to the poem "Winter Piece" by William Gibson. (DD)

Comments on students' inclination to read for plot only and to judge a novel's merit solely on its bare and obvious storyline--which the authors define as the syndrome of the "Playboy" centerfold. (HOD)

Discusses how writing is the combination of two voices, "creator" and "critic," and how writers use these voices to create a recognizable yet variable pattern. Presents two story beginnings by Rachel McCaleb Watts that illustrate the repetitions and variations in one writer's work. (ARH)

Discusses some aspects of Joseph Schwab's essay, The Practical: A Language for Curriculum. Explores the particular argument of the essay by extrapolating from the argument to the further problem of constructing a practicable curriculum for a practice'' curriculum. Suggests that interpretations of the Schwab thesis underestimate its significance…

Attempts to clarify some of the issues raised in an essay by Joseph Schwab, The Practical: A Language for Curriculum (see EA 504 327) from the standpoint of an outsider to the field of education. (EA)

Describes procedure for providing practice in critical reading of scientific manuscripts based on the introduction of deliberate flaws in published research reports for students to detect and correct. (AL)

Advocates a new form of literary criticism, which combines the subjectivist and objectivist approaches. The author argues that literary criticism which includes comparisons of the reader's response to the text with its actual content, and with alternative viewpoints, provides new opportunities for personal growth. (AM)

Describes schema theory and Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory. Notes the similarities between these two theories of the reading process and suggests directions for research based on their combined use. (RL)

Suggests the technique of set diagraming, used for reviewing the rhetoric of an argument, as a method for helping students critically analyze arguments in their reading. (SJL)

Explains the importance of the context of the purpose of reading to the final interpretation or understanding. (MKM)

Examines the nature of comprehension from a linguist's, researcher's and teacher's perspectives. Suggests teaching inferential comprehension keeping the reader's experience in mind. (MKM)

Adult education researchers must become critical writers and readers of research texts. Reflexivity should be seen as a movement away from the purely personal to an awareness of the operation of language, discourse, and power in the assumptions and unconscious values of research. (SK)