A study investigated the effects of writing in a personal and a formal mode on students' understanding of literary text. Formal text-based and personal reader-based writing samples produced by 65 tenth grade students in response to two stories from D. Sohn's "Ten Modern American Short Stories" were analyzed for quality of response,…

There appears to be a problem in the way students in introductory, nonmajor literature courses read poetry that affects the way they write about it. One widely accepted belief among students is that there is a hidden but identifiable meaning in the poem that they are supposed to discover. The problem with this strategy is that most students lack…

Using a college course on William Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" as a case study, this book presents an alternative approach to teaching poetry. Divided into seven sections with 19 chapters, the book describes how students can develop and exercise an historical imagination in the…

Rather than replace the modal methodology approach to writing with an aim or purpose-oriented pedagogy and criticism, it would be profitable for writing across the curriculum teachers to recycle the modes, using them as topics of generative and analytic invention. The move from mode to topic can be applied to the texts of contemporary science…

This paper describes a graduate course at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, entitled "The Electronic Church, with an Emphasis on Its Evangelists." The paper addresses some of the ways in which criticism is taught via the television evangelists. Following a mini-course in speech analysis, the course focuses on the various aspects…

One of the most effective vehicles for testing students is new material, but it is frequently difficult to find selections by authors with whom students have no familiarity or about whom an abundance of critical material does not exist. The works of Lawrence Ferlinghetti provide an excellent source not only for testing knowledge, but also for…

Using Toulmin's model of argument as its methodology, this paper analyzes the arguments employed by Lee Iacocca, chief executive officer of Chrysler Corporation, to persuade the United States Congress to provide backing for loans necessary for the corporation's financial survival in 1979-1980. After delineating the three main claims made by…

Prepared by scholars from four countries, the 63 papers in this collection address recent developments and recurrent problems in the theory, practice, criticism, and teaching of argumentation. Following the texts of two keynote addresses, the papers are presented according to eight broad categories: argumentation theory, historical and political…

Peer reviewed manuscripts contain a certain level of merit, as they have survived the scrutiny of reviewers who possess some expertise in the relevant area. This article discusses the purpose of reviewing manuscripts for publication in scholarly journals. Various aspects and issues of the peer review process are described, including reviewer…

In recent years, children's trade books have included a growing number of stories that negatively portray the well-known adults in a child's world--parents, teachers, and librarians. This paper examines children's and adults' reactions to such negative characterizations and defends their presence in children's literature. It then lists and…

The eight articles in this journal issue deal with the classroom study of language. They address such topics as dealing with student dialects and teaching about dialects; creating environments in which "languaging" can take place; using stylistic analysis to explain a literary text; teaching high school students to write research papers on aspects…

Concerned with the need to stimulate reading pleasure for older adolescents, this document outlines a high school reading unit that capitalizes on the perennial popularity of series books such as Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift. Suggested activities include having students reflect on their personal reading and write a fictional sketch…

In 1933 in Paris, a new literary movement was born: negritude, a black French-language movement. Its principal figures were Leopold Sedar Senghor, Aime Cesaire, and Leon Damas. The chief features of the movement included: (1) awareness of African cultural history; (2) acceptance of and pride in the black racial identity; (3) a style which combined…

The study and teaching of literature is the emphasis of this special journal issue. The nine articles included in the issue discuss the following: (1) time and social class in William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," (2) Robert Frost's "Yankee Ironist," (3) an approach to teaching "Moby Dick," (4) using games to review…

The production of a book review journal by students is suggested as a way of encouraging reading and of developing clear, expository writing. Guidelines are provided for the sequential development of such a journal. Criteria are offered for evaluating fiction and nonfiction books, with examples of annotations featuring style, period or setting of…