This dissertation dealt with the preparation, designing, teaching, and evaluation of a course in literary theory. The course examined the following areas of literary study: definition, perception, description, explication, interpretation, and evaluation. It is centered on the following theses: (1) in literary pursuits criticism is teaching and…

The purpose of this book is to assist undergraduates in discovering basic phenomena of rhetorical situations and rhetorical talk and in interpreting those phenomena socially. The nature of oral rhetoric and its criticism is treated in chapters one and two. Chapters three and four deal with how obvious and less obvious ideas may be espied and…

This book is designed to help teachers and students of speech, language, English, rhetoric, public address, and speech communication understand the nature of discourse and analyze communicative behavior. Chapters deal with (1) the philosophical bases for the relationships between the speech act and the rhetorical act, (2) the basic concepts of the…

The western is the most popular and enduring of Hollywood forms. It is one embodiment of a traditional theme in American culture: the West as both Garden of natural dignity and innocence and also as treacherous Desert resisting the gradual sweep of agrarian progress and community values. Westerns have in common: a) history, America's past; b)…

Offers theoretical distinctions among the terms sacred, myth, ideology, and political myth. Analyzes representative speeches and debates on imperialism in the United States and Great Britain and contends that the distinction between the two rhetorical typologies concurrently existing in each nation account for the dominance of imperialist rhetoric…

Author questions assumptions about formal criticism that are made, consciously or unconsciously, by teachers of English. (Editor)

Interpretive remarks have both a subjective element and an objective element: subjective in the sense that an intelligent and full understanding of a work of literature may depend upon the reader having a certain background experience and knowledge; objective in the sense that, to be valid, an interpretation must have an objective basis in the…

Treats the educational video, "Miracle of Life," as exemplary of pro-life discourse broader than abortion. States that bio-medical knowledge which makes the video's rhetoric possible presumes a social order system focused on reproduction. Considers rhetoric of bodies in Western culture, anatomy lesson as a rhetorical act, and politics of…

Defends the importance for media study of a descriptive and evaluative scholarship grounded in old-humanist perspectives. Uses the television miniseries "Lonesome Dove" as a case study to argue that media texts, like literary works, can and should be evaluated according to the criteria of "formal mastery" and "intellectual coherence." (SR)

This research is a qualitative study of elementary students who have been retained in grade. A critical analysis of marginalization and stratification in education is illustrated through narratives and interviews. A review of the historical, social, and political context of educational bureaucracy and the reliance on grade retention to increase…

Studies like the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) have compared the performance of U.S. middle grade students (i.e., eighth graders) to those in other countries. In relation to middle grade schools, 20 countries outperformed the United States in mathematics and nine countries scored above the U.S. in science. The intent of…

This article constitutes a re-reading of and an attempt to rehabilitate Basil Bernstein, both of which are important in light of the interpretation of Bernstein as a proponent of the verbal deficit view, and the general discrediting of his work on social class differences in the British educational system, as related to what he later called…

The ethics and efficacy of explicitly teaching disciplinary discourse conventions to undergraduate students has been hotly debated. This quasi-experimental study seeks to contribute to these debates by focusing on the conventional special "topoi" of literary analysis--conventions that previous Writing in the Disciplines (WID) research indicates…