Literature is an artistic expression which teaches human beings valuable lessons about life. Literature invites the reader to share decisions with the decisions of others--the characters seen in literature. Unlike science or philosophy or ethics, which make people say "I understand" and then "I see," literature, as an art,…

Reviews notions of visual simplicity found within the literature of the analytical framework provided by Charles Morris' communication model. Examines Morris' syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic communication levels. (AEW)

Introduces four essays on psychoanalysis and the teaching of literature that appear in this issue of "College English" and discusses in general how the psychoanalytic phenomenon of resistance applies to the teaching and comprehension of a piece of literature. (JC)

Discusses some concrete examples of the kinds of conflicts that can surface when reader-response theory is actually practiced in the classroom, and considers some of the implications. Urges instructors to make room for contesting views and to facilitate serious, committed, personal interchanges. (MS)

Discusses William Beatty Warner's "Reading Clarissa: The Struggles of Interpretation," a study of Samuel Richardson's role as eighteenth-century critic and interpreter of his own novels. Examines the treatment of character by both Richardson and Warner, focusing on Richardson's humanist interpretation and Warner's anti-humanist…

Argues that literature instruction should enable readers to find the connections between their experience and the literary work. Explains how discussions can be guided to focus on students' reactions, perceptions, and associations with a text. (MM)

Suggests the double-entry journal as an effective method of encouraging the creation and discovery of new information in literature classes. Describes the three processes involved (and the theoretical underpinnings of each), including: (1) activating prior knowledge and present feelings; (2) learning collaboratively; and (3) integrating reading,…

Provides a basis for understanding reading comprehension through the interactive components of metacognition (person, goal, task, and strategies). Suggests specific classroom techniques to encourage students to become self directed readers. (RS)

Probes William Wordsworth's relationship to the young reader. Concludes that although many young people today cannot have the direct, immediate experience of nature that overawed Wordsworth, they can, in a room where they sit down together and read a poem, "learn a contemplative solitude--and respond to [a] poem in their individual…

States that comprehension of expository text and the ability to summarize are factors in students' success with such material. Describes a model that induces students to use existing schemata to create new and necessary expectations while providing a technique for explicitly teaching the components of effective summaries. (JK)

Discusses three dominant ways in which language is understood within English studies: structuralism, dialogic discourse, and journals. Shows how each approach produces a different awareness of student texts. Demonstrates how different language theories entail unique interpretive strategies that either promote or disable particular understandings…

Examines and reviews adolescent fiction with stepfamily themes as a good medium for exposing children to the complexities of stepfamily living, for reducing stereotypes, and for providing role models. Suggests that by providing titles of recommended stepfamily literature, teachers or helping professionals can facilitate an adolescent's adjustment…

Surveys research exemplars of performance studies by tracing their epistemological claims and methodological assertions through discussions of text, event, performer, and audience. Claims a paradigmatic relationship between oral interpretation and performance studies. (JD)

Explains how to teach F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" in three stages: before, during, and after a close look at the text and outlines the novel's narrative structure. (HOD)

Notes that George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" is frequently encountered in textbooks that ignore the existence of the original audience. Argues that textbook editors thereby misinform students by failing to show how writers recognize and write to particular audiences, and how writers' specific audiences determine many of the authors'…