The role of literature in education is examined, and implications for assessment of student understanding of literature are outlined. There are three distinct views of the role of literature in school. Literature is variously construed as an adjunct to the learning of reading and writing, as a subject with its own body of knowledge, and as an…

Jonathan Culler's notion, that each change of perspective a reader makes brings something different from the text, is explored by using four curricula. They are: the traditional language arts curriculum, an active reading comprehension curriculum, a psychology curriculum, and a feminist curriculum. By analyzing the same text, "Snow White and…

Students in grades three and four are introduced to the concepts of abstract reasoning, ambiguity, and interpersonal relationships in this philosophic reader. The story involves mystery and myth and works with literary techniques of similie and metaphor. Pixie is introduced as a precocious character who is impatient with other people, a tease, and…

Designed to accompany "Pixie," a philosophy reader for students in grades three and four, this instructional manual presents discussion plans, games, philosophical activities, and reasoning exercises so that the concepts in the reader can be readily operationalized in the classroom. The "Pixie" program focuses on abstract reasoning, ambiguity, and…

Over a three-year period, researchers at Harvard Project Zero investigated metaphoric abilities in children, documenting the development of their metaphoric production, comprehension, and preference, as well as the interrelationships among these skills. Two other areas of literary skills that were investigated were the child's understanding of…

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF WRITING LIGHT VERSE, EITHER FOR FUN OR FOR PUBLICATION, ARE DISCUSSED IN THIS BOOK--(1) THE NATURE AND APPEAL OF LIGHT VERSE AND ITS MANY VARIETIES, (2) SUBJECTS WHICH LEND THEMSELVES BEST TO THE LIGHT-VERSE TREATMENT, (3) THE APPLICATION OF WHAT ONE HAS LEARNED FROM READING, THINKING, AND CLOSELY OBSERVING HUMAN FOIBLES, (4)…

The Truman Capote nonfiction novel, "In Cold Blood," which reflects for adolescents the immediacy of the real world, illuminates (1) social issues--capital punishment, environmental influence, and the gap between the "haves" and "have-nots," (2) moral issues--the complexity of man's nature, the responsibility of one…

The hypothesized relationship between an individual's age, educational background, and ability to understand aspects of semantic ambiguity was investigated in this study. The 90 subjects included ten students in each of grades two, four, six, eight, and ten, as well as ten college undergraduates, ten graduate students, ten high school graduates,…

This annotated bibliography of articles and books about haiku is divided into English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and German language references. The organization of each section progresses from references for Japanese haiku to references for haiku written in occidental languages and from books to periodical publications. Because of…

A discussion of six techniques whereby the abstract nature of foreign language poetry may be communicated to students. These are introduction to the genre, understanding and appreciating poetry, the poet and his/her milieu, reading for expression and vocabulary and in context, and analysis for theme, content, and structure. (Author/AMH)

This study explores the relationship between Black English skills acquired outside school and figurative language comprehension in standard English. Path analysis confirmed the direct influence of "sounding" skill (a Black language ability) on figurative language, comprehension for Black youth. Only general verbal ability affected White…

Describes some of the strategies of repetition and metaphor used by Black American novelist Richard Wright, as a model that students can adopt in their own writing, both for generating ideas and for revising them. Appendixes include various drafts of an interview statement by Wright. (HTH)

Examines the relations among general language competency factors such as word knowledge, comprehension, and paradigmatic/syntagmatic reasoning, and college developmental readers' ability to interpret two text formats designed to elicit either a literal or figurative interpretation. (DF)

Examined cultural and instructional influences on comprehension of figurative language ("sounding") by elementary school children in Harlem and studied effects of a program of creative writing instruction provided by visiting writers. Concludes that special instruction tended to improve figurative language comprehension of children and…

We noticed that when workers try to explain their mathematical practices to inquisitive outsiders, breakdowns in communication arise. We present here an example in which a worker spontaneously uses metaphors and models to facilitate explanation and communication. We analyse these, drawing on Lakoff & Johnson (1999) and Lakoff & Nunez…