Source Support Project (Annotated Bibliography)

7/30/2019 Source Support Project (Annotated Bibliography)

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A Look Through the Literary Lens: Examining Schools of Literary

Criticism and How They Pertain to Secondary English Education

An Annotated Bibliography

Dustin Sipes

The University of Idaho

March 1, 2013


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INTRODUCTION

Teaching English can be a difficult business. While an aptitude for English, the language arts,and literature comes naturally to select individuals, the fact remains that a great majority of

students are only passively interested in, are indifferent to, or are turned offeven dismayed

by such subject matter. This is often due to the fact that these students, usually at the secondaryand post-secondary levels of education, have never been imbued with a love for English andliterature, or even a fondness for it.

If students move into the post-secondary sphere with no appreciation for or desire to learnliterature, their learning is impeded. An aversion to literature, mild or otherwise, begins to

present problems when students move from secondary schooling to post-secondary schooling, as

every student is generally required to take basic pre-requisite classes in English, and more often

than not will be required to take at least one literature class to fulfill some other requirement. It isnot within the scope of possibility to make every student enjoy literature; nonetheless, there is a

necessity for educators to examine why so many students leave high school and enter college

disliking it.

This annotated bibliography was constructed with the purpose of examining this necessity more

closely in terms of literary theory and criticism. More specifically, the common purpose of the

sources contained herein is to help one examine which schools of literary theory and criticismsecondary educators should employ when teaching English in order to help their students attain a

greater love and a better understanding of literature. This bibliography is not by any means

authoritative regarding this subject matter; rather, it is intended as a starting point to launch anexamination thereof.

A good portion of the sources herein focus heavily on New Historicism, a school of literary

criticism asserting that works of literature should be analyzed in terms of their historical context.As this seems to be the method of literary criticism that is most widely utilized when teaching

literature, a variety of sources discussing it is highly desirable, if not necessary. Sources

examining other schools of literary theory and criticism are present as well, and are imperativeunless one wishes to instead focus on New Historicism exclusively. Shakespeare is a specific

focus in a great portion of sources as well, as Shakespeare tends to be one of the biggest

proverbial beasts facing high school students, and thus could be an excellent place to begin

examining what theoretical lens(es) could be used to give beleaguered students a clear view ofdifficult literature. Naturally, sources are included that focus on secondary education, whether

exclusively or in tandem with a focus on literature in some form. Other sources span subjects

such as students issues with reading literature in high school, teachers and students perceptionsof confusion in English classrooms, and the how the incorporation of modern technology

primarily internet resourcesaffects secondary English education.


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RELEVANT ABBREVIATIONS

ASM:Aforementioned Subject Matter, here referring to the subject matter mentioned in theintroduction section that is the focus of this bibliography (namely, which school or

schools of literary theory secondary educators should employ when leading their students

through literature in order to help them attain a greater love and a better understandingthereof).

ANNOTATIONS

Adney, K. (2010). Shaping Shakespeare, reflecting history: adaptations of Othello for children in

1990s Britain.Pennsylvania Literary Journal, 2(1), 81-113.

This article examines two 1990s presentations of Shakespeares Othello, both adaptedfor children. This article is particularly relevant to the study of the ASM for three main

reasons: firstly, because it is focusing on adapted presentations of plays by Shakespeare,a literary giant and stumbling block for many students, and thus an excellent building

block for study of the ASM; secondly, because it focuses on analyzing these adaptationsthrough a New Historicist lens; and lastly, because these adaptations were made for

children, who are naturally the center of a study focused on effective education. In the

words of Adney (2010), The way in which people process Shakespeare's material, presentthat material to the world, and the forces that govern their choices serve as the catalyst for

this study (p.82). Not only is this statement exemplary of a New Historicist focus, but it alsoinherently states that this study is relevant to the more vital aspect of the ASM: how to besteducate students to love and comprehend literature. To determine this, we must naturally

study the way in which students process literature.

Batho, R. (1998). Shakespeare in secondary schools.Educational Review, 50(2), 163.

In this article, Batho (1998) examines the results of a survey of secondary Englishteaching in two English local education authorities. It discusses the effects of students in

both England and Wales from the ages of 11-14 being mandated to study and be tested onvarious Shakespeare plays. The author suggests that the study of Shakespeare could result

in improved literacy in students, but that the inclusion of the mandated tests, as well the

restrictions placed on the plays taught, actually diminish the effectiveness of the literature

on the students, in both enjoyment and comprehension. The author supports his

suggestions with various data throughout the course of the article. This article is morequantitatively focused than most of the other sources, but is nonetheless useful in

studying the ASM. The quantitative data would definitely be useful for supportingclaims. This article also focuses on Shakespeare, which is important to the ASM forreasons mentioned in the previous annotation.


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Bristol, M. (2011). Macbeth the philosopher: rethinking context.New Literary History, 42(4),

641-662.

Bristol (2011) opens this article by relating an anecdote regarding a student of hisinsisting that one could not understand the playMacbeth without first having substantialknowledge of its historical contextin this case, a background in Jacobean politics. In

the rest of this article, Bristol (2011) chooses to challenge this assertion by re-evaluatingthe matter of context. In Bristols (2011) words, The potential relevance of history forthe appreciation of texts is not at issue here, but rather the unacknowledged assumption

that context in the sense of specialized background knowledge is a necessary condition

for understanding a work of literature. Anything else you might come up with to enhance

your enjoyment of a literary text such asMacbeth would count as not understanding(641, 642). This statement emphasizes a point that could be essential to studying the

ASM. The average high school student is almost assuredly not going to have an extensive

understanding of the historical context of Shakespeares works let alone knowledge

of Jacobean politics; thus, though the educator can certainly teach them about thehistorical context along the way, their understanding of the workis going to have to

stem from some other source. They will find no fulfillment or enjoyment in the workotherwise.

Cope, J. (1997). Beyond Voices of Readers: students on schools effects on reading. TheEnglish Journal, 86(3), 18-23.

This article builds on a survey by the author of nearly 300 students in five different highschools in regards to their reading of literature. The survey was in the form of a reading

biography, an idea he borrowed from a book called Voices of Readers: How We Come to

Love Books by G. Robert Carson and Anne Sherrill (1988). The key difference betweenCopes (1997) work and that of Carson and Sherrill (1988) is that Cope (1997) gives

more focus to students that did not have the same enthusiasm for reading as himself orthe students points of view in Voices of Readers, thus adding much-needed variety andadditional perspective. Reading sits at the very core of literary studies; thus, observing

students opinions on reading literature is essential if one is to study the ASM. It is of key

importance that Cope (1997) studied high school age students, and it is especially helpfulthat his focus was on 12

th-graders, who are on the verge of continuing on to post-

secondary education.

Culler, J. (1997). Literary theory: A very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press,

Inc. Cullers (1997) book,Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, provides a look at

many schools of literary theory and criticism in a fashion that is easy to understand, yet

loses none of its value. It has chapters on several topics that are helpful to study of the

ASM, including: defining literature and why it matters; discussion of language,meaning, and interpretation; and rhetoric, poetics and poetry. It is one of two non-article

source in this bibliography. It is also, coincidentally, one of the most vital to the study of

the ASM. The most obvious reason for this is that it covers, in decent depth, literary


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theory and various schools of literary criticism. Another helpful aspect of this book is that

said theories and criticisms are not the only subjects that it covers, and all of the other

subjects not involving literary criticism be just as easily analyzed in terms of effectivelyeducating students in literature. While not a long book, it is nonetheless a plethora of

knowledge central to the study of the ASM.

Desmet, C. & Bailey, R. (2009). The Shakespeare dialogues: (re)producing The Tempest in

secondary and university education. College Literature36(1), 121-140.

The Shakespeare Dialogues is not just the title of this article, but was in fact the title ofa project headed by Desmet and Bailey (2009) that allowed Desmets university studentsand Baileys high school students study Shakespeares The Tempestsimultaneously and

communicatively via cyberspace. This article focuses mainly on the various methods that

the students utilized in learning the literature and analyzing how these methods worked.

The fact that these methods were conducted via the internet lends this article furtherrelevance to studying the ASM, considering the fact that todays students are a

technologically immersed breed, to say the least. That the literary study was acollaborative effort between secondary and post-secondary students is of furtherimportance. Also, once again, we have a focus on Shakespeare as the exemplary literary

giant, and while Shakespeare seems to be a narrow focus of this bibliography thus far, it

must be remembered that the study of Shakespeare can easily be expanded to the study ofhigh literature in general.

Felski, R. (2011). Context Stinks!.New Literary History, 42(4), 573-591.

This article, like the previously cited article from Bristol (2011), has a large focus onchallenging the definitions of context. However, while Bristols (2011) piece focuses

almost exclusively on context, Felskis (2011) piecedespite its title suggestingotherwisefocuses less on challenging context in and of itself and more on the New

Historicist beliefs that have given rise to our current understanding of context. Felski

(2011) chooses instead to take a more Formalist/New Criticist bent and assert that

history is not a boxthat conventional models of historicizing and contextualizing provedeficient in accounting for the transtemporal movement and affective resonance of

particular texts (574). This is where the study of the ASM takes a step in the direction of

examining other methods of literary criticism as they are opposed to New Historicism.

This, if one is to recall, is one of the primary points of examining the ASM: to see if thereis, in fact, a school of literary theory that is more effective for teaching high schoolers

about literature.

Lee, M.S. (2012). Searching the archives with Dickens and Hawthorne: databases and aestheticjudgment after the New Historicism.ELH, 79(3), 747-771.

Here, Lee (2012) examines how modern databases, such as search engines and onlinearchives and libraries, mediate the relationship between literature and the historicalcontexts thereof (749, 750). While this may seem a bit off-the-wall and slightly irrelevant

to study of the ASM, it nonetheless has the potential to be a valuable resource. Lee

(2012) talks about literary scholars being reluctant to adopt database practices for fear of


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transforming into superficial skimmers of texts, orwith more teleological drivedata

miners guided by search terms (750). Yet, as mentioned in the annotation for Desmet

and Baileys (2009) article, todays high schoolers and future university students are ageneration fully immersed in technology. Thus, the concept of online databases as they

relate to literary studies could be important to analyze. One could also find a way to

challenge New Historicisms effectiveness as the dominant literary teaching theory onthese grounds by claiming that, in todays technological age, a focus on historical contextin a literary work should, in the interest of reaching students where they stand, be

displaced by a lighter, quicker reading and a Formalist/New Criticist follow-up.

Lewis, E.C. (2012). Friending Atticus Finch: English teachers perspective on MySpace as a

contemporary framework for literary analysis.Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,

55(4), 285-295. This article is a study conducted by Lewis (2012) with the help of two high school

teachers. Building on a concept that they dubbed new literacies, they utilized the social

networking site MySpace as a platform for facilitating students understanding,enjoyment, and retention of literature. Though the schools policy prevented them from

actually utilizing the website itself, the teachers constructed a hybrid program in which

the students replicated the elements of the site on paper and created imitation MySpace

profiles for characters from classic American literary texts. This source, if utilized in thestudy of the ASM, would build further on the idea brought up in the previous annotation

for the article by Lee (2012) that the technology utilized by todays students may be

rendering conventional methods of literary analysis ineffective, thus requiring that newmethods of literary criticism and theory be considered for implementation.

Plaut, S. (2006). I just dont get it: teachers and students conceptions of confusion and

implications for teaching and learning in the high school English classroom. Curriculum

Inquiry, 36(4), 391-421. Plaut (2006) conducted observational studies of interactive writing lessons between two

teachers and their respective students, and then conducted interviews with the teachersand the students regarding the lessons with particular focus on moments of confusion.

While the greater portion of the article discusses the nature of confusion more than

anything else, it provides in-depth descriptions of the studies themselves, which can give

a study of the ASM an insider look at some of the functioningsand malfunctioningsof an English classroom actively teaching literature. Taking into consideration the fact

that the true purpose of studying the ASM is to determine by what literary means

secondary educators should guide their students to help them maximize comprehensionand enjoyment, an article examining the frustrations of students and teachers in a high

school English classroom has obvious value.

Robbins, B. (2005). Using The Original Approach to teach Shakespeare. The English Journal,

95(1), 65-68. Robbins (2005) utilized a technique called The Original Approach, originally coined by

Patrick Tucker and the Original Shakespeare Company, to help teach Shakespeare in his

high school English classroom. This technique involves acting out the plays not by

memorizing lines, but by remembering and building ones performance in greater part off


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of contextual clues from the text of the play itself. The phrase herein that lends itself to

the study of the ASM is contextual clues. Looking back through this bibliography at

the articles from Felski (2011) and Bristol (2011), one can get some excellent points ofview as to the nature of context in relation to its definition, its relation to New

Historicism, and its relation to the understanding of literature in a contextual sense. The

question that could be raised by Robbins (2005) article is whether or not the contextualclues utilized in the Original Approachwere utilized in the fashion of context in itsstandard, New Historicist sense, or in another, more broad and revolutionary sense; and,

more importantly, whether or not it was that theorys version of context that lent to the

effectiveness of the method.

Thorson, S. (1995). Macbeth in the resource room: students with learning disabilities study

Shakespeare.Journal of Learning Disabilities, 28(9), 575-581. In this article, Thorson (1995) relates the story of how she was able to implement

Shakespearemore specifically, his playMacbethinto her special education

curriculum with success. Without going into the specifics of her techniques, one canimmediately see the value of this article in studying the ASM. The most crucial focus of

examining the ASM, the end result a researcher of these things needs to have in mind, is

first and foremost how answering the question of literary theory as an educational tool

will help students. This means all students, both full incorporation and special needs. Thisarticle provides a completely different perspective than any of the others as far as

teaching literature is concerned, which is much to be desired, as one must attempt to

examine as many facets of English education as possible in order to construct an accuratestudy of the ASM.

Wade, B., & Sheppard, J. (1994). How teachers teach Shakespeare.Educational Review, 46(1),21.

This article is a study very similar to the previously cited article by Batho (1998). In thisarticle, a survey was sent to forty five secondary schools under one local educationauthority asking how the English teachers in these schools preferred to teach Shakespeare

to their classes. Traditional literary study was found to be the most preferred; yet, reviews

from students asserted that these methods were the least effective for them, and theydisliked learning Shakespeare because of it. This article supports the students claims,

and Wade and Sheppard (1994) say that The danger is that an elitist, high-culture, purely

literary model of Shakespeare is presented through play-reading, literary critical analysis

and scene summarizing (21). Wade and Sheppard (1994) also say that these methodsexclude experience of the performance process (21). The data in this article is

extremely useful, as it gives detailed feedback regarding teachers preferred methods of

teaching Shakespeare, which in turn could serve, after some analysis, to give some proof

as to what school of literary criticism teachers tends to lean towards.

Wilson, S. (2007). The economimesis of New Historicism (or how New Historicism displacedtheory in English literature departments).Journal for Cultural Research, 11(2), 162-174

Wilson (2007) asserts in this article that literary theory has declined in the face of thepowerful literary force that is New Historicism, and also asserts that this phenomenon has

taken place primarily in the English literature departments of schools. His article forms


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the most solid basis in this bibliography, next toLiterary Theory: A Very Short

Introduction, for examining schools of literary criticism. What causes this article to stand

out is that, out of all the other sources in this bibliography, it is the one that mostexplicitlyindeed, almost exclusivelyplaces New Historicism specifically against

other schools of literary criticism.Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction, true to its

name, contains a great deal of explanation about the meaning and directions of literarytheory; thus, these two texts will most likely be instrumental to each other ininterpreting New Historicism, other schools of literary criticism, and literary theory and

weaving them into a well-constructed study of the ASM. Wilsons (2007) assertion that

this displacement has occurred greatly in the realm of English literature departments isalso a valuable asset to support the assertion that New Historicism is indeed the dominant

literary school utilized by educators, boards, and other purveyors of the canon.

Woolfolk, A. (2013). Educational psychology. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

This source contains a wealth of information regarding an extremely important elementthat has been so far relatively short handed in this bibliography, the true focus ofexamining the ASM: children and education. The book covers education and educational

psychology for every stage of development and every grade level, and thus it naturally

contains useful information about secondary education. It does not, of course, have a

specific focus on English, but it does contain information about how children learn andprocess language. It also provides valuable information about stages of cognitive and

social development, which could prove to be valuable tools for study of the ASM by

evaluating how students will be thinking and in what fashion they will be cognitivelyready to learn. By taking a close look at these factors, one could make inferences when

studying the ASM about how students learn and apply those inferences to argue which

school of literary criticism would be most effectively learned by students.


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WORKS CITED

Adney, K. (2010). Shaping Shakespeare, reflecting history: adaptations of Othello for children in1990s Britain.Pennsylvania Literary Journal, 2(1), 81-113.

Batho, R. (1998). Shakespeare in secondary schools.Educational Review, 50(2), 163.

Bristol, M. (2011). Macbeth the philosopher: rethinking context.New Literary History, 42(4),

641-662.

Cope, J. (1997). Beyond Voices of Readers: students on schools effects on reading. The

English Journal, 86(3), 18-23.

Culler, J. (1997). Literary theory: A very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press,Inc.

Desmet, C. & Bailey, R. (2009). The Shakespeare dialogues: (re)producing The Tempest insecondary and university education. College Literature36(1), 121-140.

Felski, R. (2011). Context Stinks!.New Literary History, 42(4), 573-591.

Lee, M.S. (2012). Searching the archives with Dickens and Hawthorne: databases and aesthetic

judgment after the New Historicism.ELH, 79(3), 747-771.

Lewis, E.C. (2012). Friending Atticus Finch: English teachers perspective on MySpace as a

contemporary framework for literary analysis.Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,

55(4), 285-295.

Plaut, S. (2006). I just dont get it: teachers and students conceptions of confusion and

implications for teaching and learning in the high school English classroom. Curriculum

Inquiry, 36(4), 391-421.

Robbins, B. (2005). Using The Original Approach to teach Shakespeare. The English Journal,

95(1), 65-68.

Thorson, S. (1995). Macbeth in the resource room: students with learning disabilities study

Shakespeare.Journal of Learning Disabilities, 28(9), 575-581.

Wade, B., & Sheppard, J. (1994). How teachers teach Shakespeare.Educational Review, 46(1),

21.

Wilson, S. (2007). The economimesis of New Historicism (or how New Historicism displacedtheory in English literature departments).Journal for Cultural Research, 11(2), 162-174

Woolfolk, A. (2013). Educational psychology. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

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Source Support Project (Annotated Bibliography)