| This study is a qualitative examination of the relationship between theory and practice in the teaching and learning of literature. Focusing on three college instructors who transformed current literary theories--reader response, marxism, and feminism, respectively--into pedagogical frameworks, the project showcases the dynamics of their respective sections of a course devoted to interpreting literature. As teachers invoked literary theory in the classroom, they made visible the challenges of effectively articulating literary theory, composition theory, and "student-centered" learning.;Exposing the forces compelling and constraining teachers and students as they attempted to transform theories of reading into viable modes for the teaching and learning of literature, the study highlights the evolving conflicts between approaches to texts and approaches to students as teachers developed these frameworks. In particular, the report illuminates (1) the tensions, contradictions and complexities accompanying the adaptation of literary theory for the classroom, and (2) the discursive practices and disjunctions--oral vs. written, formal vs. informal--stemming from the practice of theory.;Using a case study approach with a qualitative methodology, the report relies largely upon recursive analysis of videotaped and transcribed class discussions, student writing, and interviews with participating teachers and case study students.;Situating these classrooms within and against the institutional backdrop of "traditional" approaches to literature, the study reveals the traces of formalism in those practices ostensibly developed in rejection of it, attesting to the contested nature of literary studies at this time. In dramatizing the complexities of transforming theories of reading into approaches for the teaching and learning of literature, this study seeks to contribute to recent efforts to improve literature instruction. |
