Book-Length Works Taught in High School English Courses

ERIC Educational Reports, May 01, 1990 by Arthur N. Applebee

The Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature has recently completed a study of the book-length works taught in high school English programs. The study is part of a series of related studies of content and approaches in the teaching of English that the Center will carry out over the next several years. Together, these studies will provide a comprehensive picture of what is being taught, to whom, for what reasons, and under what constraints. Such a portrait is an essential first step in any reassessment of the literature curriculum, providing a necessary reference point for any systematic attempts at reform.

To learn more about the book-length works that students are actually reading, the Literature Center conducted a national survey of book-length works currently being taught in public, parochial, and independent secondary schools. To provide some basis for understanding the results, the survey replicated a study completed 25 years earlier, in the spring of 1963 (Anderson, 1964). In both studies, department chairs were asked to list "for each grade in your school the book-length works of literature which all students in any English class study." Four different samples of schools were surveyed: 1) public schools, Grades 7-12; 2) independent schools, Grades 9-12; 3) Catholic schools, Grades 9-12; and 4) urban public schools, Grades 7-12, from communities of 100,000 or more.HIGHLIGHTS*The ten titles most frequently taught in public, Catholic, and independent schools for Grades 9-12 are remarkable for their consistency more than their differences: the titles included in the top ten are identical in the public and Catholic school samples, and nearly so in the independent schools.

Public Schools: Romeo and Juliet; Macbeth; Huckleberry Finn; Julius Caeser; To Kill a Mockingbird; The Scarlet Letter; Of Mice and Men; Hamlet; The Great Gatsby; Lord of the Flies.

Catholic Schools: Huckleberry Finn; The Scarlet Letter; Macbeth; To Kill a Mockingbirg; The Great Gatsby; Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet; Of Mice and Men; Julius Caesar; Lord of the Flies.

Independent Schools: Macbeth; Romeo and Juliet; Huckleberry Finn; The Scarlet Letter; Hamlet; The Great Gatsby; To Kill a Mockingbird; Julius Ceasar; The Odyssey; Lord of the Files

*When results are compiled by author rather than title, Shakespeare, Steinbeck, Twain, Dickens, and Miller are the five most popular authors in all three samples. Lee and Hawthorne also are included in the top ten in each list. The only major variation in the top ten concerns the place of Classical literature, which is stressed somewhat more in the Catholic schools (Sophocles ranks 7th) and the independent schools (Sophocles and Homer rank 8th and 9th, respectively).

*The lists of most frequently required texts show little recognition of the works of women or of minority authors. In all settings examined, the lists of most frequently required books and authors were dominated by white males, with little change in overall balance from similar lists 25 years ago. In the titles required in 30% or more of the public schools in 1988, Grades 7-12, for example, there were only 2 women and no minority authors.

Public Schools, Grades 7-12: Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare); Macbeth (Shakespeare; Huckleberry Finn (Twain); To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee); Julius Ceasar (Shakespeare); The Pearl (Steinbeck); The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne); Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck); Lord of the Flies (Golding); Diary of a Young Girl (Frank); Hamlet (Shakespeare); The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald).

Catholic Schools, Grades 9-12: Huckleberry Finn (Twain); The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne); Macbeth (Shakespeare); To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee); The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare); Hamlet (Shakespeare); Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck); Julius Caesar (Shakespeare); Lord of the Flies (Golding); A Separate Peace (Knowles); Catcher in the Rye (Salinger).

Independent Schools, Grades 9-12: Macbeth (Shakespeare); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare); Huckleberry Finn (Twain); The Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne); Hamlet (Shakespeare); The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald); To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee); Julius Caesar (Shakespeare); The Odyssey (Homer); Lord of the Flies (Golding); Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck); Our Town (Wilder).

*Changes over time in the nature of the most popular selections were minimal. Although the popularity of specific titles has shifted over time, the canon continues to be dominated by Shakespeare and other traditional authors, with some additional attention to contemporary literature and easily accessible texts (e.g., adolescent or young adult novels).

*Most titles are regularly taught at several different grade levels. For example, of the 20 most frequently taught books in Grades 9 through 12 in the public school sample, all are taught in at least three grade levels, and 70% are taught in all four high school grades. Although most schools limit particular texts to a specific grade level, these results suggest that most titles can be taught successfully at a variety of levels.