Pedagogy Jan 2026

Defining and Teaching Close Reading as Disciplinary Method

Eleanor Reeds

Abstract

Abstract When teaching in neighboring fields such as creative writing and writing studies, instructors can draw on the explicit recommendations of professional organizations and an existing scholarly consensus about threshold concepts. However, the struggle to define what exactly it is we teach when we are teaching literary studies continues. Rather than advocating for transferable skills in deference to the neoliberal marketplace, we should spend more time explaining to ourselves and to our students the particular practices, habits, and concerns that distinguish literary studies as a valuable scholarly discipline. Metacognition is essential for students to learn, and this can be facilitated more effectively by instructors able to articulate how the methods and goals of a course are informed by disciplinary norms, especially the ubiquitous and yet continually contested practice of close reading. This article reviews both recent scholarship and pedagogical resources on close reading to identify the intertwined challenges of defining and teaching this disciplinary method, making recommendations for more effective classroom practices.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2026-01-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-12097274
Open Access
Closed
Topics
threshold concepts creative writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (15)

  1. Carter et al. (2022)
    Too Close for Context
    Pedagogy
  2. Shea (2022)
    Against Best Practices
    Pedagogy
  3. Ballentine (2022)
    Undergraduate Research and the Enrollment Crisis in English Literature
    Pedagogy
  4. Corrigan (2018)
    The State of Scholarship on Teaching Literature
    Pedagogy
  5. Chick (2017)
    Beginning Where the Students Are Beginning
    Pedagogy
Show all 15 →
  1. Corrigan (2017)
    Teaching What We Do in Literary Studies
    Pedagogy
  2. Paton (2017)
    From the Parlor to the Classroom
    Pedagogy
  3. Elfenbein (2016)
    The Desirable Difficulties of Studying Romanticism
    Pedagogy
  4. Fleming (2016)
    The Words Students Need and How They Can Learn Them
    Pedagogy
  5. Schreibersdorf (2014)
    Literary Discipline in the Margins
    Pedagogy
  6. Tinkle et al. (2013)
    Teaching Close Reading Skills in a Large Lecture Course
    Pedagogy
  7. Wilder et al. (2009)
    Sharing the Tacit Rhetorical Knowledge of the Literary Scholar: The Effects of …
    Research in the Teaching of English
  8. Chick et al. (2009)
    “Pressing an Ear against the Hive”
    Pedagogy
  9. Wisker (2007)
    Crossing Liminal Spaces: Teaching the Postcolonial Gothic
    Pedagogy
  10. Linkon (2005)
    The Reader's Apprentice: Making Critical Cultural Reading Visible
    Pedagogy
Also cites 21 works outside this index ↓
  1. Abrams, Shane. 2018. “Chapter Four: Interpretation, Analysis, and Close Reading.” EmpoWORD: A Stude…
     ↗
  2. Auyoung (2020)
    What We Mean by Reading
    New Literary History  ↗
  3. Bass (2008)
    On the Evidence of Theory: Close Reading as a Disciplinary Model for Writing About Teachi…
    Arts & Humanities in Higher Education  ↗
  4. Collier (2021)
    Teaching Literature in the Real World: A Practical Guide
     ↗
  5. Coombs (2011)
    Reading in the Dark: Sensory Perception and Agency in The Return of the Native
    ELH  ↗
  6. Corrigan (2019)
    Threshold Concepts in Literary Studies
    Teaching & Learning Inquiry  ↗
  7. Duckworth (1971)
    Mansfield Park and Estate Improvements: Jane Austen's Grounds of Being
    Nineteenth-Century Fiction  ↗
  8. Fleming (2024)
    Where to Begin?
    symplokē  ↗
  9. Hayot (2014)
    The Elements of Academic Style: Writing for the Humanities
     ↗
  10. Hayot (2024)
    Close Reading Needs a Better Theory of Actuality
    symplokē  ↗
  11. Heinert (2017)
    Reacting in Literary Studies: Crossing the Threshold from Quality to Meaning
    Arts & Humanities in Higher Education  ↗
  12. Huggan (2021)
    Going Underground: In Defense of Deep Reading
     ↗
  13. Irvine (2009)
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    Active Learning in Higher Education  ↗
  14. Kadue (2025)
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    Modern Language Quarterly  ↗
  15. Kramnick (2023)
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     ↗
  16. Long (2021)
    Close Reading at the End of Time
     ↗
  17. Reynolds (2023)
    Prismatic Jane Eyre: Close-Reading a World Novel Across Languages
     ↗
  18. Seybold (2025)
    The Medium Is Not the Method
    Modern Language Quarterly  ↗
  19. Winant (2024)
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    symplokē  ↗
  20. Winant (2025)
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    Modern Language Quarterly  ↗
  21. Wisecup (2025)
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    Modern Language Quarterly  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

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