MIDTESOL The Catcher in The Rye--A Successful Novel for Intensive English Reading Courses

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The Catcher in The Rye
A Successful Novel for Intensive English Reading Courses

By Karen M. Mills
The University of Iowa

I was recently awarded one of the four travel awards for MIDTESOL, 1998 in St. Louis. The following article is a summary of the presentation I gave in St. Louis this year. It may read a bit like spoken dialogue, as I have not edited it too much regarding the format of the presentation

The title of this short presentation is: The Catcher in the Rye--A Successful Novel for Intensive English Reading Courses. The research I'm interested in is the use of authentic texts in advanced-level reading courses. I subscribe and am specifically working under the framework of the schema theory, as defined by Bartlett and Rumelhart, Ortony, and Rumelhart, which states that "text itself has no meaning, it only provides direction for the reader to construct meaning from the reader's own experience"(Cadorath and Harris, 188). I think, however, that it's intuitively obvious that authentic texts are far superior to adapted and structure-oriented text for "real" language learning with "real" context. Let me remind you that schema theory signifies the importance of background knowledge within a psycholinguistic model of reading. Applied to Second Language Acquisition, we can assume that topics which activate the SLA student's background knowledge are preferred in Reading courses. In fact, not only would I argue that the topic should be a universal as to activate all content schema for students, but it should be interesting as well. Coady concludes that the subject of reading materials should be of high interest and relate well to the background, or the experiences, of the reader, since strong semantic input can help compensate when syntactic control is weak. The interest and background knowledge will enable the student to comprehend at a reasonable rate and keep him involved in the material in spite of syntactic difficulty (5-12).

While I have used authentic texts for all of the advanced reading courses I've taught (since the summer of 1995 at the U of Iowa), I've been reluctant to use a controversial novel in the course. Especially worrisome was the use of The Catcher in the Rye because of its rather "vulgar" vocabulary and "bad" language. By this I mean words of the four letter variety: damn, hell, and one resounding "f-word." In addition, this is a book that has consistently been on the top ten list of banned books in the US since its publication in 1951. In light of those negative aspects of the book, however, I felt it to be one of the best American novels of the contemporary period, and also could be a great cultural learning tool. In addition to culture, I think it is good for a Reading course because it contains rich examples of American values and universal struggles. In addition, The Catcher in The Rye is a strong example of narrative genre writing, which will be important for students to recognize and be familiar within their academic careers.

After discussing the use of the book with the coordinator of the program, we decided to try the book, beginning in the fourth week of the semester if the class proved to have sufficient maturity for the book. I used the novel, along with the skill-based book entitled "Thresholds in Reading" by Martha Grace Low, in my advanced reading and writing block course over a 16-week period. Thus, the class met for two hours each day, five days a week, for 16 weeks and covered writing composition and reading comprehension. The Catcher in the Rye was an 8-week project that began four (4) weeks into the semester. Therefore, four weeks were spent working on the skills-oriented tasks in "Thresholds in Reading" before the novel was approached, as were the fundamental writing organization skills practiced during this time. I determined before choosing The Catcher in The Rye that "Thresholds in Reading" was meant to be used as a more skill-oriented book that would primarily focus on bottom-up skill strengthening, while the novel was meant to be used as a content-oriented book that would focus primarily on schema building and cultural learning. Of course, skills practice was also incorporated in the reading of The Catcher in the Rye, but the main focus or rationale for using the novel was to facilitate learning about North American Culture. As Carrell and Eisterhold note: "Using literature to teach culture may be the most direct way to teach culture." (277).

With the rationale for teaching The Catcher in The Rye firmly in place, I'd now like to focus on how I handled the cultural and language issues that arose in the book. The following is anecdotal evidence from my experience that shows The Catcher in The Rye is a text which deserves recognition and should be taught in Intensive English Programs. First, we discussed the genre of the book. Clearly, the purpose of this discussion was for the purpose of schema building. For example, we discussed the overall organization of the basic American novel. That is, books tend to have an introduction used for character introduction, scene and mood setting, etc. Then, we discussed that this book was a narrative and hence, written in first person. We then compared the impact of first person, rather than third person, writing and how it affects readers in different ways. Specifically, books written in first person are more intimate and personal.

Next, we discussed the fact that books tend to have a climax, where some situation is finally realized to the narrator. In this case, Holden's realization is that he's becoming an adult. Finally, we discussed how books have a conclusion, where conflict is resolved, or at least explained.

We then discussed the importance of books written as a framed-story. At the end of The Catcher in the Rye, we find out that Holden is telling us a narrative of a past event, that the present time of the story takes place with Holden at the mental institution after his breakdown.

Next, we discussed transition from childhood to adulthood in each of the students' culture. Specifically, what are the struggles? How do kids rebel in other cultures? In the USA, what are the implications of rebelling regarding drinking, smoking, sex, using bad words, etc.? Third, we discussed the use and purpose of bad language --for rebellion, for humor, for anger, to sound "older"--more mature--and it's appropriateness and inappropriateness based on American culture. One assignment in class was for the students to go out and collect samples of bad language from American students and try to guess the reason for its use. After that, we discussed banned and controversial books and why they are a part of our culture. Who bans them, and why do those who ban them feel it necessary? Also, why was the Catcher in the Rye banned? etc. We then discussed American life in the 50's versus now. Finally, we discussed the book itself and how many people had read it, understood it, or thought they learned culture from it. Most had read translations of The Catcher in The Rye in their native language. However, most admitted that they didn't learn or couldn't understand American culture after having read it.

After the discussion about the book, we began to actually read the book as a class. We focused on a lot of bottom-up type work initially, and gradually expanded to complex symbolism, meaning, and significance. During this time, I developed a lot of materials for the students. At first, students really struggled, but gradually became extremely interested with the story. The worksheet, quiz, and test examples I developed for the course (located in Appendix A) are organized in chronological order, so that you can see the development of complexity throughout the discussion of the book. Notice at first, most of the questions require bottom-up skills:

i.e. skimming and scanning for specific information in the book. Some examples are Quiz #1 and Worksheet #3. Along with bottom-up skills work, I began to introduce ideas such as symbolism, contradiction, and idiomatic usage. By the time we've reached mid-book (approximately chapter 15), the discussions in class are much more content-and-context oriented. Based on in-class discussions, which were completed mostly as small-group exercises, the quizzes and tests incorporated both bottom-up and top-down questions. Some examples are Quiz 4 and the final exam, and the Group discussion.

Those in-class discussion examples located in Appendix A also include student-created questions. The students would create questions from specific chapters in the book for other students in other groups to answer. They developed questions, I checked them, and then we passed the questions around for others to answer. Often quizzes were then developed, at least in part, from the questions that the students had created and answered together in small groups. Good examples can be found on the final exam, in the Symbolism/Meaning/Importance section. These questions illustrate that the students had developed a very keen reading ability to discern symbolism present in the story. I feel that teaching students to read at this level is often omitted from Intensive English Reading courses and may cause students confusion when they are expected to read with this sort of insight in their academic careers.

After the completion of the novel, I wanted to know the students' reactions to the book, both in relation to the cultural learning they felt they received and also their reaction to the language in the book. I asked the students to complete a questionnaire in which I tried to elicit the students' opinions about The Catcher in The Rye. I included a few "distracter" questions so that the students couldn't guess that I was focusing this survey only on the cultural and language aspects. My rationale was that, if they knew I was trying to elicit opinions on the "bad" language in the book, they may not give honest responses, because they knew that I didn't find the language particularly offensive. Appendix B includes free responses to one open-ended question on the questionnaire.

From the materials developed and the classroom discussions during this trial teaching period of The Catcher in The Rye, I conclude three very important results from the completion of the novel. First, the students' understanding and discussion of the book became gradually more sophisticated. Therefore, teaching should become more sophisticated, and therefore, more focused on cultural significance, rather than focused strictly on vocabulary meaning during the teaching of novels in Advanced reading courses in Intensive English Programs. Second, bad language can be dealt with in an academic, intellectual way and discussed maturely, as part of the discussion of symbolism. Some examples of how I handled the "bad" language are included in Appendix A, page two, group discussion two, and page three, group quiz, question four. Therefore, controversial language should not be a reason to avoid good reading material in an Advanced reading class. Students sometimes had questions about the usage of the language, so we discussed grammatical, semantic, and appropriate use. I believe they appreciated the respect and mature discussion and in fact, appreciated learning to use these words they certainly hear but know are unacceptable in some situations. Finally, the integrated approach of using skill-building exercises with authentic text can be used effectively in the teaching of The Catcher in the Rye. As illustrated earlier, the class was required to integrate the reading of the book writing and speaking activities.

Therefore, from these results, and the responses on the students' survey, I conclude that the goals of this trial were met. The book was a good source for teaching students about American culture based on the Schematic theory of reading, and in fact, the students were more focused on cultural learning than the language contained in the book. In addition, the language did not offend or distract the students from their process of learning.

APPENDIX A: sample worksheets. *note: this is not the complete set of worksheet examples as given out during the presentation. I have condensed the examples to save space for this newsletter.

The Catcher in the Rye
Quiz 1
5 Points
Pages 16-20

1.  What is the name of Holden's roommate?
        A.  Robert Ackley
        B.  Ward Stradlater
        C.  Ring Lardner
        D.  Wally Cleaver

2.  How much did Holden's cap cost?

3.  Does Holden like Robert Ackley?

4.  What did Ackley pick up off Holden's chiffonier?

5.  Who is Holden's favorite author?

The Catcher in the Rye
Worksheet 3
Chapters 8 and 9

1. Who was the lady who sat next to Holden during the train ride?

2. What does Holden tell her about her son at Pency? Is true?

3. What does Holden tell her the reason is for his leaving school early?

Group Discussion

Idioms:

2. When Sally is talking with Holden, she tries to impress him with all of her boyfriends and all of the men who are interested in her. She says a guy from Harvard was "rushing the hell out of her," and a guy from West Point was "cutting his throat over her." What do these idioms mean?

2A. Use one of these idioms in an original sentence:

Symbolism:

4. After Holden made a date with Sally, he had several hours to spend. He checked out of the hotel because he was low on money, but couldn't decide where to go or what to do. Where did he finally tell the cab driver to take him?

Why is this place symbolic in the story? What does this place represent?

The Catcher in the Rye

Quiz 4


1.  At what time did Holden meet Sally?
        A.  2:00
        B.  2:10
        C.  2:20
        D.  2:30

2.  What did he want to drink after skating?
        A.  Bourbon
        B.  Scotch and soda
        C.  Coke
        D.  Hot chocolate

symbolism:

1. What do the matches that Holden burns down symbolize?

4. Holden made Sally cry by calling her a pain in the ass. He then apologized to her, but she rejected his apology. He then laughed and Sally got even more mad. Explain the significance of Holden's laughing (why did Holden laugh?)

Final Exam

idioms:

7. When Holden was crying, Phoebe told him to stop, but Holden said he "couldn't stop on a goddamn dime." What does he mean?

multiple choice:

2.  Why didn't Holden eat his doughnuts for breakfast?
        A.  He was too full.
        B.  The doughnuts tasted badly.
        C.  He felt too depressed to eat.
        D.  He couldn't afford them, so he sent them back.

symbolism/meaning/importance:

1. Why is it important that Holden didn't ride the carousel?

2. What does the field of rye symbolize and why is it important to the story?

APPENDIX B: Student Reactions: Free response

Question: Do you think other students could benefit their English studies by reading this book? N= 12 students, 2 students had dissenting views, but notice in the negative comments, the students are actually re-stating or re-enforcing the purpose of the book, which was to focus on top-down learning and cultural learning:

(*"No, because I think this book teach us more about American culture than English.")

(*"Maybe, but I think sometimes we need to enlarge our vocabulary")

These two students were very concerned with bottom-up learning throughout the semester, and seemed quite satisfied with the work we did from the text.

*"I think this book was good because we wanted to study real English. We know English and we know grammar pretty well, but we don't know (slang). That's why we can't speak very well. I think this book helped me a lot to speak English"

*"Yes, because this book was not only to study English, but also to enjoy reading the story. You can study another important thing from the book."

*"Yes, I do! They could also understand American culture. It was really good and exciting to learn about American culture and their thinking."

*"Yes. I don't know much slang. Sometimes, I speak English words without knowing the meanings. I think knowing the slang or bad words (helps) foreign students. I understand Holden. I feel like I'm Holden."

*"It was a good time to understand American culture and understand language that students would use usually. When I said to my friend that I would read the book in reading class, she told me that it was boring when she read it in (Korean). However, the more I read it and discussed with you and classmates, the more I was interested in it. I usually expected next chapter and tried to find a meaning. If I read this book by myself, probably I will just read the story without thinking the specific meaning. Also, after finishing this book, I have a little confidence to be able to read another American novel. Do you know I bought another American novel, "To Kill a (Mocking) bird" to read it?

*"Yes, of course. The book show us great lesson about teenagers. I can (sympathize) with Holden, and sometimes I agree with Holden's feelings. In fact, there are a lot of slangs here, but I think that it's a piece of ice in a big iceberg. I think that in this book, (the) writer use slangs because he wants to show American culture. Therefore, I think that we have to see large part instead of details."

*"Yes, it tells us the real American culture."

*"First of all, this book is interesting. This factor, "interesting," is already enough for English studies because it makes students read English text voluntarily."

*"It gives you an idea about American society. What was important in the 50's and what language did they use I heard in other levels, or even in this level but during other semesters, teachers assign a list of books to read to the students and they have to read them on their own. Perhaps in that case we can go quicker and read two books instead of one, but I'm sure we wouldn't be able to understand some deep meaning of the story. There's no point to think that it is a book with a bad vocabulary that we can't read it."

*"I'm sure future students will like this book because it is easy to read, the story sounds true, real and also it is always fun to learn bad words. The meanings of the book reveal, denounce many things (bad and good) about the American society and it was (quite) interesting and it helped me to understand American culture. I will recommend this book to my friends in France."

References:

Bartlett, Frederic C. (1932). Remembering: A Study in Experimental and

Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cadorath, Jill and Simon Harris (1998). "Unplanned Classroom Language and Teacher Training," ELT Journal, volume 52/3, July, p. 188.

Carrell, Patricia L. and Joan C. Eisterhold (1987). "Schema Theory and ESL Reading Pedagogy," Methodology in TESOL: A Book of Readings, Michael Long and Jack Richards (eds.). Newbury House Publishers, p. 218-231.

Coady, James. (1979). "A psycholinguistic model of the ESL reader," Reading in a Second Language, Ronald Mackay, Bruce Barkman, and R.R. Jordan (eds.). Newbury House Publishers, p. 5-12.

Ellis, Rod (1990). Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Blackwell. Krashen, Stephen (1981). "The Case for Narrow Reading," TESOL Newsletter, volume 15 (6), p. 23.

Long, Michael (1983). "Native and Non-Native Speaker Conversation and The Negotiation of Comprehensible Input," Applied Linguistics, volume 4/2, p. 126-141.

Rumelhart, David E., and Andrew Ortony (1977). "The Representation of Knowledge in Memory," Schooling and the Acquisition of Knowledge, Richard C. Anderson, Rand J. Shapiro, and William E. Montague (eds.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, p. 99-135.

Rumelhart, David E. (1980). "Schemata: The Building Blocks of Cognition," Theoretical Issues in Reading Comprehension, Rand J. Shapiro, Bertram C. Bruce, and William E. Brewer (eds.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associaties, p. 33-58.

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