The Effectiveness of Teaching Romeo and Juliet to Ninth Graders First from an Aesthetic Stance and Then from an Efferent Stance

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of teaching William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet first from a predominately aesthetic stance and then from a predominately efferent stance. The subjects were eighteen ninth-grade students from a co-ed, heterogenous, rural high school. Two assessments for each stance were given and analyzed, as well as post-talk interviews completed by fifteen of the subjects. The results proved to me what the research emphasized, namely, with fiction, approach the piece first from an aesthetic stance, and then go back and analyze it in an efferent manner if needed. Such a method engages the students and then asks them to think deeply in various ways about the piece. Additionally, it helps instill a love of literature and as a side bonus, prepares them for the Regents exam.