The literary theorist Terry Eagleton believes that literary study is the study of human discourse. To build on his idea for use in the classroom, it must first be assumed that literature constitutes a dialogue between the work (and its author) and the reader. The dialogue process can be introduced in a 2- to 4-week unit through a cluster of literary works that everyone will read. First, the students do their initial reading and make journal entries for all works. The teacher then establishes a format for dividing the students into dialogue groups--always by pairs, but allowing for frequent rotation, so that there is interaction among all the students. Once these preliminary steps have been taken, it is time for the student to "crack the codes" of the work: the language code (word meaning), the social code (identification of the geographical settings and speculation about the social values expressed), and the genre code (each genre has certain conventions that must be understood). Once individual students have refined their own approach to the work through journal writing, they should begin a structured dialogue with another student. For the final step in the process, extension of the dialogue to a larger audience, students write a paper and read to the group for comment and constructive criticism. (NKA)