A young college French professor has won praise for her book about the experience of learning the language. She explores her childhood, education, and socialization as a young adult to tell why and how French became important to her. (MSE)

Argues that a major component of writing programs at all educational levels should be "lifewriting," including biographical, anecdotal, and expressive modes of discourse. Outlines reasons for viewing lifewriting as a valuable component of writing instruction. Provides a basic framework of three diverse programs utilizing lifewriting. (HB)

Seemingly chaotic to Western eyes, John Lame Deer's autobiography has a meaningful structure based on Lakota numerology and oral tradition. The book explores conflicts between White and Indian conceptions of identity and property, and sees itself as an instrument in the apocalyptic triumph of Indian spirituality over White greed. (SV)

Autobiography is the imaginative construction of one's life story and the creative expression of lifelong transformative learning. Its use in studying adult transformation raises political and ethical questions and concerns about qualitative methods; it demonstrates the usefulness of conversation as a research process. (SK)

Focuses on how textual analysis might be renovated at a level as basic as freshman writing. Considers the possibility of combining textual analysis with personal narrative and reporting. Considers how recent literary criticism utilizes personal narrative strategies. Outlines six ways authorial presence is detectable in critical works. (HB)

Discusses issues related to the writing of novels, the construction of meaning by readers, and generally about the act of writing from the first person point of view. Outlines the elements of strong fiction. (HB)

Maintains that children's books such as "The Secret Garden" can have a strong influence on one's life. Such books offer emotionally satisfying adventures and serve as the touchstones by which we measure all literary experience. (BB)

Examines questions concerning the assignment of autobiographical essays. Discusses the links between gender and genre. Argues that writing teachers should reexamine their assumptions about "good" autobiographical writing and acknowledge the links between gender and genre. (MG)

Reference librarians can offer much assistance for research on autobiographical accounts of the Holocaust, working in concert with faculty. This article reviews the state of Holocaust education in general, an academic reference department's role in student projects, and an overview of the wide variety of autobiographies that exist. (Author/AEF)

Explores the challenges of living in an unfamiliar physical and cultural environment through the concepts of complexity, self-organization, and chaos. Discusses creative resilience, composed of risk taking, reflection, and relationships, and its role in adult learning for sustainability. (SK)

Presents a learning activity for students in a sociology-of-education course in which they produce their own critical-education autobiography. Describes how to prepare students for the project, the assignments used, samples of student commentary and evaluation, and potential uses and risks of this approach. (DSK)

The accounts of several autobiographers concerning the graduate student experience reveal how students find meaning in their academic apprenticeships. Academic autobiographers, now speaking as teachers themselves. focus on what was given to them by their teachers when they were students. (MSE)

Situates the origins of self-study in four developments within education, highlighting autobiography and correspondence (email, letters, and recorded conversations) because of the demands they present for producers and consumers. Provides a framework for determining what makes a piece of self-study writing research, using the work of C. Wright…

Drawing on the age-old adage "write what you know," teachers all over the country have embraced the memoir as an integral part of the language-arts curriculum. Before constructing their own personal narratives, students are immersed in the genre, listening to and reading a wide variety of samples front children's literature. As they read,…

This article discusses the relation between narrating a story and experiencing a learning process--for both the research subjects and the researcher--as an inherent feature of narrative biographical research. It is argued that in order to do justice to the particularity, the interpretation and the agency of the research subjects and thus to the…