Ways of Reading is a best-selling textbook for undergraduate students of English Language and English Literature, providing readers with the tools to analyse and interpret the meanings of literary and non-literary texts.

Six sections, comprising twenty five self-contained units, cover:

• techniques of analysis and problem-solving
• language variation
• attributing meaning
• poetic uses of language
• narrative
• drama and performance texts

The book combines the linguistic and literary...

Representations of gender in learning materials convey an implicit message to students about attitudes towards culturally appropriate gender roles for women and men. This collection takes a linguistic approach to exploring theories about gender representation within the sphere of education and textbooks, and their effects on readers and students within an international context.

In the opening section, contributors discuss theories of representation and effect, challenging the conventional Althusserian model of interpellation, and acknowledging the challenges of applying...

This book analyses the complex relationship between directness, indirectness, politeness and impoliteness. Definitions of directness and indirectness are discussed and problematised from a discursive theoretical perspective.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Politeness plays a vital role in maintaining class differences. In this highly original account, Sara Mills analyses the interrelationship between class and linguistic interaction, uncovering the linguistic ideologies behind politeness in British English. She sheds light on the way politeness and rudeness interrelate with the marking of class boundaries, and reveals how middle-class positions in society are marked by people's use of self-deprecation, indirectness and reserve. Systematically challenging received wisdom about cross-cultural and inter-cultural differences, she goes beyond the...