Meaning,Expression, and the Interpretation of Literature

I argue that when we interpret a literary work, we engage with at least two different kinds of meaning, each requiring a distinct mode of interpretation. These kinds of meaning are literary varieties of what Paul Grice called nonnatural and natural meaning. The long‐standing debate that began with Beardsley and Wimsatt's attack on the intentional fallacy is, I argue, really a debate about nonnatural meaning in literature. I contend that natural meaning has been largely neglected in our theorizing about literary interpretation and that this comes at a serious cost, resulting in an inadequate account of what interpretation involves. I argue, first, that by recognizing that literary meaning includes both nonnatural and natural meaning, we are better placed to understand the interpreter's relationship with the author, and, second, that recognition of the distinction between nonnatural and natural meaning advances the established debate about literary meaning, offering support for actual intentionalism. The more inclusive view of literary meaning helps resolve an apparent difficulty raised by Noël Carroll.     

ADAPTING TO ADAPTIVE TESTING

Computer adaptive testing (CAT) is a relatively recent innovation in large scale testing programs, but has had very limited application in private industry. This paper describes the development of a CAT for use by a large insurance company in selecting computer programmer trainees. Incumbents provided the calibration and evaluation data. The CAT led to increased item security, but did not decrease required testing time. Further, the CAT was found to be similar to a conventional, fixed-item test in reliability and validity. In addition to actual test results, computer simulated test data were used in a more detailed evaluation of the CAT's effectiveness. The concluding discussion notes the advantages and disadvantages observed from the use of adaptive testing.