Formalism is a school of literary criticism that looks at texts at face value, without biographical, historical or contextual considerations. At the heart of formalism is this notion that a text can have inherent meaning. This meaning is constructed through the use of language, i.e. stylistic or structural features. According to the school of formalism, it is up to the reader to deconstruct or unpack the meaning of texts by identifying the use of these features. There are two branches of formalism: the Russian formalists and the New Critics. 

The Russian formalists are the founders of this tradition of literary criticism. Their influence on academics and education was built on several key principles. 

• Literature is comprised of language. Linguistic forms can be studied scientifically. 
• Language is independent of external factors, such as economic, social and regional values. Linguistic forms, such as meter and metaphor, have a history of their own which can be documented and studied.
• The content and form of work are inseparable. How and idea is express is inseparable from what is expressed.

The New Critics were also branch of this movement, who were very firm in believing that all meaning of a text can be gathered by looking at the text only. It was a backlash to reader-response theory, which claimed the opposite, 'literature is in the eye of the beholder'. The New Critics succeeded in writing many textbooks for American public high schools in the 1950s-1970s, which essentially kept political, racial and social conflict out of the classroom. The defining characteristics of New Criticism expanded on the Russian formalist method.

• 'Close reading', a form of isolated textual analysis where one studies dense passages of text carefully, is a method for ascertaining the meaning of a text. 
• Paradox, ambiguity, tension and irony are formal features of a text. By studying such features, the reader comes closer to understanding the themes of the text. It is believed that every text has an inherent tension of conflicting ideas.

In the Language and Literature classroom, we recognize that the tradition of formalism has both its short-comings and merits. Without exploring the context in which a work was written, we can miss much of the meaning. Readers must also be entitled to their own response. At the same time, we realize that close reading is a good exercise in coming making more informed interpretations. Some forms of assessment, such as the individual oral commentary, are really rooted in the formalist tradition of literary criticism. Similarly, examiners for Paper 1 receive a list of items to look for in a good analysis (these are called the 'marking notes'). Therefore it is important to study form, style and structure in the Language and Literature classroom.