In our essay we discuss Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory of a reading event. Second, we summarize Carole Cox and Joyce Many who applied the transactional theory and designed a 1-5 point continuum to stories and films. Third, we summarize film theorists David Bordwell's constructivism; Richard Wollheim's central imagining and…

The persistent fear of physics by learners motivated the author to take action to increase all students' interest in the subject via a new curriculum for introductory college physics that applies Greene's model of Aesthetic Education to the study of contemporary physics, utilizing symmetry as the mathematical foundation of physics as well as the…

When using modern educational technology, some forms of instruction are inherently transient in that previous information usually disappears to be replaced by current information. Instructional animations and spoken text provide examples. The effects of transience due to the use of animation-based instructions (Experiment 1) and spoken information…

Two classrooms of diverse 5-year-old children were set the task of exploring ways of realising music invention through the semiotic import of composing resources. In both a rural and an inner-urban setting in Australia, children demonstrated syncretism in bilingual practices in communication. Visual multimodal analysis demonstrated how children…

This mixed methods study examines 126 community college students enrolled in developmental reading courses at a mid-sized Southwestern community college. These students participated in a survey-based study regarding their reading experiences and practices, social influence upon those practices, reading sponsorship, and reading self-efficacy. The…

The present study examined the link between learning styles and dyslexia in secondary school students, using the Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic (VAK) learning styles model. According to the VAK model, most people possess a dominant or preferred learning style, however some people have a mixed and evenly balanced blend of the three styles. Our…

In East Asian nations such as Korea--where EFL is increasingly central to education policy--more and more workshops, seminars, and conferences focus on helping teachers incorporate extensive reading (ER) programs into their teaching contexts. There is a wide range of materials available for ER, including graded readers--novels and short stories…

When students read for learning, they frequently are required to integrate text and graphics information into coherent knowledge structures. The following study aimed at analyzing how students deal with texts and how they deal with graphics when they try to integrate the two sources of information. Furthermore, the study investigated differences…

This article describes the thinking behind the development of "Scholar," a "social knowledge" technology developed as part of a series of research and development projects at the University of Illinois. Seven pedagogical openings are identified in this article, possibilities for the creation of innovative learning environments…

There have been concerns about the teaching and learning modes in both conventional and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions globally. Such concerns emanate from issues of quality and standards in education. In view of such concerns, the study examined the teaching and learning modes in Open and Distance Learning (ODL). These were…

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability in reading and writing, which requires adequate early intervention to prevent future school failure. We describe the diagnostic assessment of a 7-year-old boy labelled "dyslexic", the evaluation of his family, social, medical, developmental, and academic status as a preliminary for the design…

My dissertation examines the ways in which composition pedagogies have, both in theory and in practice, systematically worked to exclude individuals with disabilities. Persisting in composition studies is the ideological belief that traditional writing and intelligence are somehow inherently linked, that traditional literacy is central to defining…

This response to Marni Binder reflects upon two examples of (im)migrant children's artwork and challenges the dominant notion that (im)migration experiences--and their subsequent portrayals--can be fit into neat slots. The authors position multimodal composing opportunities as affording children a vital instrument for deploying their full semiotic…

More than half of adults in the USA have quantitative literacy ratings at or below a basic level. This lack of literacy often becomes a barrier to employability. To overcome this barrier, adults are returning to college to improve their quantitative skills and complete an undergraduate education, often through an accelerated degree program. A…

This article documents what happened when a teacher in an urban school shifted classroom practice through changing participation structures to incorporate digital technology and multiple modalities into a fifth grade literacy curriculum. This shift in teacher practice provided opportunities for immigrant students to become more visible in the…