Papers in this yearbook cover a variety of topics in the field of language arts instruction, such as creative writing instruction, reading assessment from a Whole Language perspective, journal writing, and strategies for modifying commercial reading materials. Papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Let's Get Creative about Creative…

In 1986-87, the Multilingual Survival Skills Program provided, with the support of Title VII funding, instructional and support services to 360 limited-English-speaking Haitian and Hispanic students at a Brooklyn high school. The program's major goals were to develop English and native language proficiency through simultaneous, intensive study of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 29 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) science fiction in elementary school science education; (2) the portrayal of black characters in children's literature; (3) UFOs and their correlates as a…

In addition to providing initial exposure to Native American culture, this junior high school curriculum unit is intended to help students improve their composition and thinking skills. The students' cognitive task is to recognize that groups are composed of individuals and that individual group members are different from their groups in the same…

Strategies for devising primary grade academic learning activities that promote cultural diversity are provided. Based on the responsive multicultural basic skills (RMBS) approach, the strategies emphasize skill development, incorporate content from a diversity of cultural groups into all parts of the curriculum, and provide each child with…

A rationale for helping primary grade children learn about and value their own and other cultures while acquiring basic academic skills is provided. The handbook is based on the responsive multicultural basic skills approach (RMBS), which states that the school curriculum should reflect society's multicultural nature. The RMBS approach emphasizes…

In order to increase students' awareness of their place in the nation's political life, this unit introduces young children to the electoral process. Each lesson includes objectives, materials, procedures, and supplementary materials that can be duplicated for student use. The first five lessons are designed to improve student awareness of…

Ten authors offer a large array of theoretical and practical ideas for developing a viable Middle Eastern K-12 curriculum. A major purpose of the 10 articles is to help teachers in the United States become aware of problems confronting them in teaching about the Middle East. In the first article, the author discusses some problems--for example,…

Intended to promote mutual understanding and communication between Colombia and the United States, this lexicon shows how the two countries differ in their perceptions and evaluations of dominant themes and issues. The associative group analysis method was used in the study. One hundred American and 100 Colombian undergraduate students were…

Research indicates Native American children view themselves more negatively than their Anglo counterparts and many self-concept enhancement techniques attempted with Indian pupils fail because they have been predicated on Anglo behavior patterns such as self-praise, teacher praise, popularity, and self-pride programs or competition, personal…

Assessing students' language needs is the indispensable first step in EAP (English for Academic Purposes) curriculum development. In this article, we report a portion of the results from a needs assessment study whose ultimate purpose was to inform curriculum development in EAP contexts. We used the focus group methodology to examine learner needs…

The guide is designed as an activity supplement for social studies teachers interested in helping students in grades 6-12 improve their ability to critically read social studies materials with a global focus. In addition, teachers are provided with basic tools to use in assessing the readability of social studies materials. The activities are…

The guidelines are designed as a framework around which K-8 classroom teachers can develop a social studies program. The guidelines were developed to provide activities and materials which help students progress from simple to more complex levels of learning and to help teachers better assess social studies knowledge and skill of incoming…

An ESL (English as a Second Language) program has been set up for international students at a small, two-year college for women, Immaculata College, in Washington, D.C. It has been integrated into the regular school curriculum and the courses carry academic credit. Courses emphasize specific language skills. Spoken English empasizes oral facility…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the ways in which language teachers may train themselves to teach culture and to deal with some of the problems encountered in presenting culture to students. The language teacher must first attempt to find a viable description of "culture" by reading various books and journals. In order to find…