This study explored the nature of dictionary instruction in several basal reading series. Three basal reading series from major academic publishers (Scott Foresman, Ginn, and Holt) with 1989 copyrights, were selected for detailed analysis. Results indicated that even where the professed aim of the basal reading series was to incorporate dictionary…

A vast amount of reading comprehension research was reported in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The study reported in this paper used the basal reading programs considered by California for adoption in 1988 as a vehicle for examining how the comprehension research had affected basal materials. Five series that were completely new and that…

A study investigated the use of verbo-visual content in geography textbooks of various countries. Secondary school geography textbooks from Australia, Greece, Japan, Sweden, and the United States were examined. For each of the selected books, empirical data about the amount of texts, pictures, maps, and tables was gathered; contents were assessed;…

Covering teaching, learning activities on the pre-college level, this document reviews more than 200 published articles, chapters, and monographs to examine ideas held by those who teach history. Descriptive statements representing goals, objectives, and rationales relative to history were constructed for the purpose of examining these concepts.…

Social studies textbooks need careful inspection with regard to how they treat ethnicity. Although there have been several studies of possible bias in textbooks, there are methodological concerns that need further deliberation. Content analysis has been called a "technique for systematic inference from communications," and it may be viewed as a…

Focusing on research from the mid-1920s to the mid-1980s, a study examined the published content analyses of college reading texts from the standpoints of methodology employed by various writers, specific information presented in respective content analyses, and observed trends in content presentation that have emerged since the mid-1920s.…

This booklet addresses the question of what is wrong with textbooks and then shows how textbooks can be improved through the selection process. A conceptual scheme is proposed as the basis of the selection process. Specific attributes and features to look for when selecting textbooks, based on this conceptual scheme, are discussed. Five categories…

There has been much recent discussion concerning the content of the standard calculus course for students majoring in mathematics and the sciences. Some of this discussion has focused on the available textbooks. One weakness noted in some of these books involves the definitions of limit and continuity for functions of several variables. A…

A study was conducted to determine the treatment of intrapersonal communication in basic communication course texts published in the last 10 years. Only 29 of the 77 textbooks surveyed covered the topic at all, and many of those treated it in a superficial manner. After being divided into two categories according to subject matter, public speaking…

Designed to examine the way that different ethnic groups are presented in South African secondary school history textbooks, this study gives special attention to the extent and nature of ethnic stereotyping in texts and the endorsement of particular social and political attitudes relevant to contemporary South Africa. By using a sociological…

A major purpose of this study was to determine whether a selected number of current, commercially prepared spelling series used high frequency words for their word lists. A second purpose was to determine whether students misspelled high frequency words in their writing. Eleven commercially prepared spelling series were selected according to the…

Writing, editing, and printing texts for schools has been the accepted role of publishers, while text researchers have concentrated on typography, content, and readability. The hundreds of readability formulas now available make readability the most sophisticated of these three areas. Research in reading comprehension suggests that publishers…

This paper explains the apparent inconsistencies in media research findings by identifying apparent research weaknesses which complicate data interpretation and frustrate attempts to derive broad generalizations useful to practitioners in their classroom use of visual media. Emphasis is on the interrelationships which exist among the different…

Holt, Rinehart and Winston (School Department) sought to investigate the curriculum area of mathematics (kindergarten through grade eight) and in particular the content and design of the Holt School Mathematics (HSM) program. For those purposes, a questionnaire was designed to assess judgments on topics such as trends in mathematics curriculum and…

This paper reports on a study in which five eighth-grade United States history textbooks were analyzed with regard to their treatment of white and nonwhite ethnic groups. Three instruments were employed: a series of questions derived from an article by Robert Blauner on factors necessary to a realistic understanding of ethnic minorities; the…