This paper describes a qualitative study of asynchronous electronic conferencing by three tutorial groups on the same postgraduate course ("Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Worldwide"), forming part of an MA in Applied Linguistics (via Distance Education) at the Open University, UK. The groups varied in the degree to which…

It is time for high school and college educators alike to come to grips with the fact that high school and college are not nearly as well aligned as they need to be. As a result, many high school students who have set attending college as a goal never get there, and many who do make it struggle to succeed once they arrive. Merely taking…

What sorts of instruction do students experience in high school English? Most research findings rely on small-scale, localized contexts. The purpose of this study is to provide a national portrait of high school English by documenting its overall quality on several dimensions that are theoretically important. In addition, the study examines…

Frequently writing is now no longer the central mode of representation in learning materials--textbooks, Web-based resources, teacher-produced materials. Still (as well as moving) images are increasingly prominent as carriers of meaning. Uses and forms of writing have undergone profound changes over the last decades, which calls for a social,…

The first comprehensive research handbook of its kind, this volume showcases innovative approaches to understanding adolescent literacy learning in a variety of settings. Distinguished contributors examine how well adolescents are served by current instructional practices and highlight ways to translate research findings more effectively into…

This article demonstrates how literacy practices in an 11th grade, urban, English classroom in the United States worked to delineate and patrol gender borders between acceptable masculine and feminine social practices. Drawing upon Blackburn's (2005) and Thorne's (1993) studies of the gendered boundaries that are created and questioned in literacy…

Encouraging inquiry into more reflective practice, this book invites English teachers to examine their ways of thinking, their relationship to the subject of English, their standards for good teaching, their place in the professional community, and their attitude toward time. The book offers guidelines for: helping students choose topics that are…

This publication contains the stories of seven African-American students in the literacy class at the Council for Senior Citizens in Warrenton, North Carolina. The stories were inspired by photographs selected from photographic books with images of African Americans in familiar settings, particularly rural settings. Autobiographical information…

The 21 essays in this book interrogate one another as they explore the relationships among politics, curriculum, and pedagogy in contemporary classrooms and cultures. Critical theory, the book suggests, is generated in and through classroom practice, rather than imported from without. After an introduction by James F. Slevin and Art Young, essays…

Laptop computers offer a unique way to package a course so that students will learn academic communication skills using the latest technological tools. Laptops can be programmed to be compatible with a school's computer system, eliminating many potential problems students might face in adapting their home computers. Additionally, a level playing…

Information on current trends and issues informally discussed and then delineated by the directors of six National Council of Teachers of English commissions, is presented in this 13th annual report. The commissions and their directors are: (1) Commission on Curriculum (Dorothy King); (2) Commission on Composition (Christine Kline); (3) Commission…

Based on the premise that print, oral, and media literacy are crucial in today's complex world, this handbook outlines a model for communication arts curricula that will lead to the production of literate, competent users of communication arts processes. The main purpose of the handbook is to serve as a tool for teachers and curriculum writers in…

This paper, the personal recollections of an experienced New York City public school teacher and emeritus professor of education, makes some points about "ebonics" and Black students. The paper states that when Black students in a district are assigned to special education out of proportion to their numbers, there is a fundamental…

This journal contains a wide ranging collection of articles on teaching English at all levels. Articles include: "Why Can't My Students Do It My Way?" (Thomas C. Thompson); "The First Step Is Fluency: An Interview with Richard Marius" (Carroll Viera); "Teaching Writing: The Dilemma" (Janet Sanner); "Teaching…

English instructors must discover methods that inspire culturally diverse university students to utilize intelligent reading strategies, even when students feel like inferior outcasts. A class was designed at the University of Alaska to teach reading strategies. The typical class consisted of 20-25 students ranging in age from 18 to 60 and…