Conditions of language and literacy are considered by a Texas educator and presented at a 1982 hearing held by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. It is noted that a 1979 policy at the University of Texas system established a freshman-level remedial English course for credit. At the University of Texas, San Antonio, this course is…

A series of articles is presented on teaching and learning in Utah community and technical colleges. After an editorial comment by J. Marvin Higbee on the goals and purposes of the Utah Association of Community Colleges, V. Lowell Hansen discusses the role of the technical instructor in the information society of the 1980's. Next, Ace G.…

Intended as a model for high school English curricula, this guide outlines the English courses offered for students in grades 9 through 12 in the Oxnard Union High School District (California). The first part of the guide offers a philosophy, the goals and objectives of the curriculum, and scope and sequence. The remainder of the guide provides…

Noting that teaching requires more than just knowledge of one's subject, this book analyzes the host of variables that affect the quality of English instruction and offers an "organic field model" of classroom English instruction. Following an introduction by Bruce Appleby, Chair of the Conference on English Education, the first chapter of the…

A case study examined the implementation of a schoolwide writing program established in a California middle school through a district sponsored school improvement program (SIP). Conducted at an urban sprawl southern California school of approximately 900 students in grades seven and eight, the program was directed and implemented by the English…

A study examined the effectiveness of a collaborative learning model for the teaching of a modern English grammar class at the college level. The model involved student presentations based on the explanation of material from assigned readings in the texts; daily quizzes on the material from the assigned reading; and peer grading of the daily…

English education continues to be threatened by standards for research, measurement, and evaluation that ignore the nature of the discipline and devalue teachers' practices. The dominant models for assessing the effectiveness of English teachers reflect assumptions taken from quantitative social sciences or, in the case of models of…

Case-based learning is one method that can be used to foster critical thinking and schema construction. Students need to be provided with problem solving lessons in meaningful learning contexts for critical thinking to take place. In order for schema construction to occur, a framework needs to be provided that helps readers to elaborate upon new…

Because a high percentage of Advanced Placement English Language and Composition (APELC) students from a small rural high school were receiving below-average grades on the Advanced Placement Examination, a 10-week composition program was designed and implemented. The composition program included three main strategies: (1) the use of the rubric as…

A pilot study explored the disciplinary perspectives and instructional practices within English, Foreign Language, and Social Science departments in a midwestern high school to determine the degree of collaboration practised by instructors to provide interconnected cross-cultural education. Data were collected by means of interviews with and…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Examination in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test (to be administered along with a questions booklet) includes the following 10 short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama: "Parents as People (with Children)" (Ellen Goodman); "Everybody Knows about the…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 30 in Alberta, Canada, this questions booklet contains 80 multiple choice test items based on the ten selections in the readings booklet. The questions examine the students' skills in (1) understanding meanings, (2) recalling materials read, (3) understanding and…

Intended for students taking Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test is designed to be administered with a questions booklet. The following short selections taken from fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and day-to-day functional materials are included: (1) "Interpreter" (Gary Hyland); (2) an…

Most discussions concerning whether literature should be taught in the composition classroom have concentrated on the pedagogical theories of learning how to write, instead of the economic and political reasons for the initial separation of the two disciplines. To help make people more employable in the rising service economy universities have…

The objectives of any language awareness course must be to lead students to a greater awareness of what they already know about language. This kind of course is ideal for student-centered activity, with the students exploring language and the teacher only occasionally imparting new facts. It will have more immediacy if it focuses on the students'…