This study was conducted in order to examine the process of teacher development in a close interplay between educational principles and classrooms in a Singapore practicum curriculum. The process of teacher development is regarded as a continuous, self-renewing, lifelong process. Since no comprehensive constructivist model of teacher development…

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's classic work "Emile" of 1762 is contrasted with Henry G. Giroux's 1981 book "Ideology Culture and the Process of Schooling." Although both Giroux and Rousseau are social critics, their notions about education and its outcome are contrary and not due to historical time alone. This comparative analysis…

Like so many slogans, "Whole Language" is a dangerous term because its meaning varies with each educator. Whole Language is not a method of teaching, nor is it a program; it is a philosophy or viewpoint. Nine major characteristics of a Whole Language approach as culled from a variety of sources, with most agreed upon by a majority of…

A project undertaken at Macquarie University's National Centre for Language Teaching and Research (Australia) focuses on the literacy development of adult learners from non-English speaking backgrounds. The project draws on systemic-functional linguistics and work in literacy that derives from this theory. Systemic linguistics provides a theory of…

This paper identifies two broad types of "critical" ethnographic research. One type attempts to empower social actors by providing emic-oriented accounts which tend to emphasize the integrity of their constructs, thus laying the groundwork for a redistribution of social power. The other type attempts to combine analysis of phenomenal, micro-level…

Strategies for improving the recruitment and selection of educational administrators are presented in this report. A recommendation is made for the development of administrator preparation programs based on collaboration between local education agencies, higher education institutions, the individual, and the educational administration (EA)…

Over the past 25 years, five large-scale research studies of community college students have been conducted in North Carolina, involving cooperation between Duke University, North Carolina State University, and the North Carolina Department of Community Colleges. The different research strategies employed in these studies can be seen as taking one…

A pilot project was developed at Indiana University Southeast to help teacher education students learn ways to put current educational theories and strategies to work in a school setting. The project was based on the idea that the language arts--listening, reading, writing, and speaking--should be integrated and that many subject areas could be…

Intended for researchers and students in mass media theory, this paper examines the development of the concept of meaning in media studies. It considers the epistemological and sociological roots of the concept, arguing that such an analysis is pivotal in understanding the differences in current research perspectives. The notion of meaning in…

An introductory textbook in English as a Second Language, commonly used in Egyptian schools, was evaluated for the degree to which its stated principles for classroom use of Arabic corresponded to instructions given in the lesson notes. A computer concordance program was used to extract relevant passages from the teacher's introduction and the…

The design and evaluation of a rating scale for program evaluation in problem-based medical curricula are described. The design process was guided by a theory of how students learn in problem-based learning as modeled by W. H. Gijselaers and H. G. Schmidt (1988). The rating scale was used in an evaluation of a new problem-based, community-oriented…

Intended for practitioners, this report, along with curriculum materials and instructional recommendations, provides a framework for language, genuine literacy, and learning across the curriculum. The report draws on teachers' collective and individual experiences, ERIC reports, National Council of Teachers of English guidelines and commission…

Two papers are presented as part of the Effects on Testing Project. The first paper, "The Effects of Testing on Teaching and Learning" (Joan Herman, Shari Golan, and Jeanne Dreyfus), describes a study focusing on standardized, norm-referenced tests. A questionnaire was administered to 85 teachers (kindergarten through grade 12 levels)…

Taking the perspective of environmental psychology, this paper interprets the influence of educational settings upon children's socialization. The physical environment and the social structure it reflects determine the nature of information acquired during socialization. Socialization functions, long assumed by institutions such as schools, are…

Educational quality and the organizational structure of the nation's educational system are examined in relation to the call for reform in American public education in this symposium paper. In "Introduction and Problem Statement," Robert H. Beach states that problems in American education stem from a structurally dysfunctional system,…