The history of the conquest and dispossession of the Nez Perce Indians of the American Northwest by invaders from the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1805 to the present is related. Their general culture is described including religious practices, eating habits, methods of acquiring food, construction of homes, and music. Characteristics…

This collection of articles discusses social dialects, the problems that dialects cause the disadvantaged, and how these problems can be overcome in curriculum planning and classroom practice. Articles are (1) "English: New Dimensions and New Demands" by Muriel Crosby, (2) "A Checklist of Significant Features for Discriminating Social Dialects" by…

A strictly literary study of drama can be misleading, but plays brought alive through dramatic activities and productions may be the most profitable core of the secondary-school humanities program. The practical study of drama requires the student's active imagination, self-discipline, creative and positive responses to situations, improvisation,…

A study examined the use of literary models in teaching written composition to children, and, as secondary goals, examined the relationships between written composition and such factors as age, sex, and intelligence. Four fifth-grade classes in Clarke County, Georgia, completed Sequential Tests of Educational Progress (STEP) Writing Tests and…

To determine what characteristics of poetry are preferred by high school students, researchers asked 16 sophomores to use a semantic differential rating scale to evaluate 120 poems selected from high school textbooks and current publications. Seven sophisticated poetry readers numerically assessed 10 technical characteristics of the poems to…

In this study, an evaluation was made of a second grade experimental written composition program based on the social and psychological nature of children, on principles of written composition, and on effective classroom procedures. The distinguishing feature of the experiment, which involved 82 children, was the use of chalkboard compositions to…

A study to learn if a special course on teaching composition to high school students would affect the classroom competence of prospective English teachers was conducted. An experimental group of 36 future English teachers at DePaul University was compared with a control group of 36 similar students at Loyola University, a school with a parallel…

Class time devoted to individual reading is a simple, effective means of improving reading motivation in junior high schools. In order to guide students to books that they will enjoy, the teacher needs to know (1) the students' reading habits, abilities, and interests, and (2) the library facilities available. A good paperback library can be…

This study summarizes the kinds of English grammar currently taught in American secondary schools and describes the effects of curriculum proposals by scholars upon the teaching of language and composition. A survey of grammar from classical Greek and Roman times to the present precedes a description of specific types of grammar (e.g.,…

This study analyzed the effect of various stimuli on the number and kinds of words produced, the number and length of grammatical structures formed, and the quality of writing produced under four stimulus conditions. Third-grade students from Clarke County, Georgia, wrote compositions after (1) being asked to write a story (minimal stimulus); (2)…

Language skills should be taught in an integrated curriculum that combines usage, composition, literature, reading, and spelling. In such a curriculum, the teacher has a wide choice of procedures and materials, the student sees language applied in realistic situations, and the individual skills and concepts reinforce each other. Since no one book…

This study was undertaken to determine whether an oral-aural approach to remedial composition instruction for college students would be superior to the traditional grammar and rhetoric approach. For one semester, four classes of remedial writing at Jefferson College in Missouri served as experimental groups in which ideas and sound were stressed…

This study attempted to determine whether tutoring could produce positive changes in certain language skills that would be reflected in English marks and standardized test results. Ninth grade boys and girls (120) were selected and arranged into paired experimental and control students. Both experimental and control pairs used prepared materials…

The objectives of this study were (1) to learn the classroom practices, procedures, and level of competency in educational measurement and evaluation of experienced Illinois secondary school English teachers (grades 7-12) and (2) to determine, on the basis of experienced English teachers' judgments, the desirable level of competency for beginning…

This study attempted to determine what media most effectively communicated to teenagers, how the media habits of Florida teenagers compared with those in other states, and how the media habits of journalism students compared with those not in journalism. A total of 430 students from Florida high schools and 457 from high schools in other states…