To examine new approaches to film study, "Nothing But a Man," which portrays the difficulties encountered by a young Negro in the South, was taught experimentally in three 11th-grade English classes at Cheshire High School, Connecticut. A different method of approaching the movie was used in each class to determine effective teaching methods for…

This article describes the problems that the College Entrance Examination Board's Committee of Review for the Examinations in English encountered in creating a fair, objective, hour-long literature achievement test which would meet four objectives--to measure the breadth of a student's reading, his understanding of that reading, his response to…

In the United Kingdom at present, there is a rift between leading authorities who stress the use of oral language in helping children learn to read and those who focus directly on the teaching of reading and writing. This paper identifies five phases in educational development from 1870 to the present; for each phase, indication is given of the…

This publication describes 97 classroom activities that employ the newspaper as an aid for teaching language arts skills. The activity ideas are grouped according to four categories: creative writing (ideas for writing such pieces as news accounts of events in stories and poems, letters to the editor, and reviews of books and television programs);…

At Virginia State College, which has an open-admissions policy, entering freshmen who display serious weaknesses in writing are asked to attend a writing laboratory for two hours each week, in addition to attending their regular freshman writing classes. In the laboratory, students write a series of papers dealing with a particular subject.…

This publication includes five papers that were presented at a language communications conference that emphasized integrating the language arts at elementary and secondary school levels. Walter Loban stresses the importance of classroom language activities that involve children in genuine purposes and that link language to thinking. Charles R.…

A study was undertaken to determine if attitudes toward various regional dialects could be improved by teaching about the range of American English. The subjects were 47 sixth grade students. The experimental group of 21 subjects studied lessons on regional dialects for 55 minutes each day, while the control group of 26 subjects studied…

The placement of students in the correct level of English composition classes is approached in a variety of ways by two-year open admission colleges. This report describes the analysis of a potentially quick, effective method of student placement, based on structural linquistics, which asked each student to combine as many brief kernel sentences…

The first segment of a long-term educational assessment plan, for which this three-part report was compiled, called for a study that would survey the status of English language arts programs in the province of British Columbia and serve as a pilot for future assessment programs. This portion of the study presents results from the third phase of…

Because the style and language of the black folk tradition have contributed significantly to the development of the English language, an analysis of black persuasive techniques and black communication systems can enhance the teaching of composition, rhetoric, and literature for both black and white students. Some of the persuasive techniques of…

Research studies indicate that beginning teachers choose instructional procedures which conflict with their methods courses and that language is the least well-taught of the English instruction components. To deal with both problems in teacher preparation, a study was devised to analyze the effects of a reinforcing module in language instruction,…

The nine modules presented in this paper are designed to guide students in a one-semester Shakespeare Course through the reading of three Shakespearean tragedies ("Hamlet,""Othello," and "Macbeth"), three comedies ("Midsummer Night's Dream,""Merchant of Venice," and "The Tempest"), and…

The purpose of this project was to design a bilingual/bicultural kindergarten course of study based on the concepts of the Richards Education Through Music Method. This method is rooted in the Hungarian composer-educator Zoltan Kodaly's educational philosophy and was developed in the U.S. by Mary Helen Richards. This is a method of teaching all…

Recently, the use of thematic units in the teaching of language arts at the secondary level has significantly increased. This document discusses the theory and practice of using thematic units. The first section provides an overview of the use of thematic units and shows how such units can aid in teaching students about the composing process,…

Media literacy (particularly for television) should be taught in college freshman composition courses. Since young people watch a lot of television, they should understand the dynamics of that medium and be able to use interpretive and evaluative skills in selecting and viewing only the best of the medium. Since the methods of studying literature…