A study examined autobiographical narratives written by preservice English teachers who described their new experiences in student teaching. Subjects, 18 young men and women enrolled in a one-year combination teaching credential and masters degree program at Stanford University, described in writing a major classroom experience. Fourteen of the 18…

Containing 13 essays selected from teachers at many levels and from specialists in various branches of the English profession, this journal issue provides English teachers with the opportunity to answer the many charges currently being levelled at education. The opening article highlights the issues raised by the report of the National Commission…

Despite claims to the contrary, the English language program has improved dramatically over the past 20 years. The traditional program's drill/memorization approach was ineffectual, incomplete, shallow, and uninteresting. Today, however, the study of language involves looking at all of its aspects, sounds, words, and symbols. Instead of throwing…

College composition instructors need special knowledge and skills in teaching black students. After pointing out the difference between black dialect and standard English, teachers need to discuss with students the practical reasons for using standard English in writing. To avoid being arbitrary or patronizing during this discussion, instructors…

This annual statistical survey of the foreign student population of the United States reports data on 386,851 students from 191 nations and places of origin. Part I sets the survey in a worldwide context, with data on foreign student flows worldwide. Part II presents an overview of foreign study in the United States and offers data on leading…

Arguing that being "literate" carries a different expectation from even the recent past, this book asserts that schools must explicitly teach the nature of language, and that students must be given clear criteria for, and support in, achieving excellence in controlling the different types of written language used in their various fields…

This review of the literature on language uniformity investigates the controversy surrounding the issue of making English an official language in the United States and the consequences that would follow such a practice. The review looks at the basic arguments of making English the "official" language and offers an understanding of a…

The Bilingual Program Resource and Training Center, in its first year of a new three-year funding cycle, provided instruction in English as a second language (ESL), native language development, and basic education, in addition to a job counseling and placement component, to approximately 1,900 students of limited English proficiency (LEP) at 16…

Designed primarily for English faculty at two-year colleges in California, "Inside English" includes articles on instructional innovations in teaching literature, composition, and remedial writing, and on major curricular, administrative, and employment issues of concern to teachers in the field. The four issues of volume 14 contain the following…

It is safe to assume that by the end of the decade the videocassette recorder (VCR) will be the only piece of educational technology available to virtually all students both in and out of school. Given that working out the pedagogical consequences of VCR technology will be the most important media-related task of the next few years, the following…

Intended for students taking Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this reading test contains 70 multiple choice test items related to the 9 selections in the reading booklet. The questions examine students' skills in (1) understanding meanings, (2) understanding and interpreting the relationships between form and…

Noting the general lack of attention to the teaching of nonfiction, this focused journal issue presents 11 articles containing suggestions for ways to incorporate various nonfiction materials into the English class. Article titles and authors in the journal are (1) "A Marriage that Works: Early American Literature in Context" (S. Bouley); (2)…

In the past 5 years, the University of Hawaii (UH) English Department has undergone significant changes in curriculum, staff, and students. Freshman English was formerly taught by lecturers, but is now the shared responsibility of all professors on the English faculty. The maximum class enrollment has been decreased from 25 students to 20.…

An English classroom contains both students of differing ideologies (that is, systems complete with centers that both express a desire and relieve anxiety) and teachers with their own ideologies. The potential for conflict is thus present. According to L. Althusser, however, the state provides certain apparatuses that prevent the formation of…

Reviews of 2,554 educational software programs by thirty reviewing sources were examined to compare the tendency of different review sources to give generally positive, negative, or neutral ratings. The reliability of language arts and reading software reviews was studied. Thirty-eight percent of the software programs were reviewed by two or more…