Describes how a teacher researcher invited her students to be detectives on the lookout for language and to take a critical perspective on how it varies with each speaker, purpose, and context. Suggests that educators need to be careful about how they present language varieties so that their students appreciate them as more than "quaint artifacts…

Examines the intersection of classroom inquiry and educational policy by asking the question: "Can teacher-research become a vehicle for creating just and politically sensitive accounts of how educational policies affect real lives?" Shares classroom research conducted with students receiving special assistance to pass a state-mandated writing…

Discusses the organization of two basic writing courses around reading and summarizing, following the typical description of summary found in composition texts. Notes that, based on their research, the authors no longer believe that summaries can be completely objective: instead, they believe that summary is an interpretive act and that students…

Explores how teachers can focus their investigation on materials separate from the school environment and then use what they find to help their students learn in the classroom. Describes a program in which teachers do research on literary manuscripts to address the problem of the counterproductive fragmentation of the English curriculum into…

Since the publication of the first edition of "Studying Your Own School", practitioner action research has become an established professional development practice in schools and teacher education programs.While the fundamentals of practitioner action research have not changed, the challenges of large scale reform have dramatically…

The drawn ideas of inventors Edison and Bell are analyzed in a systematic way to help understand the inventive process and how inventors think. By storing sketches on a computer the researchers have been able to recreate the probable lines of reasoning used by the inventors. (KR)

Claims literacy expectations need to be examined and interpreted by teacher-researchers at the local level in order to make sense of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results, suggesting this information will provide a factual base from which to plan programs. (NH)

Described is a program for training M.A.-level evaluation researchers within an academic department. The topics covered are devising the curriculum, recruiting students, conducting internships, involving the community, and evaluating the program. (Author/RM)

Discusses the results of interviews and questionnaires on the oral communication skills needed by research scientists. Proposes an oral communication course for science majors and generally summarizes its content. (JMF)

Discusses the ways that one English teacher researched her student's language patterns and used that information to adjust her teaching. Considers the difficulty of changing ingrained habits of nongrammatical usage in student speech and writing. (HB)

The value of being able to self-critique manuscripts and to have confidence in the critique is discussed. A checklist that focuses on the structure and organization of research articles, and its interrelationship with content for critiquing articles at an early draft stage that both the author and in-house reviewers can use is provided. (KR)

Explores one teacher-researcher's attempt to involve students in theory-building research of their own composing processes. Aims to increase involvement of rural youth in higher education, youth who have traditionally remained on the farm or gone directly to work in now-faltering rural economies. Shares an outline of the course plan. (MG)

Advocates teaching as a research-based activity. Describes the national curriculum in English Schools and compares it with curricular development in New Zealand. Recommends inservice training (InSET) to ensure teachers' confidence in presenting scientific ideas. (Contains 25 references.) (YDS)

Notes how research emphasizes the importance of tailoring instruction to the needs of the individual child. Examines tutoring interactions with Ricky, a friendly, vivacious first-grade boy who started the school year significantly behind peers in reading and writing. Explores what instruction can be provided to meet Ricky's individual learning…

Provides a brief history of research in word processing and writing, describes the use of word processing as a writing aid, and discusses the problems and issues in research design in the area of word processing instruction. (MG)