Aristotle's "Rhetoric" offers a model for applying the concept of the enthymeme to the work of film scholars to understand the role of the audience. Used from an analytic perspective, enthymemes emphasize audience reaction to a film, with the focus on how the film is seen, not on how it was made. Applying viewing skills to a sample of…

This article presents a critical analysis of empirical studies assessing literacy and other domains of academic achievement among children with cochlear implants. A variety of recent studies have demonstrated benefits to hearing, language, and speech from implants, leading to assumptions that early implantation and longer periods of implant should…

Noting that one of the greatest criticisms of television is the lack of television criticism itself, this paper proposes a multidimensional approach to the subject, based on current forms of criticism and theory. The 10 forms of criticism or theory discussed in the paper are (1) rhetorical criticism, (2) dramatic criticism, (3) literary criticism,…

The authors provide a review and critique of 82 empirical investigations conducted in the United States on teacher preparation for reading instruction. These studies were chosen from a pool of 298 based on the authors' coding of research quality indicators. Applying an inductive paradigmatic analysis of the 82 studies, this review suggests that in…

This study is a sequel to "Metalibrarianship." The previous work formulated a specific model for the philosophical interpretation of librarianship, and the present essay provides a wide-ranging reference to different views on the philosophy of librarianship. The review of philosophical viewpoints about library information science (LIS)…

This article reviews the research suggesting gifted girls are motivationally disadvantaged as well as research on the task, social, and motivational conditions that may explain these differences. A feminist critique of the gender differences research suggests some research strategies that can address and redress some of the problems in research…

Cultural context is not the sole source of human knowledge. Postmodern theory, in both its deconstructionist and affirmative approaches, offers an incomplete basis by which to study race, class, and gender, and undermines ethical interaction. Deconstructionism calls for the abandonment of generalizable research findings, asserting that the concept…

Presents a response to Lorraine Code's critique of Carol Gilligan's abortion study. Urges that abortion be read as a socially constructed experience based on more than women's moral decisions. Discusses language and experience to present abortion as an area of contested meaning in historical and ideological constructions of social life. (DK)

As background to an argument for purposive reintegration of discourse study, this paper examines the concept of explanatory discourse as it developed within the Western rhetorical tradition. Following a discussion of the rise of a rhetoric of explanation, the first section cites the roots of the explanatory pedagogy developing during the first…

Traces the changes in the depiction of childhood in science fiction films from the 1950s to the present decade. Argues that the contemporary science fiction representation of the sentimental child is a cultural idealization that opposes the social reality of the vanishing child. (FMW)

Presented as a contribution to the discussion on aesthetic stimulation, the role of imagination, and the identity of specific aesthetic stimuli and their relative intensity within a given microcontext, this paper proposes the application of biometric tests to monitor readers' physiological responses to selected literary texts as a precedent for…

An evaluation of four seventeenth and eighteenth century essays on optics revealed early trends in the evolution of scientific articles. The later articles showed a growing tendency to (1) separate practice from pure knowledge, (2) organize information around problems of knowledge and theory rather than around chronological events, (3) emphasize…

Criticizes methodological tendencies of economics and sociological researchers who do not ask "how large is large?" Reliance on statistical significance and existence theorems shows the limits of formalistic rather than humanistic research approaches. Argues that serious scholars develop whole arguments and understand the rhetoric of…

Examines five different examples of scribble art with the purpose of entering the experience of the scribbler through empathetic understanding. The participants include a schizophrenic adult; a blind, deaf, and autistic 10-year old; a known artist; a precocious 3-year old; and an elephant. Paper discovers commonalties in their efforts. (MJP)

While language switching among multilinguals has been studied in a wide variety of contexts, few attempts have been made to generalize or to integrate findings into useful communication theory. Since language switching is an important part of personal as well as group identity and since issues surrounding language identity are often a focal point…