One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper brings into focus some of the issues surrounding textbooks in the schools so that informed decisions can be made regarding textbook selection and use. The major portion of the paper explores professional opinions regarding textbooks, noting the following:…

Presents guidelines for use in examining the comprehensibility of a textbook, questions to ask about the book, and suggestions for using the guide questions. (FL)

Intended to help educators select textbooks that represent the highest standards of quality instruction, these guidelines describe major aspects of textbooks--of language arts instruction--considered essential. Following an introduction, the eight guidelines (whose features should be central to a program's design and should pervade the entire…

Examines obvious and covert efforts of censorship on young adult novels and the publishers' reluctance to provide more realism. Concludes by urging teachers to counteract those forces through diligent consumer education. (HOD)

Advice on selecting a reference book for the writing class and particular writing students. A classification of recommended, good, fair, and not recommended handbooks. (RL)

Offers suggestions, in the form of a rating questionnaire, that members of textbook selection committees can use to assure that textbooks are analyzed systematically and compared fairly. (RL)

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: Conflicts over schools in general and curriculum and materials in particular have increased in recent years. A contributing factor is that organized groups, determined to reform society by imposing their values on others, insist that textbooks and other educational materials reflect their views.…

Presents a set of "neutral" language guidelines as a way of pointing out the problems of using language guidelines in the first place. (JL)

Analyzes the impact on secondary school curriculum of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty. States that changes will be influenced through curriculum controls including: providing curriculum-wide guidelines, selecting range and content of subjects, and selecting textbooks. Concludes that state bureaucracy plays a critical role in the…

Describes reading-textbook evaluation and selection processes and argues that improved basal readers are likely to be developed if textbook adoption procedures improve. States that basal reader evaluation criteria and procedures should be developed and applied by those professionals most directly responsible for the teaching of reading. (Author/NH)

The seven articles in this focused journal issue are concerned with choosing books for teaching and the various constraints on those choices. The first article, by Richard Lederer, discusses George Orwell's "1984" and the principles of Newspeak. His article sets the tone for the next two articles: "Beware the Misuse of…