Since the late 1990s there has been a fundamental shift in the way schooling and even education as a whole is evaluated. From this new perspective the education system would seem to be interpreted as a sub-system of the economic system and thus subservient to it. Decisions on education matters seem to have become determinant for individual…

Jory Brass and Leslie David Burns provide a useful and informative review of research appearing in the "English Journal" ("EJ") and "Research in the Teaching of English" ("RTE") over the past 100 years. It is a bit unfortunate, if understandable, to exclude books and articles in other journals, because such a restriction excludes many pieces of…

Theory and practice are an odd couple. There is little doubt that theory deserves a place within today's primary classrooms. Pring (2004) suggests that theory is perceived as having come adrift from common sense. It is easy to see how, swept along in the daily pressures of the job, busy classroom teachers may question the relevance of seemingly…

Considers group solidarity an important element in understanding teacher resistance to the stultifying effects of the educational system. Offers a case study of four eighth grade teachers acting individually and collectively to illustrate the contradictory and dissonant nature of the teacher's identity as autonomous individual and group member.…

Although a growing body of research and practice in reading strategy instruction in secondary education has identified specific and successful methods for encouraging metacognitive awareness, there is little published research connecting these findings to post-secondary literacy education. Consequently, a gap remains in the conception, and…

Summarizes eight other articles on literary theory and education, examining the theory-practice relationship as it pertains to English literature instruction and questioning traditional views about the divide between theory and practice. Discusses how working the rift between theory and practice could actually be of some benefit to education. (SM)

The author reviews five popular learning theories operative in American secondary education. Each theory rests on a different view of learning and human nature. He considers why educational theories proliferate and what possibilities exist for synthesizing them all into a single guiding perspective for secondary education. (SJL)

This paper is based on a study into the social and ethical implications of computer education in secondary schools in Queensland (Australia). The relationship between computer technology and philosophy is discussed; three curriculum orientations are described--(1) vocational, (2) liberal, and (3) socially critical; and a socially critical…

Educational theorists must be willing to follow logic and observation wherever they lead, which is often to absurdity and paradox. (Author)

Reexamines some of George H. Henry's writings concerning the teaching of English. (HOD)

Discussing advanced level economics in England's secondary schools, Lines examines (1) underlying educational theory; (2) instruction guided by norm-referenced external examinations; and (3) the historical progress of those examinations. Referring to developmental psychology, he questions whether students are ready for the concepts taught, and…

In this study, ethnographic and process-tracing methodologies were used to explain the nature of a teacher's theory of action and the relationships between that theory and interactive thinking and specific teaching behaviors. Lesson aspects of particular interest were questioning and structuring by the teacher and teacher baiting by the students.…

The 1975 California Commission for Reform of Intermediate and Secondary Education (RISE) report and the 1983 National Commission on Excellence in Education report (A Nation at Risk) demonstrate the polarized nature of secondary education reform. Reformers should look at the broader views of Ernest L. Boyer and Theodore Sizer to avoid this…

Revision poses a curious problem for the theorist because it is as difficult to define as it is to direct. Not only does it imply and require re-vision, or re-seeing, but also the prior existence of a vision, a "seeing," encoded in text. The theoretical problem of revision is further exacerbated by the issues of discourse convention and…

Responds to Raymond Rodrigues's l985 "English Journal" article presenting reservations about a too-narrow and too-dogmatic definition and application of the writing process approach to the teaching of writing. Addresses concerns that the article would provide ammunition from the traditionalists and that new writing process converts would find…