Analyzes the content and images presented in textbooks used to teach English as a second language to adults during two different periods: just after World War I and the present. During the first time period the researchers found that concerns of citizenship were critical; in the present, concerns over consumerism are dominant. Includes a table and…

Investigates what would happen when a ninth-grade honors English teacher taught a poem that he was encountering for the first time along with his students compared with what happened when he taught a poem that he had read and taught many times before. Notes that the teacher and the students felt the classroom dialogue improved when the teacher was…

Gives an account of Gail Reynolds's experience in administrating the DART (Developmental assessment resource for teachers) and AIM (Achievement improvement monitor) tests at her school. Reflects on how the test results compared with her own judgments of the literacy abilities of individual students in her class. Offers four case studies that draw…

Argues for the use of student voice as pedagogical text in the English classroom. Produces texts written for young people as a means of placing on the agenda issues which matter to them. Suggests that such voices can be used productively and powerfully in the English classroom to articulate other ways of seeing and being in the world. (SG)

Describes a nationwide pilot project to incorporate intensive journalistic writing into honors or Advanced Placement English courses. Discusses how 15 experienced high school journalism teachers and their classes participated in the project, which focused on improving students' writing and helping them prepare for the College Board's English…

Suggests that elements of feeling which made Wordsworth's writing superior are absent from Britain's proposed National Curriculum for English. Argues that the ingredients of Wordsworth's major experiences are similar to the ways in which children grow best in conventional academic ways. Concludes that well-facilitated but unguided discovery is the…

Examines the confusion among writers, teachers, and students regarding the mistaken "rule" that writers must not put prepositions at the end of sentences. Examines what writing handbooks, students, working journalists, writers, and those with a keen interest in the language say about the rule. Outlines the history of this "rule" and offers…

This article describes how Baginton Fields School, a secondary phase schools for British pupils with severe, profound, and multiple learning difficulties, set out to provide a meaningful and functional English curriculum. The goals of the school, the content of the scheme, and the progress of the students are discussed. (Contains references.) (CR)

Examines teaching practices in one English department. Investigates language of course syllabi for statement of goals, course reading, and course writing. Interviews faculty for observations about the texts, curriculum, and classroom practice. Suggests that, while university scholarship has moved beyond the New Criticism of the 1950s, university…

Examines contemporary conditions of English in 3 British secondary schools. Considers (1) what English teachers say about their aims; (2) how these aims are translated into classroom practices; and (3) what external agencies want the subject of English to produce. Concludes teachers "delivered" the cultural products of Standard English…

Presents a model of instruction to illustrate that helping students understand a text need not be at odds with engaging them in student-oriented transactions. Analyzes effects of giving lower-track students direct instruction in how experienced readers evaluate reliability of literary characters by examining the writing and discussions that the…

As multicultural literature has made its way into the English curriculum, it has challenged teachers' thinking about curriculum and instruction and urged them to expand their teaching repertoire to include a cultural-response approach to literature instruction. This article reports on a group of secondary English teachers' exploration and…

A large and burgeoning literature has established that mastery goal orientations yield positive cognitive and behavioural educational outcomes. Less research has focused on the psychological antecedents of adopting mastery goals. The present study draws upon prominent psychological theories of achievement motivation, specifically the…

Six years ago the Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation began a virtual high school within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Designed primarily to provide courses in specialized areas to students in rural areas, where schools have difficulty in attracting second language, mathematics and science teachers. However, there has…

The goal of the High School Reading and Communication Skills Component of the Detroit school desegregation plan was to improve students' reading and communication skills. The program was an integral part of the English curriculum and employed instruction focused upon specific objectives at each grade level. Support services were provided in each…