Summarizes research findings on academic reading obtained from a questionnaire, two sets of reading tests, and a textbook analysis. Results reveal that the essential reading skills required of foreign language learners and those giving them the most difficulty in their academic studies are skimming, reading more slowly to extract relevant…

The purpose of this study was to determine which magnet concepts were found in various science textbook series, how the concepts were presented, and to identify potential misconceptions related to magnets. Magnet concepts presented as prose, illustration, and/or laboratory activities are identified and analyzed. (KR)

Teachers' styles of textbook use were identified, and the overlap between content taught and textbook content in elementary school mathematics was studied for four teachers in four Michigan fourth grades. In each classroom there were important differences between text content and teacher's topic selection, content emphasis, and sequence of…

Using content analysis, presents a study of 14 U.S. history textbooks. Analyzes textbook treatment of the Declaration of Independence, the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust. Examines nontextual materials. Finds errors of omission, boring writing styles, and a basic similarity between the textbooks. (RW)

The results of an in-depth analysis of the lab activities found in two popular high school biology textbooks are presented. Activities were rated against 24 task categories that parallel skills or behaviors which reflect scientific inquiry, problem-solving skills, manipulative skills, and observational skills. (25 references) (KR)

Discusses a study of the content of elementary social studies textbooks. Reports that geographic and economic concepts predominated in textbooks written for first through fourth graders although publishers differed over which concepts were most important. Concludes that the books offer little opportunity to review and expand upon concepts over…

Linguistic content analysis, method of encoding textual data by categorizing key words and identifying relationships, was developed to assess degree to which science was portrayed as process of inquiry within high school biology textbook series. The frequency of science as a process of inquiry increased from 1956 to 1965, then showed a pattern of…

On September 11th, 2001 the United States experienced the largest terrorist attack in its history. This event caused many government agencies to review their security practices and procedures. It also has raised awareness of other avenues that terrorists might pursue to achieve their goals, including cyber terrorism. Cyber terrorism can be…

The increasing demand for good business English Second Language courses is stymied by a lack of research and good teaching tools concerning speech acts used in business meetings. This study analyzed speech acts used in two business meetings and evaluated four business English textbooks to determine the type of English used in real business…

This study examined the complimenting behavior of men and women in the United States by collecting a corpus of 90 compliment behaviors from television programs, ethnographic observation, and the author. It also explored the relationship between sociolinguistic research and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) in general and…

Six college health textbooks published between 1980 and 1987 were analyzed to determine the extent of coverage of 10 selected content areas from "Healthy People: The Surgeon General's Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention." Content areas assessed included: motor vehicle accidents, alcohol and drug misuse, teenage pregnancy,…

Three basal reading series, levels kindergarten through grade three, were studied to categorize the types of literature each contained. The following series were analyzed: "The Headway Program" (Open Court Publishing Company), "Series r Macmillan Reading," and "Basics in Reading" (Scott, Foresman and Company). It was…

A study examined the general content and characteristics of elementary science textbooks and compared selected text segments from several content domains across publishers. The Merrill and Silver-Burdette science programs for grades 1-5 and one level of both the Holt and McGraw-Hill programs were evaluated. Results indicated substantial…

To determine whether Olivet Nazarene University's standard freshman writing course requirements measure favorably with those of the majority of the 75 Christian College Coalition (CCC) members, a study compared the textbooks, papers, activities, and evaluation procedures required by each institution. Stephen Witte's "National Survey of…

Students in a teaching methods course evaluated a recently published basal reader to see if it conformed to guidelines for the efficacy of such materials already established by the class. A story selection was read to identify (1) essential background information, (2) text features that might cause comprehension problems (subject matter for…