This position paper examines the phenomenon of the McNamara Fallacy to analyse flawed conceptions of "success" in mathematics learning, normalised assessment structures and their implications for mathematics education. The established presence of the McNamara Fallacy and the ramifications of this statistical fallacy provide a foundation…

In pursuit of quality education in Bhutan there has been a desire to shift from teacher-dominant class teaching to students taking initiative in their own learning. This paper investigated the issue of moving teaching and learning from teacher-centered classes to independent learning of students. The research was carried out at Samtse College of…

This paper discusses a student's view of the teaching of literature with respect to: (1) the nature of literature, and (2) the learning process. B. A. programs in French generally include courses designed to "cover" certain areas of literature. These courses involve, usually, "ex cathedra" lecturing, implying first that there is one "correct"…

Although both literary study and discourse analysis examine texts and oral discourses, literary study tends to emphasize the totality of the text while discourse analysis seeks to isolate manageable elements and structures to validate hypotheses about mental processes. Interaction has recently occurred between the two disciplines in…

This paper describes an approach to teaching students to become more sensitive to voice, audience, and meaning in fiction. Examined are several passages of monologue, including a passage spoken by a character named Mr. Tyler in the opening of E.M. Forster's "The Story of a Panic." The rhetorical triangle made up of speaker, audience, and subject…

In this critique, comments and suggestions are offered that might be integrated into future research by Scott, Yates, and Wheeless on the topics of communication apprehension and alternative instructional approaches. These authors suggest, in their paper, that one's level of communication apprehension should be predictive of attitudes held toward,…

A promising area in educational research is the application of techniques of literary criticism to curriculum theory. Kenneth Burke's dramatistic system clarifies the five sources of motives in the drama--purpose, agency, scene, agent, and act. This pentad creates a possibly fruitful model that highlights the drama of the classroom. Contrasting…

Calling for redoubled emphasis on the performative and political dimensions of rhetorical study, some scholars recommend an "activist turn" in rhetorical criticism. In the context of the study of social movements, an engaged and active stance can enable critics to become direct participants in the field of social action. The promise of a…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how some ways of making sense of the world get privileged over others when teachers and students use specific educational films in specific learning environments. The methods of formalist and ideological film analysis are used to describe how educational films are distinct in their form and style from…

Unlike the criticism of the literary arts and the spoken word, rhetoric, television criticism is in its infancy. The styles suggested for television criticism have primarily been drawn from modern drama, literature and semiotics. Today, television critics of the scholarly sort are looking at a variety of styles to see if they can tell their…

A five-step method of conflict analysis can help students generate accurate and complex theme statements about literature without teacher intervention. The conflict analysis involves (1) identifying the characters who are in conflict as a series of pairs and determining if the protagonist has an inner conflict; (2) determining the major conflict,…

This paper briefly reviews the literature concerning the Paiget-Burner debate over the roles of identify and reversibility rules in conservation acquisition, and describes an experiment designed to determine whether one group of rules is more closely related to conservation than the other. A group of children, aged 4-6 years, received tests of…

This interview with Lewis J. Perelman examines issues raised by his recent book, "School's Out" (1992), which describes the current educational system as an obsolete technology that is rapidly being replaced by the new metaprocess of hyperlearning. Hyperlearning will combine teaching and learning with artificial intelligence, broadband…

In three parts, this symposium presentation to the American Montessori Society: (1) comments generally on current perceptions of Montessori education; (2) poses questions about practices in Montessori classrooms that challenge Montessori educators' core beliefs about Montessori education; and (3) discusses the cutting edges of contemporary…

While each English department will establish its own set of assumptions appropriate for its objectives and programs, the new rhetoric can bring some coherence to the teaching of writing and literature by providing students with reliable strategies for reading literature as well as writing. In teaching literature teachers need to demonstrate the…