Explores the disparity between what is desirable in English classrooms and what is available. (HOD)

Provides an evaluator's perspective on the Language Development Project of Australia. (HOD)

Discusses the tendencies of writers of adolescent literature to seek out the violent and even the sadistic and to present it to less able adolescent readers. Suggests that not having students read may be preferable to having them read adolescent literature with objectionable subject matter that they may misinterpret. (RL)

Outlines selection principles that should govern the selection of textbooks for the English classroom. (HOD)

Relates the evaluation of a secondary school writing program that concentrated on three areas: (1) the level of group participation and group feeling generated in the classroom, (2) the level of security felt by students and teacher within the process approach, and (3) the linking of the students' reading and writing. (HOD)

Identifies and discusses nine "pressures" that have influenced curriculum development in Australia: universal expertise, inertia, Australian rules, "Golden Past," unpreparedness, wishful thinking, inexperience, nondisposable resources, and public expectations. (HOD)

Offers six recommendations in response to a proposal to eliminate literature from the English program in Australia in favor of functional English skills. (HOD)

Contends that having the responsibility to develop and implement curriculum is crucial to teachers' professional identity. Proposes that teachers are currently marginalized in the curriculum development process. Describes the opportunity presented to English teachers in 1986 to develop a Study Design for the Victorian Certificate of Education.…

Explores the largely unexamined years of English teaching between the 1910s and 1960s in Australia in order to supplement available forms of English curriculum history. Contends that an examination of teacher training curriculum and materials for this period would provide a useful way of further investigating the kind of English…

Focusing on a model "game language," outlines an approach to speech instruction aimed at improving students' speaking skills and their understanding of variable speech habits. Discusses (1) speech instruction as part of the English curriculum, (2) a primary lesson "talking about talk," (3) the speech game--restricted sustained monologue, and (4)…

Describes the experience and implications of the Kewdale Project for English teacher education, particularly inservice, and for learning theory in practice. (HOD)

Reports on a study that queried intellectually able, but physically handicapped students and their parents about their needs, wants, and expectations from and of the English program. (Includes the questionnaire used.) (HOD)

Argues that literacy development should focus on thinking and speaking skills so that students can critically evaluate the oral and written rhetoric in their daily lives and become more articulate and lucid communicators. (HOD)

Expresses some concerns about English teaching in Australia today and argues for an English curriculum that emphasizes the practical skills of language use. (HOD)

Describes the Language Development Project--the first national curriculum project in language education in Australia. (HOD)