Research concerning the applied educational potential of Richard Atkinson's mnemonic "keyword method" is reported in this paper. Included are possibilities for stretching the limits of the keyword method by combining it with other mnemonic and prose-learning strategies. The first half of the paper provides an overview of mnemonics--the…

College English departments and methods courses share responsibility for the conventional nature of supposedly innovative high school English elective programs. (JH)

The curriculum guides listed and annotated in this publication have been collected to publicize good curriculum planning and guide writing and to serve as models for schools revising their programs and seeking a variety of sample frameworks, units, and lesson plans. Contents consist of selected guides reviewed and recommended in 1975, 1976, and…

Genesee Community College in Batavia, New York, adopted James Kinneavy's aims of discourse theory as the basis of its composition program. The program is a two-semester course for students who intend to transfer to four-year colleges. In a comparable nontransfer sequence, the first semester doubles as a remedial course for ill-prepared transfer…

"Death in Literature," a nine-week elective course for high school juniors and seniors, was added to the English curriculum at a Kansas City high school in 1976. It has proved very popular with students and is being expanded to 18 weeks. The explicit objectives of the course are to help students to explore the theme of death in various types of…

Intended as an aid to language arts curriculum development, the four sections of this guide present, in chart form, a sequential set of learning outcomes and assessment levels for the skills of writing, speaking/listening, critical thinking, and reading. (FL)

Racism, the ways in which it is manifested in higher education, and the effectiveness of its manifestations are discussed. The following proposals suggesting how English departments can contribute to the diminution of racism were made: (1) that single academic standards be required for black and white students in freshman English classes, (2) that…

Six basic considerations in teaching literature to gifted children in grades four through six are presented in the first half of this curriculum guide: (1) The teacher needs a broad knowledge of literature, as well as a sensitivity to students, in order to recommend literature for each child. (2) The teacher's method of presentation is important.…

This book presents the results of the examination, during 1969, of the behavioral objectives movement in English instruction by the NCTE Commission on the English Curriculum. It points out that, although some major benefits may eventually arise from the writing of English behavioral objectives, "the process bristles with problems in semantics,…

This revised English curriculum guide contains descriptions of the numerous courses offered in eight South Bend high schools. A separate set of electives is presented for students in the 9th grade, and a nongraded phase program is presented for students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Course descriptions, course objectives, course content,…

The purpose of this study was to develop a rationale for and to organize sequences of visual education concepts and skills that could function as a part of a secondary language arts program embodying the approaches of James Moffett. The literature on visual education was studied to identify those factors related specifically to professional…

This paper reviews research which indicates that (1) more adults spend more time at job related reading than at any other type of reading; (2) materials written for functional purposes (job manuals, newspapers) are often too difficult for the people who are supposed to read them; (3) secondary English courses focus more on teaching reading and…

This report is intended to focus attention on the fact that disparate forms of English communication all belong to one language and that the principles of rhetoric are central to a unified approach to the teaching of rhetoric. After describing the history of rhetoric and the need for a modern rhetoric-oriented curriculum, it presents course, unit,…

This study of curricula for English programs from 1958-1968 reviewed both secondary and primary sources, including personal interviews, solicited correspondence, unpublished material, and curriculum guides. Three somewhat conflicting models emerged from the study: (1) the content-centered approach, emphasizing the study of language, literature,…

This book sets out to map the development of English as a subject and how it has come to encompass the diversity of ideas that currently characterize it. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis and recent research findings, it brings together and compares important new insights on curriculum development and teaching practices from England,…