The American professor in a foreign country must be prepared formally and informally to address questions about the United States, its present, past, and future. Part of bringing American culture to the foreign campus is bringing the openness of American professors to their students. (MSE)

Presents the animated television series "The Simpsons" as a tool to reach undergraduate students by using popular culture to teach sociology. Discusses "The Simpsons" and sociology, provides a sample of the sociological themes embedded within the show, and how to use "The Simpsons." Provides information gleaned from…

This paper looks at recent debates about text selection and censorship in Australia. Its aim is to point beyond the terms in which the censorship debate has been conducted in the mass media, and to prompt reflection on how texts are used in English classrooms. The paper raises questions of language and cultural identity in secondary English…

Examining the attitudes and behaviors of his adolescent students in rural Yorkshire, the author finds in them a strange lack of respect for adults, which he attributes to disruptions of consciousness caused by the constant bombardment of pop music and television. Two other authors comment on pp128-30. (SJL)

Presents results of a study that evaluated using popular movie clips, shown in the first class meeting of an abnormal psychology course, in relation to student enthusiasm. Compares two classes of female juniors, one using clips and one class not using them. States that the films portrayed psychological disorders. (CMK)

There are many studies of young people's preferences for music, films, books and magazines, the most detailed and committed of which are carried out by market researchers. There is far less attention paid to the tastes of a minority or ethnic group. This paper explores the tastes of young people of a Pakistani background as they adapt themselves…

In spite of long-standing political tensions between Japan and the People's Republic of China, Japanese remains a highly popular language to learn in Hong Kong. This is evidenced by the growth in number of Japanese-related courses and programmes offered at schools and universities in the Special Administrative Region. Although Japan is a dominant…

Discusses the technique and appeal of ten best-selling books, concluding that other mass media may be a better source of the qualities and values represented in the books. (AA)

Contemporary college life resembles older forms of the American youth culture but differs by being a projection of a wider youth culture into college rather than a specially collegiate tradition. Analysis of modern college life gives insight into why undergraduates are satisfied with American higher education although critics are not. (Author/MSE)

Argues that adolescents have tacit understandings about television as a system of communication with specific values and purposes. Suggests that students' everyday, informal knowledge of popular media can be an informal resource for developing more of their critical and creative sensibilities and expressiveness. Offers strategies to help students…

Discusses a research project on how artists in rap videos create a "counter-discourse" (or ways of talking and thinking about) on themselves and the places they live. Focuses on the experience of sharing the paper based on this research, specifically considering a lecture at California State University-Dominquez Hills. (CMK)

Notes that "manga"--Japanese comics--constitute the most popular kind of reading material in Japan. Discusses the skills needed to read manga. Surveys 297 Japanese college students. Suggests that many manga readers can be considered engaged readers as they are highly motivated and have developed a range of strategies to help them…

Explores some of the dominant discursive models of Southeast Asians operative within academic and popular culture, and demonstrates how these models are taken up and responded to in school projects of adolescent Southeast Asian students in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) schools. How these students negotiate a public model for themselves is examined.…

Describes the addition of readings from popular science writers to the required syllabus of a community college-level introductory biology course for science majors. Recommends required readings and features sample student reactions to, and evaluations of, the essays. (WRM)

Examines the influence of gender and exposure to gender-stereotyped music video imagery on the sexual attitudes of male and female viewers. Finds that traditional sexual imagery had a significant effect on attitudes about adversarial sexual relationships and gender had main effects on 3 of 4 sexual attitudes. (CMK)