The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the social and cultural instructional process on independent reading. In addition, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the administrator-teacher relationship on educational practices in a lab site classroom. Using an action research design, data was collected through…

The following narrative reflects on the dilemmas and problems faced by inexperienced researchers working within the field of education. Focusing on a research project completed in fulfilment of an MA in Teaching and Learning, the article recounts the decisions made by one emergent researcher and evaluates how far the chosen methods may have helped…

The action research project report was created to remedy a lack of multicultural literature within the regular level sophomore English class and to assist regular level sophomore students' connection to their reading. The teacher-researcher also examined her students' own ethnic backgrounds, cultures, religions, economic status, gender, and/or…

Background/Context: Portfolio assessment is a popular form of authentic assessment, but often portfolios become simply folders full of papers rather than student reflections on their work. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The author conducted a study aiming to help the ninth-grade students in his English language arts classroom…

Discusses the "Teaching Ideas" column in "English Journal" in terms of the way these articles work and how they might be re-envisioned. Claims the importance of the particular teaching situation must be emphasized to give a better understanding of the diversity, individuality, and attention to context that teaching English…

Details a program designed to encourage research projects aimed at promoting "higher literacy" carried out by middle and high school teachers of one Colorado school district. Argues for the value of individual and collaborative action-research projects by teachers. Describes the experience of the program. (HB)

Finds the metaphor of reading the classroom as "text" is (1) easy in that all it takes is an orientation that asks what the classroom has to teach; and (2) difficult in that what it has to teach is complex, multi-layered, and often conflictive. Provides a heuristic to guide teachers in viewing and understanding the classroom as text. (NH)

Investigates whether technology supports curriculum content, how to get technology into average-level English classes, and what strategies using technology would appeal to students. Discusses reassessing teaching strategies, formulating a question and collecting data, initial survey results, implementing strategies, student response, difficulties…

A high school English teacher discusses how she integrated three types of learning strategies (graphic organizers, note-taking styles, and summarizing techniques) into three literature units--the short story, the novel, and the epic. Students were introduced to various strategies and encouraged to select those that matched their own learning…

A Canadian secondary school teacher relates how reflecting on her teaching decisions through action research enabled her to cope with teaching a course in an unfamiliar subject area. (IAH)

When one high school English teacher became engaged in active research, she reflected on her practice and learned to have faith in her students as learners and in herself as a teacher, and to ground her teaching practice consciously in theory. Her investigation centered on the question of whether teaching literary theory in the high school English…