This paper examines the debate about the English literature canon in schools. It evaluates the importance of the canon in a 21st-century curriculum and considers its relevance to adolescent readers saturated in early 21st-century culture who have disparate identities and diverse backgrounds. The implications for teaching and learning of the…

The use of small group work in the classroom can increase student motivation, interest, participation, learning, and retention. Small group work can also increase the quality and quantity of participation among students, elevate the level of thinking skills developed in the classroom, increase the level of self-esteem among participants, and teach…

An innovative communication skills laboratory, created in 1971 at the middle school of the Greenburgh School District of New York State, focused on non-verbal communication, as well as the language arts and literature. The laboratory was designed to replace an English program that stigmatized low achievers and separated them from their peers. A…

As a result of preliminary observations of word processing in elementary level language the seven case studies presented in this report reveal the effectiveness of current word processing (WP) activities within their respective instructional contexts. Each study is presented separately, detailing the classroom context, tasks and outcomes, program…

Designed primarily for English faculty at two-year colleges in California, "Inside English" includes articles on major instructional, curricular, administrative, and employment issues of concern to teachers in the field as well as information on the activities of the English Council of the California Two-Year Colleges (ECCTYC). The Fall 1976,…

Designed for secondary school English teachers who want to help their students develop enthusiasm for words, their histories, and the way language structures words to produce meaning, this paper offers suggestions for a program of study employing dictionary projects and personal experience. The paper describes making a class dictionary of teen…

Written from a variety of perspectives, the 13 articles in this journal issue focus on the use of the computer in teaching English. Specific topics discussed in the articles are as follows: the era of the microcomputer, by R. Baird Shuman; pedagogical issues involving computers, by Duane Roen and Margaret Fleming; computer rhetoric at the…

This inquiry into the role of literature in English as a second language is based upon an examination of six basic issues or principles: (1) the position of English as a foreign language within a country; (2) the aims of English instruction within a country; (3) the way in which the native literature is taught in a country; (4) the availability of…

FOR A REPORT ON FRESHMAN COMPOSITION PROGRAMS, THE ASSOCIATION OF DEPARTMENTS OF ENGLISH OBTAINED SYLLABI AND COURSE DESCRIPTIONS FROM DIRECTORS OF FRESHMAN COMPOSITION AT 66 COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. AMONG THE DATA ASSEMBELED FOR THE FULL REPORT (AVAILABLE AS TE 500 190) ARE THE DESCRIPTIONS, CONTAINED HERE, OF FRESHMAN ENGLISH PROGRAMS AT 14…

A status report on the teaching and learning of English reviews and assesses a decade of change and innovation in the discipline. It surveys trends in the preparation of teachers of English, the English curriculum at all levels, and patterns of school and college organization which affect the teaching of English from kindergarten through graduate…

This survey of spelling research covers the subject from the 13th century to current areas needing research and indicates the findings of significant contributors to the field. Particular areas covered include the spelling curriculum; methods of spelling instruction; the relationship of spelling to reading, handwriting, speech, composition, and…

Nine papers deal with (1) the problems of early adolescent education and the role of the English teacher, (2) the teacher's need to re-evaluate the function of writing assignments and the criteria by which themes are judged, (3) the organization of classroom procedures to capitalize on children's natural powers of expression, (4) the influence of…

The objective of the Gulfport Summer School project was to improve the teaching techniques in the English program so that unmotivated and underachieving students could experience some success. Students were grouped in English classes according to their spelling and language scores on the Stanford Achievement Test, Form X, in classes of from 10 to…

Offers a plan for teaching the poetry of Wilfred Owen by having students develop meaning with a dramatic reading of a poem, interpretive music or dance, or artwork. Notes that the method seems to have fostered better understanding and student "ownership" of Owen's poetry in the class that first used this method. (JC)

The language arts program presented in this volume evolved from work with at-risk students at an inner-city high school in Tucson (Arizona). The original computerized literacy program sponsored by International Business Machines, the Principle of the Alphabet Literacy System (PALS), was expanded into a comprehensive 3-year program designed to meet…