In the first year of a pilot program, 18 New York City schools are digging into new ways to accomplish two objectives emphasized in the common-core standards: (1) engage students in increasingly complex texts as they move through school; and (2) help them conquer literacy skills specific to disciplines such as history and science. Spearheaded by…

An important element of open educational resources (OER) is the permission to use the materials in new ways, including revising and remixing them. Prior research has shown that the revision and remix rates for OER are relatively low. In this study we examined the extent to which the openly licensed "Flat World Knowledge" textbooks were being…

The book "China Is Unhappy" that made the list of best sellers not so long ago is blowing like an icy wind in spring and is poisoning the nation's mental state as though laden with a virus of unhappiness. Those who are most susceptible to it are groups of underage persons with mentalities that are still fragile and young people who have…

Research about social studies textbooks overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that these books are unpopular and often the subject of intense criticisms. These criticisms concern anything ranging from the language they employ, to the way they are utilized by teachers, to the undue influence they exert on shaping and defining curriculum. This…

In an increasingly globalized world, writing courses, situated as they are in local institutional and rhetorical contexts, need to prepare writers for global writing situations. Taking introductory technical communication in the United States as a case study, this article describes how and to what extent global perspectives are incorporated into…

Basal textbooks are rather popular for social studies teachers to use in the classroom setting. There are selected reasons for this occurring. They do provide beginning and new teachers a framework for ongoing lessons and units of study. The accompanying Manual provides suggestions for learning activities for learners to pursue. Evaluation…

Social work educators require textbooks and other teaching materials that can be used in research courses to enhance student learning. Likewise, social work practitioners require resource books that can be used to enhance practice. This article provides an essay review of four recently published books representing diverse viewpoints on social work…

This study aims to examine the advantages and disadvantages of one type of TEFL materials, English language textbook "Spot On", used in state primary schools in Turkey. Sample of the research consists of 46 English teachers chosen randomly from state primary schools in Malatya and Adiyaman city centres. A five-likert type scale was used…

A content analysis of the textbooks used in the Dutch early childhood teacher education shows clear inconsistencies with the intended curriculum. Neither the content standards found in the professional profile for teachers nor the content standards from the educational profile of their training courses are adequately covered in the books. Whilst…

In this paper, we report on a comparison of the treatment of addition and subtraction of fractions in primary mathematics textbooks used in Cyprus, Ireland, and Taiwan. To this end, we use a framework specifically developed to investigate the learning opportunities afforded by the textbooks, particularly with respect to the…

The purpose of this article was to review published research literature about procedures used to select textbooks in the USA. The contents of books, collected works, reports and journal articles were analysed, and summaries of the contents were then organised chronologically to present a commentary on the topic. The results showed that procedures…

English education in Japan and Korea are similar in some respects. Although both countries are not completely but mostly monolingual societies, where citizens do not need English in their daily life, they have begun to realize the importance of English as a tool for international communication, and as a result their English education is becoming…

Two reasons may be responsible for the poor grasp of the linguistic concepts related to literacy acquisition by preservice and in-service teachers: a lack of attention given to such concepts by teacher educators (college faculty members) and a lack of relevant information provided in the textbooks used in college courses. In an earlier study, the…

Language educators argue that foreign language learning in the United States should increase students' intercultural competence (IC), which will allow them to see relationships among different cultures, mediate across cultures, and critically analyze cultures including their own. Qualitative research investigating students experiences with such…

The present study relates to a research line in didactics of science that focuses on the function that sign systems or semiotic modes have in communicative interactions in science classrooms. The study was conducted by 20 secondary and university science teachers who belong to the same research group LIEC ("Language and Science…