DESIGNED TO FOLLOW THE BASIC COURSE IN BULGARIAN, A READER HAS BEEN PREPARED. IT ASSUMES KNOWLEDGE OF THE VOCABULARY (AS PRESENTED IN THE BASIC COURSE ED 003 873 AND ED 003 874) AS WELL AS THE GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE. THE READER PRESENTS AREA MATERIALS AND INTRODUCES THE STUDENT TO THE VOCABULARY NEEDED TO READ NEWSPAPERS AND SIMILAR…

This report is the fourth in a series of six studies of developmental book activity in East Asia. The scope of work in the Republic of Indonesia included assessment of books and materials in the educational process; books used by individuals for the improvement of reading skills and for learning enrichment; books for technical and professional…

Examines the frontier spirit of Japan in its "commercial colonies," where Japanese citizens struggle in their own communities around the world to provide outlets for Japan's enormous production of goods and to secure raw materials for their burgeoning industrial establishment. Also evaluates textbooks to see how the frontier theme has…

Describes the author's experiences in writing a senior-level Canadian social studies textbook. Examines the many challenges which textbook writers face and discusses the problems involved in writing for a diverse audience. (GEA)

The textbook dominates curricula at the elementary, secondary, and even college levels. The ideological, political, and economic sources of its production, distribution, and reception are examined. (RM)

Textbook publishers are under attack for producing books that are superficial in content and oversimplified or confusing in language. They respond that their products are the inevitable result of applying the many textbook selection formulas to book production. Efforts by educators to improve textbooks are currently being organized. (PGD)

Instructional materials are mediocre and inflexible because (1) education agencies leave important decisions to materials producers; (2) students, parents, and teachers lack influence; and (3) schools depend excessively on such materials. Cites research supporting this view, and suggests broad criteria and actions to improve textbooks. (MCG)

Author reviews the commercialism of textbook publishers in the nineteenth century. (Editor)

Blackmarketing books, which has become a major operation involving professors on university and college campuses throughout the United States, is discussed. At the heart of the operation is the practice by publishers of sending complimentary copies of textbooks to professors for examination purposes. (MLW)

Reviews Elizabeth Eisenstein's "The Printing Press as an Agent of Change," which documents how print influenced the Renaissance and the Reformation and set the stage for the Age of Science. (AEA)

Describes the steps in writing a textbook and this task's associated problems and rewards. (WB)

This article asserts that the Right wants textbooks to reflect their idealized past (two-parent families, mothers at home, obedient children), while the Left wants texts to reflect their idealized future (old people are not frail, race and gender are not issues, and blindness is not a disability). To accommodate both, publishers now censor…

Fullerton responds to the 16 textbook authors about her article on textbook publication, stating that textbook quality will improve if publishers and academics collaborate as partners rather than squaring off as adversaries. Emphasizes the need for sociology instructors to do more in introductory courses to draw students into the excitement of the…

Recent reports criticize today's glitzy, coffee-table textbooks as shallow, dumbed-down products that waste taxpayers' money and students' learning potential. Districts should encourage more textbook research, clarify expectations, have someone read texts under consideration, refuse to purchase inferior textbooks, and watch for online…

Article adapted from a talk to the Connecticut Council for Social Studies on May 3, 1968.