Written primarily for the secondary school English teacher, this book suggests specific projects to extend the range and variety of the English curriculum and to develop the students' language skills and imaginations. Part I contains discussions of the nature and purposes of English lessons, the place of literature in education, methods for…

The 10 readings collected in this volume emphasize the value of oral interpretation as an approach to teaching literature in the secondary school. Wallace A. Bacon indicates how the act of interpretation as it is experienced in the reader's mind can recreate the act of literature. Frances L. McCurdy, Margaret M. Neville, and Allen Bales discuss…

Developed by classroom teachers during the development phase of Minnesota's Graduation Standards, this performance package is made up of locally designed assignments that, taken together, show whether a student has learned and can apply the knowledge and skills related to interpret and evaluate complex works of music, dance, theater, visual arts,…

Using a theater arts thematic approach to demonstrate ways listening, speaking, and writing activities can be built around the study of works of literature, this guide presents activities and sample lessons to help students develop an awareness of the interrelationships between performance and the language arts. Following an introduction, the…

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)

Readers' theater engages students in reading and writing activities that offer both affective and cognitive rewards. Students can develop their own scripts that introduce books, replacing the traditional book report with creative participation and active peer recommendation. Appendices provide two sample scripts. (AEF)

A study examined the frequency with which males and females are represented in picture books available in preschool classrooms. Three areas were examined: pronoun usage and gender of characters; the frequency of gender-neutral pronouns and characters; and written text compared to teachers' wording when reading aloud. The study involved 11 head and…

Fifteen articles dealing with international/intercultural communication are contained in this journal. The following topics are considered: a communication perspective on aging in Japan and America; Japanese speech characteristics; the development of a communication-conflict test; information systems in the educational institution; the foundation,…

The need for simultaneous teaching of reading skills and course content prompted the formation of a study guide which coordinates these two areas in an eleventh-grade nonregent English program used by Ramapo Central School District No. 2 in Spring Valley, New York. The guide provides exercises with a range of ability and achievement levels which…

At the University of South Dakota, as part of a campus-wide celebration of diversity focused on northeastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea), undergraduate and graduate Children's Literature classes participated by locating relevant literature and presenting them dramatically. Students were divided into six small cooperative groups. Each group chose a…

Discusses drama in foreign language instruction, especially as a means of improving oral expression. Two basic approaches are outlined and three techniques that have been used successfully with various age groups are described. (AMH)

THIS STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER OR NOT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SKILLS IN ORAL INTERPRETATION IS A VALID OBJECTIVE IN THE PREPARATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ENGLISH. THE QUESTIONNAIRE WHICH SERVED AS THE BASIC INSTRUMENT OF THE STUDY SOLICITED RESPONSES FROM COLLEGE PROFESSORS OF SPEECH AND OF ENGLISH AND FROM SECONDARY SCHOOL…

Discusses dramatic activities and techniques useful in the teaching of foreign languages. A distinction is made between theater and other dramatic activities; the latter ranges from reading theater to skits learned by memory. Two examples of activities are suggested for the teacher. (AMH)

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the relative effects of two creative drama approaches on the dramatic behavior and mental imagery ability of elementary school students; (2) the history of the…

Five papers from a conference designed to examine current and emerging practices for promoting literacy among second language learners of English are presented. The unifying theme of cultural pluralism covers a variety of topics: positive attitudes toward reading, schema theory, teachers' verbal interaction strategies, the assumption that children…