This paper compares the oral and visual representations which 12 to 13-year-old students produced in studying computer games as part of an English and Media course. It presents the arguments for studying multimodal texts as part of a literacy curriculum and then provides an overview of the games course devised by teachers and researchers. The…

At the center of the social construction and interpretation of education sits the fourth estate. Through ideological media "voices," in part, education's meaning and the social reality in which schools reside are constructed for and with the community. This study looks at one vehicle of popular and influential communication overlooked by…

This article reports the results of a content analysis of the debut season of the reality television show, "The Apprentice." All 15 episodes were examined to determine the role that communication competencies played in competitors' success or elimination. Results indicate that the ability to persuade effectively was most critical to winning tasks,…

Starting a unit on Vietnam War literature by having students view slides of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and listen to letters left there is just the first step in how an English teacher uses the arts to enhance student learning about the Vietnam War and its literature. After discussing their reactions to the slides and the offerings left at the…

This reader is intended to introduce undergraduates to the richness, sophistication, and diversity that characterize contemporary media scholarship. Another goal is to take the mystery out of the idea of media culture by examining its production, construction, and the meaning-making processes through which media imagery and messages help shape our…

Tools for teaching students how to question intelligently are badly needed. Science fiction provides many such tools in a variety of subjects by stimulating the imagination and thus motivating students to learn. Such vehicles are available at all grade levels. From Mark Twain and H.G. Wells to Anne McCaffrey and Isaac Asimov, novels and short…

This book is designed to accompany a videotape comprised of numerous television and video clips, many from actual Japanese broadcasts, to help teach about Japan. The video and book are divided into three thematic segments. Included in each part of the guide are a background essay on the featured theme, an annotated script that includes additional…

This collection of works from the Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminar presents curriculum projects and cross cultural studies developed by the participants. The 18 works deal with Indonesia and the problems facing developing nations. Subjects include tradition, popular culture, change, and economic development and its impact on women. Indonesia is…

This paper describes the use of MTV (Music Television Network) videos as "condensed mythologies" in a college English composition class. A videotape consisting of several "classic" videos was shown to the class over a period of three days, and each video was discussed. Handouts of song lyrics were provided for student reference…

In the past few years many movies have addressed social issues such as AIDS, parental estrangement, aging, battered women and children, and racism. Teachers of teenagers can capitalize on these kinds of serious films in two ways: by assuming that students have thought about some serious issues and by building on that assumption. Three movies of…

Based on the idea that the Vietnam War is highly significant as a vehicle for studying the power of language, engaging in critical thinking, and probing American values in a time of crisis, this book presents a rationale for exploring the literature that emerged from that conflict and offers a framework for exploring it. The book outlines a large…

In studying the lyrics of popular music, and particularly aspects of violent attitudes toward women, teachers discover what language represents to students and what students experience through the songs. The texts created about artifacts like song lyrics suggest more about the students as knowers than about the objects being studied. Exploring…

Bringing popular culture into the composition classroom is useful not because it erases the conflict between student and academic discourses, but rather because it serves to heighten this already extant conflict, thereby allowing it to become one of the subjects of study. Writing samples by two students early in the semester and class discussion…

General semantics and science fiction are disciplines that can be incorporated in lectures for public speaking and other speech communication classes. Alfred Korzybski's theories of general semantics lend themselves to researching, preparing, delivering interpersonal communication messages, and establishing student interest in foreign languages,…

This booklet is intended for classroom use in first-year high school French to acquaint students with the McDonald's fast food restaurants in Paris. The specific objectives are for the student to: (1) discuss the similarities and differences between the American and Parisian McDonald's, (2) set up a miniature McDonald's in the classroom, (3) order…