A study examined critical literacy and how texts, transactions, and talk enabled girls to examine their positions as readers and negotiate their identities in relation to novel characters and one another. Participants were eight sixth-grade girls of European American, African American, and Latina backgrounds and the participant researcher, a white…

A study examined how some teachers, in a graduate class, experienced literature study and began to explore ways of using it with their pupils. Subjects, 24 graduate students (9 secondary school teachers and 15 elementary teachers) enrolled in a class on the reading/writing connection, were randomly assigned to 6 groups of 4 students each. Each…

Reading aloud to children is an important facet of the literate home environment and the best preparation for the establishment of preschool literacy skills. David was read to at every opportunity, and a diary was kept to observe, record, and study his emergent literacy events in the home. Since David often asked to have the same books read to…

Elaborated as a response to a traditional set of secondary school poetry examinations that are called "sterile and outmoded," this report resulted from a series of seminars held in England by literature educators. The report offers extensive guidelines for modernizing the exams, examples of student critical writing about particular poems, and…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this test on writing contains general instructions and the following three writing tasks: (1) a personal response to an aspect of literature, (2) functional writing requiring a written response within a given situation or context, and (3) a response to…

Intended for students taking the Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in English 33 in Alberta, Canada, this test on writing contains general instructions and the following three writing tasks: (1) a personal response to an aspect of literature; (2) functional writing requiring a written response within a given situation or context; and (3) a response to…

Intended for students taking the English 33 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this test booklet contains the composition component of the June 1988 tests. During 2.5 hours, students are required to perform the following writing tasks: (1) a personal response to an excerpt from Ursula K. Le Guin's "Very Far Away from Anywhere…

"Write in the Middle: A Workshop for Middle School Teachers" is an eight-part professional development workshop designed to help teachers learn effective practices and strategies to use with middle school students in writing instruction. Through classroom footage of excellent teachers modeling successful strategies and interviews with teachers,…

Student responses to Canadian realistic fiction for young adults were examined for four seventh grade girls and three seventh grade boys. Interview findings support the view that students should have a role in selecting what they read, should talk about reading informally, and should construct representations less influenced by teacher responses.…

The 43 manuscripts presented in this collection represent qualitative and quantitative studies, as well as papers that present literacy research, theory, and pedagogy. Papers in the collection include: "Family Uses of Literacy: A Critical Voice" (D. Madigan); "Intergenerational Literacy: Impact on the Development of the Storybook Reading Behaviors…

Focusing on encouraging students to take responsibility for their own learning and giving them a sense of control over their efforts, this book explores how the response approach to writing instruction can be put to good use in teaching children to read. Respectively, chapters discuss (1) how the author learned about writing, reading, teaching,…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 16 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the response of the law to visual journalism from l839 to l978; (2) woman's image in authoritative Mormon discourse; (3) the depiction of computers and computer-related subjects in…

Teaching literature as a basis for teaching writing affords a paradigm for teaching structure and meaning. While a truly integrated English department would put equal emphasis upon composition, language, literature, and reading, two-year college curricula have emphasized composition and challenged literature's place. A reader-based model for…

To help children better understand and exert control over the use of narrative language, teachers need not only to devote time to children's literature, but also need to emphasize other narrative forms including the mass media and children's own stories (in their talk, writing, drawing, and play). Giving children experience in mass media…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The eight titles deal with the following topics: (1) the effect of medium of instruction on the listening comprehension and retention of community college speech students, (2) the relationship between reading ability and on-the-job…