This study focuses on the place and role of the humanities, especially the liberal arts in emerging economies which rely vastly on the development of national skills and expertise. It is based on one example of a publicly funded university in Oman where the urgency of creating a skilled workforce has led to an exercise in aligning higher education…

Many school systems require students to pass one or more standardized examinations to graduate. This case study of three lower academic stream English classes in a single Ontario secondary school explored how the presence of a high-stakes standardized examination affected the enactment of the curriculum. Qualitative data were collected through a…

Drawn from an ethnographic study of spoken word poetry in Australia, this article offers case studies of two youth poets and follows their journeys with spoken word over three years as they performed in community-based slams, engaged with the New South Wales English Extension 2 curriculum, and served as mentor poets in culturally and…

While more students than ever are completing high school with a diploma, the American education system has a long way to go until each and every student is prepared for what comes after graduation. Unless significant advancements are made in closing existing gaps in educational attainment, America's current employment gaps will worsen as the…

This article looks in detail at the constraints imposed on teachers of English by current examination syllabuses, and at how approaches developed through the Key Stage 3 (KS3) offer and the innovative Excellent Futures Curriculum at Stanley Park High School, Carshalton enable KS4 students to be more securely and fruitfully engaged as readers,…

This study investigates the conflict between the demand for communicative English language skills in employment and education and the lack of effective resources to develop such skills in Bangladesh. It offers a discursive analysis of vital issues in implementing effective communicative language teaching (CLT) by surveying 216 teachers about their…

The British government's current educational policy for England draws on E.D. Hirsch's writings on 'cultural literacy'. This paper aims to uncover the roots of Hirsch's influential views through a genealogical critique. Hirsch admired the Scottish Enlightenment educator Hugh Blair as a model architect of a hegemonic culture to unite disparate…

The purpose of this study was to understand the influence the Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Public Workplaces and Education (Right to Freedom) law has had on New Hampshire public high school English teachers. This study explores how the onset of this law may cause teachers to avoid diverse and multicultural literature in their curriculum…

This paper starts by reporting on the design and trialling of an informal, low-stakes test designed to assess the knowledge of grammar terms of pre-service primary school teachers following the UK's National Curriculum, the results of which were used to inform the design of a series of optional grammar classes. The test proved surprisingly…

Moral development in gifted education is an issue of imperative importance due to the potential of gifted students to change the world. In consideration of this issue and the lack of research on the topic, this study examined the extent to which moral development was present within the senior secondary English curricula at an academically…

Over a three-year collaborative partnership involving university researchers, government curriculum specialists, and school division teams and educators, this post-qualitative study has engaged a diffractive methodology to research pedagogical change in relationship to a renewed provincial curriculum framework in English Language Arts (ELA). In…

This article serves as an invitation to see the way the teaching of biography-driven writing has been increasingly pushed out of the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in favor of highly structured, formulaic, and impersonal writing, and how this is a setback for students in their preparation for college and career writing. The…

Standards and their corresponding assessments have continued to narrow English language arts (ELA) curricula, pushing more playful, creative composition to the margins or to out-of-school pursuits. Simultaneously, students enjoy writing creatively in many extracurricular spaces and activities, like fanfiction. Building from research showing that…

ELA Guidebooks is an English language arts curriculum for core instruction. Made by teachers for teachers, the ELA Guidebooks units ensure all students can read, understand, and express their understanding of complex, grade-level texts, ensuring their readiness for college or a career. Each text collection has a shared idea and contains authentic…

English departments are roundly praised for their emphasis on skills rather than content. In the authors' classes, students read (skill), write (skill), think (skill), speak (skill), and listen (skill). Theoretically, the books being taught are interchangeable and simply a means to skill acquisition. But that's not always what happens in the…