ERIC Number: ED193610
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1980-Aug
Pages: 15
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Thematic Unity and Collaborative Learning in Reading Remediation: A Social Science Model.
Gregg, Joan; And Others
The minimum competency goal that now dominates college basic skills instruction is not adequate to prepare the student for success in and beyond college. More can be accomplished within basic skills courses than the mere acquisition of literal information from a reading selection. The use of thematic unity can impose meaningful organization on the content of a reading course. This entails selecting a theme for a number of weeks or for the term that will lend itself to readings in a broad spectrum of academic disciplines and genres. Social science concepts lend themselves most readily to thematic organization in a reading course. Key social science terms such as self-awareness, creativity, rebellion, identity, community, autonomy, generational relationships, work and family, are good bases for thematically integrated reading units. Since various genres and types of materials comprise such a reading course, students will learn techniques for approaching such diverse forms as textbook readings, journalistic and professional articles, essays, and literature. A thematically unified course, enhanced by collaborative problem solving tasks, takes students beyond the minimum competency goal and helps them assert a degree of control over an environment that is complex and ambiguous. (FL)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Reports - Descriptive; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Council of Teachers of English (13th, Halifax, Canada, August 18-22, 1980).