Recent guidelines for the preparation of English teachers make the assumption that preservice and inservice teacher education are contiguous parts of an ongoing process. Too often, however, inservice education involves isolated efforts that are perceived by teachers to have little direct relation to what actually happens in the classroom. In order…

Stresses the need for researchers to differentiate between documented and undocumented groups when studying international students. States that undocumented students generally don't fare as well in comparisons of grade point averages and academic probations/dismissals as documented students, though they do perform better on reading and writing…

Investigates the value of a tiered model of staff development for five districts using "teacher consultants" drawn from a parent district with a long writing project history. Evaluates preconditions, processes and outcomes. Discusses results in terms of student achievement and classroom practices. (SR)

FACULTY HANDBOOKS AT 44 CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA JUNIOR COLLEGES WERE ANALYZED, AND THE RESULTS WERE COMPARED WITH FINDINGS OF A 1961 STUDY (ERIC DOCUMENT JC 660 442). WHILE SUCH HANDBOOKS HAVE BECOME MORE COMPREHENSIVE AND DIVERSE, AND WHILE THEIR CONTENTS REFLECT NEW DIMENSIONS IN JUNIOR COLLEGE EDUCATION, THEY HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY…

The enthusiasm generated by workshops in writing across the curriculum can be translated into lasting curricular change, particularly in freshman composition, general education courses, and upper-division writing emphasis courses. Committees, central to any change effort, can take any of a variety of forms. (MSE)

Testing the assumption that textbooks were getting harder while students' abilities have been declining over the years, a study was conducted to determine the readability levels of six college reading textbooks across three editions to see if they were equal or the same in readability. The study also sought to determine whether these texts were…

Describes how to input and output through the game ports of the Atari microcomputer to control experiments and collect data in the science laboratory. Indicates that the simple techniques described are easily transferred to other microcomputers. (JN)

This manual outlines the evaluation system used by the Maryland community colleges to determine which continuing education courses can be supported by state funds. Following a historical overview of continuing education in the state, policies related to state participation in continuing education courses and to federal or state contracts or grants…

Practical suggestions and application of six principles from cognitive psychology can make learning more efficient now and produce learners who will be more self-sufficient in the future. This means redefining student and teacher roles, organizing the course and content in a way consistent with how learning occurs, and helping students learn how…

To test the similarity of student and instructor perceptions of the learning approaches used by particular instructors in the classroom, teachers and students (n=138) of ten social science classes at Valencia Community College (Florida) responded to a questionnaire. Items tested the instructors' application of the learning theories of Pavlov,…

Many secondary school English teachers have had no formal training in the teaching of writing and consequently equate written discourse with language propriety. This has been aggravated by the back to basics movement that has influenced secondary teaching across the country--especially as it has led to the development of legislation establishing…

Many freshmen come to English courses thinking that they generally dislike poetry and that in particular they dislike writing critical essays about poetry. Two strategies which are effective in helping students overcome their own negative perceptions are to allow students to: (1) engage in transactional reader response; and (2) explore poetry…

This investigation suggests that observation of children's language in an informal context generally provides more comprehensive information about a kindergarten child's communicative competence than formal oral language assessment instruments. (DD)

Provides a framework for analyzing the multiple aspects of reader perspective in a teacher's approach to writing instruction. Analyzes one teacher's written comments on her students' papers. Shows how this teacher's responses demonstrated marked differences according to level of student or type of writing assignment. (HB)

A method called "Objectives-Art," by which disadvantaged students in a community college can be taught to structure paragraphs, is described. Works of art are intended to be a stimulus to the student's sense of unity between form and content, and the objectives are aimed at transferring the student's perception of form and unity into a process…