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ERIC Number: ED247543
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1984-Aug
Pages: 38
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Evaluating Workbooks. Reading Education Report No. 52.
Osborn, Jean
Intended primarily for teachers and administrators, this paper presents 20 guidelines as the basis for an evaluation procedure for workbook, skillbook, and ditto master components of basal reading programs. The paper begins with a discussion of how and why workbooks are used in the classroom, a description of the original study from which the guidelines were developed, the guidelines and examples, and recommendations to teachers, publishers, and researchers. The guidelines include the following: (1) workbooks should reflect the most important aspects of what is being taught in the program; (2) workbooks should contain, in a form that is readily accessible to students and teachers, extra tasks for students who need extra practice; (3) the vocabulary level of the workbook tasks should be related to that of the rest of the program and to the students using the program; (4) the instructions should be clear, unambiguous, and easy to follow; (5) the layout of pages should combine attractiveness with utility; (6) at least some of the workbook tasks should be fun and have an obvious payoff to them; (7) most student response modes should be consistent from task to task, and should be as close as possible to reading or writing; (8) the art that appears on workbook pages must be consistent with the prose of the task; and (9) when appropriate, workbook tasks should be accompanied by brief explanations of purpose for both teachers and students. (HTH)
Publication Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Researchers
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Illinois Univ., Urbana. Center for the Study of Reading.; Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Inc., Cambridge, MA.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A