This article provides a critical review of popular models for literacy pedagogy with regard for the needs of low-literacy refugee-background students. We argue that in a context of high linguistic diversity there is a need to re-evaluate teaching practices and curriculum in a way that is more responsive to difference and which pays closer…

Educational institutions need to recognize and accommodate the individual needs of learners from culturally diverse backgrounds, of whom a large number are Blacks and Hispanics. To accommodate the educational needs of these learners, educators need to build on their entry-level strengths, which have been identified as: (1) orientation toward…

Applies Aristotelian rhetorical theory to the treatment of basic writing problems, noting that classical methods of teaching are still valid--and sometimes used--today. (RL)

Includes "Will We Serve the Academically Disadvantaged?" (Iverson); "Using Centers of Learning to Reach Academically Disadvantaged Students" (Gentry); "Georgia's Special Lamb Project Adoption Program" (Farmer); "Teacher Expectations" (Powers); "Providing Instruction for Special Populations" (Jewell); and "The Educational Reform Movement and…

The extra effort required for second-language learning by disadvantaged students is discussed and illustrated in a diagram that emphasizes the need for individualized and eclectic teaching approaches. (LB)

Discusses Marxist theory and scholarship as they illuminate the relationships between basic writing courses, language, literacy, and values, both in the broad institutional context and in the narrower instructional context. (RL)

Edmund W. Gordon, noted for his research on diverse human characteristics and pedagogy related to the education of low-status populations, responds to questions on learning styles and their modification, cultural background, hemispheric dominance, instructional design, teaching methods, matching teacher and student characteristics, and the use of…

Compulsory education may be counterproductive for many students. Most children enter school curious/confident/enthusiastic. Successful students exit bored/obedient/passive by simply "getting through," and others perform poorly because of environmental/societal factors. Also, the current emphasis on formalized accountability methods distorts…

Opportunity-to-Learn (OTL) benefits all students by providing information about how to improve the academic achievement of students, especially poor and minority students. This paper discusses ways in which the OTL conceptual framework can be expanded. OTL's conceptual framework identified four variables that have a powerful influence on teachers'…

This document is a model state statute to provide educational entitlements for students at risk of school failure. The statute is predicated on the conviction that children coming from the most impoverished circumstances have the ability to learn and succeed. It is also based on the belief that legislators have a pivotal role to play in…

Discusses a literacy education program developed for members of the California Conservation Corps that gives students a new understanding of their world. (MM)

Sketches the historical movement from orality to literacy that Walter J. Ong theorizes, applying it to basic writing instruction for open admissions students. Suggests that teachers first concentrate on narrative and rhetoric to develop writing about particularized details, saving sentence control exercises such as sentence combining for…

Examines the Motivational Theory and Time Continuum models of developmental student motivation, focusing on teacher responsibilities. Indicates that blending the two models provides a procedure for analyzing the student audience, a list of potential motivational strategies, and suggestions for constructing motivational objectives. (15 citations)…

The HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) program was started 25 years ago in the belief that educationally disadvantaged students (Title I and learning disabled) were bright and that the top priority for supplemental aid for these students should be to help them channel that innate intelligence into learning at a higher level. The students were…

Compensatory education students and mildly handicapped special education students would be better served by a single system meeting the needs of both groups. Student classification methods, historical, political, and pedagogical reasons for separating the programs, and alternatives to the existing arrangement are discussed. (PP)