Engaging with materials can shape the teaching experience, teachers' practices and mindsets, and, ultimately, students' learning experiences. This issue of "Learning Professional" looks at an area of emerging interest: curriculum materials and the role they play in the daily work of educators and leaders. Educators, researchers, and…

In this article, the authors argue that the art-historical canon, however it is construed, has little relevance to the selection of objects for museum-based teaching. Their contention is that all objects are fundamentally agile and capable of interrogation from any number of disciplinary standpoints, and that the canon of museum education,…

In February 2016, the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) pulled together stakeholders from across the state and set an ambitious goal--that at least 75 percent of third graders would be proficient readers by 2025. The goal originated from both stagnant third grade reading scores in the state and national research indicating that third grade…

Research on academic literacies has predominately focused on writing practices in higher education. To account for writing practices in the digital age, this paper emphasizes the importance of extending the focus of academic literacies beyond writing to include multimodal composition. Drawing on social semiotics, we put forward a framework for…

This paper examines the ideological underpinnings of the English as an Additional Language (EAL) curriculum that drive the practice of secondary teachers in Victoria, Australia, and how students' needs and rights are seen and addressed in and through English discourse and hegemony. Bakhtin's (1986) dialogic approach and van Lier's (1996) AAA…

A "toolkit" approach to professional development is frequently used to assist teachers of English language learners (ELLs), wherein teachers are provided a grab bag of activities and strategies to implement in their classrooms. However, today's heightened language demands call for teachers to develop teacher language awareness (TLA), a…

Second language acquisition (SLA) as a sub-branch of applied linguistics has been researched by Chinese and foreign scholars for over 40 years, but few researches have been done on its implications for Business English teaching which needs more language teaching theories to support. This paper makes a review of related studies, and puts forward a…

This paper describes the prerequisites for development in the area of cross-cultural multimedia didactics. This approach is based on research studies of differences between mentalities, ways of working with educational information, culturally-specific teaching methods and teaching techniques that determine differentiated approaches to the choice…

In the process of experiential learning, students acquire skills and values as the consequence of a direct experience. Experiential learning draws on senses, emotions, and cognition and appeals to learners' entire being. Such learning, by nature, enables the development of a variety of capabilities, such as planning, teamwork, coping with…

The paper analyses the problems in selecting and integrating tools for delivering basic programming knowledge at the university level. Discussion and analysis of teaching the programming disciplines, the main principles of study programme design, requirements for teaching tools, methods and corresponding languages is presented, based on literature…

This teacher development study closely examined a teacher's practice for the purpose of understanding how she selected and implemented instructional materials, and correspondingly how these processes changed as she developed her problem-based practice throughout a school year. Data sources included over 20 hours of planning and analysis meetings…

Evaluates the effectiveness of using motion/sound, slide/sound, and story boards in teaching a specific motor skill. Performance tests indicated that learners using motion film performed significantly better than those using either slides or workbooks, and required significantly less time. Thirteen references are listed. (Author/MER)

Advice on the selection of suitable instructional materials to support the chosen method(s) of instruction is offered in this booklet. The first of four sections takes a brief look at the different roles that instructional materials can play in the three main instructional modes--mass instruction, individualized learning, and group learning. The…

This booklet is the first of three sequels to "A Guide to the Selection of Instructional Methods." Following a brief introduction, a discussion of the most common methods used in mass instructional techniques deals with the strenghts and weaknesses of lectures and similar expository techniques, film and video presentations, educational broadcasts,…

The dichotomy between culture and communication as second language teaching objectives is a false one. The division only signifies differences in emphasis in course design and classroom practice, which can be resolved through careful choice of classroom techniques and materials. (MSE)