Drawing upon a collection of curriculum proposals and reflections and informed by a textual analysis approach, this study investigated how 234 university teachers planned to enact and reform their English-medium instruction courses (n = 66) in an English as a foreign language (EFL) university context. Results reveal that the teachers tend to adopt…

This article is concerned with age in second language learning. It steers well clear, however, of the well-worn issue of maturational constraints and the intractable problems of locating their consensual offset point and finding indisputable evidence for or against them. Instead we propose something completely different in our agenda for…

This article addresses the need to develop new pedagogic approaches which promote learner independence in contexts where learning takes place through the medium of more than one language. The challenges of responding to a rapidly changing educational landscape to ensure that our learners become pluriliterate global citizens are presented through…

We report 3 experiments using yes-no recognition tests of student memory for course content. Each test consisted of items encountered in the course and an equal number of foils. Experiment 1 involved an initial test of the methodology and addressed test reliability. Experiments 2 and 3 examined performance before and after completion of courses in…

Five cookery classes for eight children, all of whom had profound and multiple handicaps and were nonverbal, were observed and analyzed. Purpose of the observation was to describe the day-to-day events in a classroom for children with severe learning difficulties and what a teacher in this special classroom teaches. (RM)

Uses faculty interviews, student surveys, and analysis of written materials, texts, and examinations to analyze literacy requirements of History 113, a high-demand, high-attrition introductory course. Finds that its key literacy requirement is integration--of writing with reading and of in-class with out-of-class learning. (SR)

Excerpts from an interview with teachers of a graduate program called the Classroom Research Study Group disclose details of the two-semester, four-course program focusing on the teacher as researcher. Program activities seek to develop teacher skills in identifying research questions, gathering data, and writing about the studies. (IAH)

Working inductively from classroom research and guided by a Bakhtinian view of language, the author proposes a discourse-based theory of interdisciplinary connections. The article includes examples of four discursive resources individuals draw on to make interdisciplinary connections--content, propositions, ways of knowing, and classroom…

Reprints an article originally published in 1938. Discusses a sex education and marriage unit of study developed for a social studies course. Notes that the unit was developed with students' input on topics and methods of instruction. Finds that students considered the unit to be useful and that few parents objected. (RS)

Most practitioners teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) will agree that students come with some expectations about course content and teaching methodology and that these expectations play a vital role in student motivation and learning. However, the study of student expectations has been a surprising omission from Second…

Issues and problems encountered in teaching a university faculty development course are discussed. The course focused on sustained reflection and classroom research as a means for improving instruction. Issues include the challenge of addressing each teacher's needs and transforming course learning and shared experience into better classroom…

An advanced composition curriculum was designed for a class of 20 juniors and seniors, and because of the constraints of a university grant with which it was associated, the majority of assignments had to be collaborative. The subject of investigation was composition. That is, the students were challenged to do what composition researchers and…

The goals of this study were to see if sociology majors are different from other students in what accounts for their interest in classes and secondly to see if the factors producing interest for sociology students vary by the type of class it is. The study was undertaken to help teachers make adjustments which will increase interest, depending on…

A practicum aimed to increase the relevancy (to the ethnically diverse students of contemporary classrooms) of the regular high school senior English course in British literature and composition by expanding the curriculum to include selections from countries (other than the United States) influenced by the British Colonial Empire. Using a…

Eight basic gaps in the college teaching and learning process are described, and teachers are encouraged to use classroom research as a "zipper" to help close them. The gaps include those between: (1) teaching and learning, to be remedied by clear definition of teaching goals and continuous feedback on learning outcomes; (2) teaching and testing,…