This qualitative inquiry centered on the critical exploration of media education approaches that guided the praxis of student assessment reform, particularly textbook task design. Correspondingly, this instructional media research is predicated on the fundamental premise that textbooks and the student tasks contained therein are informed and…

This case study examines an under-explored domain of teaching, namely, teachers' use of curriculum materials to enact instructions. It focuses on English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers' enactment of instructions through utilising prescribed textbooks in Higher Education (HE) in China. Drawing on interviews and lesson observations from two…

This paper examines a ubiquitous yet under-studied area of language pedagogy, namely materials usage. It explores teachers' enactment of curriculum materials by focusing on English language education (ELE) teachers' use of prescribed textbooks to plan and deliver lessons at the tertiary level in Mainland China. A qualitative multi-case study…

We redesigned the undergraduate introductory biology course by writing a new textbook ("Integrating Concepts in Biology" ["ICB"]) that follows first principles of learning. Our approach emphasizes primary data interpretation and the utility of mathematics in biology, while de-emphasizing memorization. This redesign divides biology into five big…

From the biographical perspective of her own career as a curriculum developer and university lecturer, the author explores how the present day curriculum for primary and lower secondary education has developed, and which values and principles have determined curriculum decisions during more than 15 years. Curriculum, with its apparatus of learning…

The evolution of Usmania University in Hyderabad, India, is chronicled. The idea of establishing a university in Hyderabad in which instruction took place in Urdu was presented in 1878, 1885, and 1894, and in 1914 the proposal became a movement, with the nation's education department undertaking the early work, designing a syllabus to correspond…

Provides statements from the following persons concerning the problem of having too much material in the textbook to cover and ways teachers can cope with it: Anthony Gradisnik, Joan Miller, Lorraine A. Strasheim, Rebecca M. Valette, and Helen P. Warriner. (RM)

Summarized is a report by Jane Burnette titled "Adapting Instructional Materials for Mainstreamed Students," which describes federally sponsored projects to develop publishable supplements and adaptations of popular textbooks for use with mainstreamed handicapped students. The modifications were made to elementary curricula in science…

Written for use by vocational-technical teachers as a reference, workshop resource, or resource for an individualized self-paced inservice package, this text is designed to provide knowledge and techniques necessary to develop or adapt modules for individualized instruction. Part 1 presents the basics of individualized instruction in three…

Texts of conference papers and summaries of colloquia on second language curriculum design are presented, including: "Competency Assessment in Curriculum Renewal" (summary of session with Ian Harrison, Francis Johnson, Christopher Candlin, Anthony Green, David Nunan, Charles Smith); "The Evolving of a Curriculum" (Hiroshi Abe,…

Discusses the guidelines adopted in writing a 1980 English language textbook designed for business professionals and following the functional principles. Emphasizes the communicative skills approach implemented through situations and activities relevant to the business world, and describes the receptive and productive skills exercises provided in…

Describes a long-term project where middle school students were taught to visually represent key text ideas through idea-mapping techniques. Instruction was inserted in the content area curriculum along with regular textbooks and supplementary material. Positive effects were found in recall, comprehension, and learning. (MJP)