Today's youth come to the English language arts class with a diverse range of ideas and experiences that give them the ability to develop and blossom into proficient and talented writers for multiple audiences; constant engagement with new media and digital literacies provides them multiple opportunities and multiple channels through which to…

Discusses the ways that middle school English teachers can use popular teen culture within the context of general English instruction. Suggests bringing television, film, comics, advice columns, and teen magazines into the English classroom. (HB)

Discusses tabloids and their distortions of the truth. Points out that other publications, such as government writings on nuclear weapons, use similar tactics. (ARH)

Discusses the relationship between visual electronic media (e.g. television, film, and computers) and cognitive ability. Notes that language is now inseparable from its electronic media context, and that classroom activities should focus on active interaction with this media to encourage critical thinking. (MM)

Describes an innovative approach to teaching students how to "read" critically the various "texts" present throughout the mass media. Provides principles developed in England in relation to media education and concerned with teaching critical reading in conjunction with the study of newspapers. (HB)

We need a new kind of defense department to protect us from linguistic decay. (JH)

Explores parallels between traditional linguistics and media study. (DD)

Describes a course designed to challenge students to look at the way they are influenced by the mass media. Provides details of the procedures for forming the cooperative groups, the material used, the issues discussed, and the students' responses. (PRA)

Discusses six crises of verbal language which are imminent due to our reliance on the mass media and our separation from the phenomenal world. (DD)

Notes an absence of pleasure about and use of the English language, explained by: (1) the thriving industry of "put down" that makes people feel insecure about language; and (2) failure to appreciate simple, direct, pleasantly cadenced English. Encourages listening to the language to reawaken pleasure in it. (SR)

Studies of media systems should be part of English education so students could understand how language functions in social contexts. (JH)

An update on multimedia resources about mass media for use with students or for teachers' own information. (DD)

Discusses the impact of television and the other mass media in terms of the relationship between figure and ground and the relationship between the hemispheres of the brain. (DD)

Part one of a two-part article, it provides a rationale for broadening linguistic theory to include multi-media language. (DD)

Describes the role of the mass media in fostering the back-to-basics movement and encourages teachers to become leaders in a return to relevant, student-centered English instruction. (DD)