Although retrospective project reports are common in the materials development literature, accounts of textbook writing sessions are rare; so too are accounts of open textbook production. Open textbooks are learning resources that are free to use and oftentimes adapt by virtue of their copyright permissions. The authors used concurrent…

Despite coverage of materials development principles in the applied linguistics literature, principled production of open textbooks has not received attention. To address this gap and demonstrate the interdisciplinary potential of materials development research, the authors drew upon concurrent verbalization and interview data they collected while…

Recent literature on the use of exemplars in the context of higher education has shown that exemplar-based instruction is implemented in various disciplines; nevertheless, how exemplar-based instruction can be implemented in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing classrooms in higher education institutions remains under-explored. In this…

The development of local wisdom based sensitizing reading material is aimed at penetrating one of the imperishable gaps between authentic and non-authentic reading materials dispute in an EFL teaching context. Promoting EFL learners' needs for the first semester students of English department at university level, who rarely or even never have a…

Result of field studies showed low writing skill of teachers in teaching material. The root of the problem lies in their inability on translating description of teaching material into writing. This research focused on the effectiveness of scaffolding design. The scaffolding design was tested in the selected topics of physics courses for…

Flower defends her book "Problem-Solving Strategies for Writing," stating that contrary to Petrosky's interpretation, it does not take an out-moded, logical positivist view of communication theory that treats thought as an object to be transferred while ignoring the constructivist nature of both reading and writing. (HTH)

Discusses the problems of textbook and anthology preparation, such as accessibility and the institutionalization of composition, reviewer responses, and student attitudes. (PRA)

Discusses the need for a Chinese business-communication textbook that is limited to and defined as communication in foreign trade and that eliminates trite expressions and out-of-date style and formats in the business writing of Chinese engaged in international business. (DF)

Argues that an explanation for the long adherence by composition text writers to a patently artificial set of discourse classifications lies not so much in the historical conditions surrounding nineteenth century rhetoric as in the theoretical origins of the modes themselves. Observes that Connors' discourse aims theory disregards audience…

Reports, from personal textbook publishing experience, that composition teachers do not want the results of research in their textbooks; they want what's familiar to them. (JL)

Research based text materials will probably never dominate the textbook market. To begin with, translating theory and research into practice is a chancy business. There are also creative problems such as the inherent oversimplification involved in textbook writing. Every textbook writer who has been a classroom teacher will acknowledge that such…

Describes the collaborative process (involving authors, product managers, reviewers, students, and publication department) of the development of a first-year composition textbook that works to integrate word processing with the teaching of writing. Notes factors contributing to successful collaboration. (SR)

In "Fragments of Rationality" (1992), Lester Faigley says that the practice of making contradictions coherent has a great deal to do with the power a writing teacher exercises in the classroom. The way in which historians of writing use textbooks in their research, however, removes power from the writing teacher and from the classroom,…

This paper reviews composition textbook publishing. It is not enough simply to examine textbooks themselves, rather a methodology of institutional critique demands an examination of the institutions that create and perpetuate instructional materials. It is now more important than ever to examine not only the textbooks themselves, and not only the…

Publishers of high school composition textbooks gather information about the "book market" through outside statistical analyses or case studies and through their own interviews and polls. Recently, such studies and interviews have revealed significant differences in classroom practices. Consequently, publishers are faced with such…