Literacy is an essential component of any elementary-school classroom. To address shifting understandings of literacy and how to teach it, Alberta has developed a new language-arts curriculum. This curriculum, however, was developed in a context where schools have a long history of not serving Indigenous children well, including not meeting their…

The traditional textbook model is problematic for students who either buy expensive textbooks and add to their already considerable student debt, opt out of buying expensive textbooks, or opt out of enrolling in courses known to require expensive textbooks. Switching to open textbooks directly addresses these problems by decreasing costs, removing…

This explanatory sequential mixed methods study sought to understand the influences of teaching experience on perceptions of autonomy and competence on 7th through 12th grade English language arts teachers' text selection decisions through a survey and interviews. The findings of this explanatory sequential design survey study could affirm…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how teachers' choice of text, centering of student voices and collaboration with the community around a language arts curriculum impacted the engagement and learning experiences of 85 11th and 12th-grade refugee background students designated as English language learners. Design/methodology/approach: A…

Using a mixed-methods approach, this article reports survey findings regarding the factors secondary English-language-arts teachers in the United States reported as influential to their text selection and examines how those factors varied by years of teaching experience. Teachers' department was the most cited influence regardless of years'…

As forty-six states and the District of Columbia implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), questions abound regarding implementation, including the implications for curriculum and pedagogy. In this report, researchers analyze what texts English teachers assign their students and the instructional techniques they used in the classroom. The…

This paper investigates three English textbooks for primary classes 4, 5 and 6 in Ghana from the "Gateway to English for Primary Schools" series, and their complementary teachers' guides, in order to determine the assumptions about teaching and learning which the books embody. The paper pays particular attention to the approach to…

Selecting textbooks can be a difficult and overwhelming process. Inundated with choices of texts and supplemental materials, teachers have many factors to consider. This brochure is designed to assist with the process by offering both key questions for discussion and criteria for evaluating textbooks.

School libraries might be emptied if anyone who objected to a book could remove it from the shelves. (DD)

Intended to help educators select textbooks that represent the highest standards of quality instruction, these guidelines describe major aspects of textbooks--of language arts instruction--considered essential. Following an introduction, the eight guidelines (whose features should be central to a program's design and should pervade the entire…

Listed in this catalog of instructional materials in English and the use of dictionaries are those materials adopted by the California State Board of Education for use in public schools from 1983 to 1985. Materials listed include those published by (1) Allyn and Bacon; (2) Bowmar/Noble; (3) Ginn and Company; (4) Glencoe; (5) Harcourt, Brace…

This pamphlet was written as an aid for local curriculum committees developing and implementing language arts programs within a multicultural, nonsexist framework. Included in this guide are (1) definitions of important terms, (2) a rationale and philosophy of multicultural, nonsexist education, (3) the sections of the Iowa School Standards and…

The English curriculums of the 10 Canadian provinces reflect in differing degrees contemporary language concepts and scholarship. One of the most enlightened curriculums lauds the thinking that the teaching of English should move closer to the realities of modern living. Indeed, the English programs are under revision in all provinces, and among…

Too frequently textbooks used in class are criticized heavily by educators. In and of itself, a textbook is neither good nor bad. If the text has been carefully chosen, there may be reasons for criticizing its use. Textbooks should always be carefully evaluated when new basals are chosen so that the very best one(s) are selected for a class.…

The background of the Kanawha County, language arts textbook controversy is described, and several factors are examined as possible precipitating elements in the controversy. The major actions, reactions, and occurrences in Kanawha County from April 1974 to April 1975 are reported, and various sources are used to document positions taken by…