Describes an analytical approach to making judgments about public issues which can be used in critical reading and decision making. (MKM)

Suggests using visual cues such as boldface type, indenting, and color coding to help students identify important words in sentences and relationships between sentences. (MKM)

Explores the relationship of advertising to reading, consumer education, and social studies and recommends development of learning objectives which reflect this relationship. Explains how to teach about advertising in social studies courses. (Author/DB)

Suggests applying questioning strategies based on literal, interpretive, and applied levels to reading assignments. (MKM)

The English Department at Carnegie Mellon believes they are creating a new-wave curriculum. Theoretical questions are becoming the center of undergraduate study. Scholars want students to think about the political, social, and historical forces that end up shaping a writer's vision, the written work, and the reader's interpretation. (MLW)

Considers how foreign language students can be trained to apply focalization to get beyond the mere content-oriented teaching of literature and work toward understanding what authors do in their texts and appreciate how they do it. (CB)

Describes an exercise which focuses on the ethical and human aspects of science. Outlines the approach and components of a writing assignment based on a literary and humanistic analysis of "The Double Helix" by James Watson. Provides sample questions and examples of integrative literary works. (ML)

Examines whether elementary school children relate to the "harmful hidden message" about nuclear war in Dr. Seuss's THE BUTTER BATTLE BOOK. After ascertaining the children's cognitive level, they participated in activities to find hidden meanings in stories, including Seuss's book. Students failed to identify the nuclear war message in…

Summarizes award winning research reports dealing with (1) learning disabilities and reading; (2) teaching critical reading in Brazil; (3) culture, language, school, and literacy; (4) the development of discourse-synthesizing abilities; (5) the acquisition of word meaning from context by high and low ability children; and (6) reciprocal teaching.…

Describes a comprehensive study skills program used in a Kansas middle school, noting the skills and teaching techniques emphasized at each grade level. (JW)

Describes a writing assignment to help students develop the capacity to anticipate and deal with the counter arguments of a skeptical reading audience, in which classmates offer rebuttals to student position papers. A sample peer review form is included. (HTH)

A number of French news texts are examined, and suggestions made for Secondary Grade 2 regarding treatment of their journalistic function. The aim is to develop critical ability in dealing with newspaper information. Emphasis is on learning to recognize and interpret certain "persuasive" characteristics, using comparison. (Text is in German.)…

This innovative textbook, for first-year English and more advanced composition and critical thinking courses, addresses the need for college students to develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills for self-defense in the contentious arena of American civic rhetoric. In a groundbreaking reconception of composition theory, it presents a…

Today's students face a barrage of competing texts in many different forms and media, and it is now up to teachers to help students determine not only "what" should be read but "how" it should be read. This book addresses this issue. The book explores the idea of "textual intelligence"; offers both practical and…