Most modern language teachers consider commercial films prepared for native speakers of the target language useful as a teaching device only for advanced students. The results of an analysis of the vocabulary content of "High Tide at Noon" seem to indicate that any student with a basic English vocabulary could follow the script. (CFM)

Notes that Rosen's concern with consumer effects produced by behavior therapy self-help programs is to be lauded, but that some problems are best left to the judgment of the public, rather than of those who would look after it. (Author/AM)

Recommends that a few behavioral objectives be included for skill development in many teacher education courses, but that behavioral objectives and competency-based teacher education be generally de-emphasized in favor of developing competent teachers. A framework for accomplishing educational improvement is presented. (Author/DB)

The following study explored the structures and themes found in a few episodes of a popular TV sitcom ("Friends"). Drawing on James Gee's ideas about critical discourse analysis as the main analytical lens for this study, this study discussed the language found in a sitcom and analyzed the complexity of structures and vocabulary in the…

Education reform has a long and ignoble history of searching for magic bullets. Charter schools, vouchers, educational management organizations, tuition tax credits, and high-standards movements are all part of the education landscape today. Some reformers are mere opportunists who look at the $700 billion that the United States spends on…

This book challenges current paradigms of literature instruction by making a strong case for teaching critical theory in high school literature classrooms. The book urges teachers to expand their theoretical repertoires. It argues for the importance of multiple perspectives in enabling students to better read and interpret literature, as well as…

In ethnographic research, silence can be probed as a filter through which to understand metaphors present and absent in conversations. The question posited in this study is how to account for silence as deliberate. From analysis of conversational interactions with classroom teachers, it became apparent that the silences also had meaning, that they…

This volume, the fourth in a series, brings together the conversations of the profession that were explored during the 1993 and 1994 Summer Institute for Teachers of Literature. This anthology of essays considers what "American literature" is and how definitions of this category affect teaching practices. The essays argue for the…

Providing a framework for Wisconsin educators to examine how they could include theater and drama within the school curriculum, this booklet presents five standards for students in grades 4, 8, and 12 that identify an element within theater that would enable students to know and understand theater by doing. The introductory section of the booklet…

Composition instructors are particularly interested in the fact that hypertext, as the mode of discourse that computers promote and prefer, introduces a new problematic for those concerned with teaching critical thinking. What kind of discourse is hypertext, and to what extent does it encourage, enable and demand critical thinking? The issue is…

Instructors and students of literature should look to George McDonald Fraser's "Flashman: From the Flashman Papers, 1839-1842" for a clever critique of 19th-century notions of character, virtue, and moral teleology. Written to criticize Thomas Hughes's famous 19th-century novel, "Tom Brown's School Days," Fraser's 20th-century…

Based on Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle," this lesson plan presents activities in which students make a list of books that convey strong social messages, discuss the literary strengths and weaknesses of these books, and understand how literature reflects life and can be used as a vehicle to bring about change. It includes objectives,…

Based on Joseph Conrad's novel "Heart of Darkness," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that critics have debated some of Conrad's choices in the novel; and that the novel reflects the world as Conrad saw it. The main activity of the lesson involves students rewriting the ending of the novel so that Marlow…

"The Merchant of Venice," even in its own time, was considered William Shakespeare's most controversial play. Now, one of the most popular read and performed works, the play raises even more important issues for today, particularly anti-Semitism and the treatment of Jews. The analysis of the play in this casebook helps students interpret…

Part of a three-program set, this computer software program is designed to support the teaching of literary criticism in the English classroom through a focus on characterization. It aids teachers in the search for literary meaning by providing questions from different reading positions. The program is easy to operate and requires little prior…