This paper is the result of a research project that set out to document a group of adolescent musicians in a rural Australian secondary school as they wrote and performed their own music. The processes they developed are reflective of a cooperative approach to group composition where upwards of 21 students composed and "jammed" their way…

In this exploratory case study we look at student media production to find out what students know and have learned about the media through production work. We used a media education conceptual framework developed by Dick as a means of describing the day to day media learning of a group of ten students, four girls and six boys, producing a video…

Increasingly, narrative has been accepted as an essential mode of knowing and thinking. However, contemporary educators are unlikely to acknowledge that narrative is as essential to social and political action as it is to personal catharsis and self-understanding. In many schools, narrative writing has become an end in itself rather than the…

This paper discusses a systematic strategy for developing oral skills from situational readings in a first year foreign language course. Aspects considered are: sequencing readings into the course, grammar component, vocabulary component, student preparation, outline of two day instructional treatments, the role of the teacher, and student…

While many people think of folklore as part of the culture of rural, isolated, uneducated people, folklore has a much broader definition and can encompass all areas and be found among all people. Folklore tradition can include school fight songs, ghost stories, children's games, ethnic jokes, jump rope rhymes and family recipes, as well as…

Research papers on the relationship between oral and written language include: "Une distinction bien fragile: oral/ecrit" ("A Fragile Distinction: Oral/Written") (Francoise Gadet); "Oral et ecrit dans les representations des enseignants et dans les pratiques quotidiennes de la classe de francais" ("Oral and Written Language in Teachers'…

In this article, 3 models of collaboration between speech-language pathologists and classroom teachers are discussed to promote emergent literacy and accurate and fluent word recognition. These models are demonstration lessons, team teaching, and consultation. A number of instructional principles are presented for emergent literacy and decoding…

A study was conducted to identify and analyze the writing strategies of eighth- and ninth-grade black and white students on the 1983-84 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Black students, who were from an urban area in New Jersey, had also taken the New Jersey High School Proficiency Test (NJHSPT). Following an initial study that…

The New Mexico Portfolio Writing Assessment for grades 4 and 6 (optional for grade 8) is conducted each school year with a call for each student's best piece in March. All students in grades 4 and 6 participate, unless assessed as Limited English Proficient. This Teacher's Guide provides instructions for procedures to be followed throughout the…

The New Mexico Portfolio Writing Assessment for grades 4 and 6 (optional for grade 8) is conducted each school year, with a call for each student's best piece in March. This Teacher's Guide provides instructions for implementing the portfolio program throughout the year, in order to ensure standardized application of the process. The portfolio…

To help children better understand and exert control over the use of narrative language, teachers need not only to devote time to children's literature, but also need to emphasize other narrative forms including the mass media and children's own stories (in their talk, writing, drawing, and play). Giving children experience in mass media…

After describing the principles of culturally compatible education, the characteristics of Native American and mainstream narrative discourse are compared, and teaching the structure, content, and style of mainstream narratives is advocated. A program designed to facilitate Native American elementary school children's abilities to comprehend and…

This volume is a longitudinal study that explores the responses of two experienced high school English teachers to curriculum changes and examines how a teacher's past attitudes and experiences influence current practice. There are six chapters. The first is a discussion of narrative inquiry as a research method. The next two chapters are…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 30 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) cognitive predictors of writing ability, (2) peer evaluation and teacher evaluation of the first drafts of high school compositions, (3) writing as a tool for…

College teachers of English for Science and Technology (EST) are encouraged to conduct research in preparation for designing appropriate writing instruction. Specific recommendations are made for creating such a program, providing adequate support, and organizing its content, with examples offered from the program in computer science writing at…