Explains a research paper assignment in which students design their own thesis and link an original theory to an article found in a popular magazine. Provides three example assignments. Concludes the students then feel comfortable during later classroom discussions when introduced to the views of literary critics. (PM)

Considers the resistance of preservice teachers to address sociopolitical dimensions within the context of children's literature. Presents an account of an incident, a description of the research that the author conducted, theoretical explanations, strategies which she has utilized for countering the resistance, and reasons why research such as…

Uses student scores on Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 18 countries to examine the relationship between class size and student achievement. Finds that with the exception of two countries--Greece and Iceland--reduction in smaller class had no effect on test scores. Suggests that class-size effect is related to teacher…

Provides a historical review of feminist theory and research that provides a context for and offers critical challenges to contemporary ideas about the meanings and intents of feminist inquiry and evaluation. This overview demonstrates the continued importance of paying attention to gender, particularly in education. (SLD)

Presents a discussion tool that the author has incorporated into the classroom. Describes how she combines two approaches into a non-graded group work with a role-playing component, a technique she integrates into the classroom numerous times throughout every semester. Concludes how eventually students confidently present their well-supported…

Describes how a teacher researcher invited her students to be detectives on the lookout for language and to take a critical perspective on how it varies with each speaker, purpose, and context. Suggests that educators need to be careful about how they present language varieties so that their students appreciate them as more than "quaint artifacts…

Explores three broad areas of inquiry: what significance visual images have for rhetorical analysis; how a study of nonverbal material might be conducted; and whether visual explanations depend on the image or the viewer. Argues that viewers understand Joseph Wright's painting "The Air Pump" in terms of its subject, its exhibition space, the…

Focuses attention on the potential strengths and weaknesses of "vernacular" studies within the sub-field of legal rhetoric in order to defend contentions about some of the silences and articulations that are involved in modern rhetorical criticism. Defends the heuristic importance of vernacular legal theory for future judicial…

Describes the way that three novels by African-American women--"Browngirl, Brownstones," by Paule Marshall; "The Bluest Eye," by Toni Morrison; and "The Third Life of Grange Copeland," by Alice Walker--captures the shared experiences of Black women. (DB)

Discusses how speeches delivered at a 1960 dinner by then presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon changed the face of political campaign rhetoric. Argues that both men used comic strategies to create a more inclusive American covenant, and emphasizes the importance of examining pragmatic and cultural implications of presidential…

Asks why students read essays as if their meanings are simple, univocal, and transparent. Suggests that students grow up practicing "essayist literacy," a view of the text as a self-sufficient communication vehicle. Argues that a rhetoric of deproduction conceals the social process of writing behind the apparent artlessness of the plain…

Historicism critiques cultural history and cultural materialism as a methodology for literary analysis. Questions the finality of interpretation, how original values change, and whether dramatic history implies actual history. Using Shakespearean plays, analyzes the power and politics of a play in relation to its audience; posits that cultural…

Presents H. G. Gadamer's ontology of understanding as a developmental foundation for interpersonal system ethics. Conceptualizes interaction in terms of demand that the subject matter places on openly formed mutual understanding. Shows unethical interactions as practices which prohibit this development. Provides examples of processes by which…

Argues against both overly broad and excessively narrow definitions for the term "technical writing." Suggests that a definition would be useful for clarifying the bounds of technical writing. Argues, however, that it is better to keep the field intact with experience-based ideas of what technical writing encompasses. (SG)

Describes a course in American film comedy which includes three types of comedy: the tradition of the clown (beginning with silent comedy), romantic comedy, and sociopolitical comedy. Addresses such issues as escapism versus social purpose, fantasy versus realism, comedy versus laughter, and role of spectator versus role of text. (KEH)