Reviews the best and worst in databases on disk, CD-ROM, and online, and offers judgments and observations on database characteristics. Two databases are praised and three are criticized. (Author/JMV)

Presents a transcript of an interview with the American literary theorist and cultural critic Jane Tompkins. Covers aspects of her various writings. Relates her thought to the field of English studies. Analyzes recent trends in college English. (HB)

Describes the development and content of an interactive introduction to a foreign literature course designed to teach students literary analysis skills and refine their oral communication skills, through such course aspects as text selection criteria, pre- and postreading strategies, literary interpretation, and student analysis and discussion of…

Discusses the writings of Amino Kiku, a modern Japanese female author. Questions why Amino is ignored in most compilations of Japanese writers. Concludes that she is ignored because Japanese women's literature is defined by men, all Japanese literary critics are male, and Amino's female characters are not defined by their relationships with men.…

Provides a critical analysis of theoretical foundations concerning interactive video instruction (IVI). Theories and related research regarding multimedia interactivity, visual features, motivation, and learner control in IVI are reviewed; and the theoretical models of Hansen (relating to skill acquisition) and Clark and Sugrue (relating to…

Criticizes "The Education of Little Tree," by Forest Carter, for presenting an oversimplified and falsified view of both Indian and Appalachian cultural history in this tale of a Cherokee boy. Suggests that Carter, former white-supremacist publicist and Klansman, is pro-Indian only by way of being anti-Yankee. (SV)

Analyzes the literary thesis papers (based on voluntarily selected books and required of all 675 seniors in a comprehensive, academically superior high school). Finds that young adult literature is perceived by older adolescents as worthy for literary analysis, but their teachers may not fully share their belief. (RS)

Discusses an alternative to the conventional close reading of a literary work in which students take on the role of any member of a film crew (director, screenwriter, filmscorer, etc.) and communicate how the scene would best be transferred to the screen. Notes that the activity cultivates critical analysis and serves as a springboard for personal…

Dominant features of the rhetoric used in the "American Educational Research Journal" (AERJ) are discussed to illustrate how arguments are constructed and how a conception of the world of education is formed. These features include conventions of format; impersonalized and passive sentence constructions; and references to prior research.…

Describes the establishment and development of the Standing Conference of Eastern, Central, and Southern African Librarians (SCECSAL) and assesses its effectiveness, particularly in terms of the implementation of conference resolutions by member library associations. The biennial conferences and published proceedings are discussed and suggestions…

Analyzes 50 scientific papers selected from the top 100 most-cited papers for the period from 1945 to 1988. Finds that most are in biochemistry and became citation superstars because of method or material discoveries usable in other people's research. Discusses the typical form and writing style in these papers. (SR)

Analyzes Mark Twain's novel, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," to determine the ways in which the masculine is constructed by a series of forces or discourses. Argues that this novel articulates the social construction of gender in a manner similar to Michel Foucault's theory of disciplinary discourses. (HB)

Presents a transcript of an interview with the American literary theorist and cultural critic J. Hillis Miller. Covers aspects of his various writings. Relates his thought to the field of English studies. Analyzes recent trends in college English. (HB)

Examines Richard Clark's analysis of the role of media (IR 529 139) from the perspective of an instructional designer. Clark's statements about interchangeability of media attributes, research evidence, and the influence of learner preconceptions are challenged. Suggestions for future research are provided. (Contains six references.) (KRN)

Discusses the idea of expertise as it relates to education and to situated learning based on previous articles and responses. Highlights include apprenticeship and the acquisition of expertise; competence versus expertise; teachers' pedagogical content knowledge; instructional design and traditional schooling; functionalism; and alternatives to…