In teaching children, a clear understanding of the conceptual content to be taught and an understanding of the linguistic means for conveying that content are necessary for the design of the most effective teaching program. The analysis of any given text for conceptual content must begin with an understanding of the language of the text. One…

The problem of understanding oral poetics, or oral traditional poetry, is examined in this survey of contemporary Homeric scholarship in England. The Homeric problem, as it is reflected in both the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey", is considered in four key areas, including: (1) the poetic text, (2) comparative methodology, (3) the…

The problem, emphasized by I. A. Richards, of cultivating in students an awareness of literature which enables them to discern good and bad writing remains unsolved. As demonstrated in critical essays about a poem written under examination conditions by two 16-year-old boys, an ability to identify poetic techniques is not enough to ensure proper…

An opinion survey of teachers using an easy-to-read newspaper for new literates attempted to analyze the content of the paper; to trace its history and philosophy; and to find answers for the following questions: Who are the readers? What do teachers like and dislike about "News for You"? How can the newspaper be improved? Of the 287…

Most of this 10th-grade teaching unit on Robinson's "Richard Cory" is made up of sample teacher questions and student answers which lead students to think about values. Other sections include definitions of tools for poetry and analysis, notes on Robinson's life, and a list of poems on "successful living." A five-page…

This investigation analyzes 16 current reading series in order to: (1) determine if sex stereotyping exists in reading materials for grades 1-10, (2) determine if a majority of the stories show one sex in a dominant role, (3) explore types of career roles shown for females and males, and (4) determine the number of different career roles depicted…

This paper describes Project on Involvement, which was designed to investigate student involvement in a task by defining it in terms of nonverbal behaviors and by identifying its dimensions. To accomplish these objectives, eight trained graduate students made 15-minute observations of each of 44 preschool children. The children were observed in…

Content Analysis of Textbooks for Black Students, Grades 1-3, a program for teachers of the first- through third-grades, was developed by the Far West Laboratory. The overall objective of the course is to develop teacher's skills in analyzing textbooks in terms of their appropriateness for Black pupils. Data collected during an operational field…

This booklet presents the results of a national survey sponsored by the American Newspaper Publishers Association News Research Center concerning the news and editorial content and readership of the daily newspaper. Since one of the goals of the study was a reliable estimate of the frequency of newspaper reading, interviewing was conducted in two…

The works of Eudora Welty challenge the abilities of the oral reader who wishes to interpret them properly. Her novel, "Losing Battles," requires careful attention to the narrative point of view as a guide to its various dimensions of meaning. The narrative shifts through the consciousnesses of various characters of four generations in a rural…

The effects of the television advertisements for Richard Nixon and George McGovern during the 1972 presidential election were tested by a content analysis of television programing and statistical analysis of viewer attitudinal response. Programing content for Nixon developed more general issues and did not especially feature the personality of…

Gross stereotypes, subtle distortions, and omissions in references to ethnic groups in children's literature play a direct part in forming children's attitudes at an early age. One of the requirements for elementary education teacher certification at Penn State University is a course in children's literature with an emphasis on guiding students…

Part One, Automatic Content Analysis contains: "Content Analysis in Information Retrieval;""The 'Generality' Effect and the Retrieval Evaluation for Large Collections;""Automatic Indexing Using Bibliographic Citations" and "Automatic Resolution of Ambiguities from Natural Language Text." Part Two, Automatic…

Four papers are included in Part One of the eighteenth report on Salton's Magical Automatic Retriever of Texts (SMART) project. The first paper: "Content Analysis in Information Retrieval" by S. F. Weiss presents the results of experiments aimed at determining the conditions under which content analysis improves retrieval results as well…

This study analyzed how authors of selected books present their main character with regard to his personal development problems, how he resolves them, and what happens to his personal development in the process. On the basis of which Newbery Medal Award books were best suited for a study of how the main character develops, "Up A Road…