Discusses a study which investigated effects of the New Social Studies movement on social studies textbooks published in the 1970s. Topics discussed include characteristics of the New Social Studies, textbook analysis, and changes reflected in textbooks from 1950 to 1970. (Author/DB)

The production of science textbooks and the processes whereby both producers and consumers can work to improve them are described. Included are discussions of selection at the state level and a publishers perspective, and six textbook experiments at different levels from different publishers. (CW)

Presents a study to evaluate the cognitive level of questions in middle school science textbooks. Questions and their location were coded from six randomly selected chapters in eight middle school science textbooks. Results indicated that input level questions were the dominant question type, probably leading to students functioning at lower…

Reports on a study of the treatment of family issues in 12 college-level U.S. history textbooks. Concludes that instructors who want to introduce serious discussions of families into a survey course must be prepared to offer additional readings, lecture material, and exercises beyond the textbook content. (CFR)

Researchers are advised to work hard toward publishing articles where they will get full attention from the ablest professionals in the field. A second piece of advice is to interact with persons in the field of special research interest, and seek them out through publications and professional conferences. (SLD)

This paper describes the process of developing the Australian English Language Course (AELC) by the Defence International Training Centre in Australia. The 400-hour, intermediate-level course is an English language teaching course to be used by non-English speaking background (NESB) teachers of English at language centers in Thailand, Indonesia,…

The extent to which Finnish textbooks pay sufficient attention to pronunciation in English language courses is discussed, including decisions on the choice of accent (e.g., British or American English). Other issues include the choice of phonetic symbols, keys to the symbols, segmental sounds that reveal personality, weak forms, and elision and…

Analysis of beginning second language textbooks for German, Swedish, English, and Finnish looked at the readability of the contents. Finnish and English texts are examined more closely here as illustrations of the problems found in all four languages. Specific passages are cited and discussed; two are appended. A general framework of text…

The negotiation, development, testing, and publishing of a specialized text for instructing Chinese geologists and petroleum engineers in English as a second language are chronicled. Aspects of the process discussed include the initial contact and oral agreement with the corporate representative who had requested the training materials, scheduling…

A model for developing instructional analogies was used to produce experimental treatments that included text from a high school biology textbook to which was added extended verbal analogies written by the researcher linking each of two biology concepts to analogous familiar concepts. The control treatment was text from the biology textbook…

The content of textbooks teaching the use of a computer was studied. An important component of skill learning, choosing the right procedure at the right time, is difficult in computer education because the connection between real-world goals and the generic procedures described in a manual is often obscure. Furthermore, it is difficult to tell…

A study was undertaken to develop an evaluation procedure that could be used to analyze the cognitive requirements of instructional materials used to teach beginning reading. The study involved four phases. The first phase, an examination of the literature in order to create a basis for the development of assessment procedures, included an…

Objectives of a 2-volume book developed as a comprehensive reference for teachers and a text for students on small gasoline engines were that it be: (1) organized for teaching, (2) complete in detail, (3) well illustrated, (4) authentic, (5) edited to high school reading level, (6) correlated with basic scientific principles, and (7) evaluated by…

As a link between the words in everyday use and the sophisticated language of the arts and sciences, the 1,536 words of the "Mittelstufe" or Level 2 derive in nearly equal proportion from three sources: (1) the spoken or topical language, (2) a collation of all significant word lists compiled prior to February 1965, and (3) a statistical analysis…

This bibliography is a first edition designed to aid the work of the Textual Communication Research Unit and will be followed by a further edition in two years' time. Sources relevant to textual communication, except those pertaining exclusively to broadcasting or children's texts, are arranged as either pertaining to language or to visual design.…