This manual is designed to provide practical assistance to teachers in Contemporary Issues in Science programs. The manual, divided into five sections, includes activities designed to help students develop skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening, research, and critical thinking. Provided in section 1 (source selection) is a teaching unit…

This report presents both formative and summative data regarding the implementation and effectiveness of the Basic Skills Program carried out in the Montgomery County, Maryland, public schools in 1981. The program provides intensive remedial instruction in the basic skills areas of reading, writing, and mathematics to elementary (through grade 8)…

Standardized tests of writing ability have individual and shared limitations and deficiencies that should be acknowledged by test designers and users. Most institutions use the portions of standardized tests that test ability to proofread and edit, but they do not use the optional essay sections that actually require students to write. To assure…

The curriculum guide for teachers of Spanish language arts for native Spanish-speaking primary students in the Chicago public schools' bilingual education program is introduced by a section on preparing instructional material for this group and a section defining the areas to be emphasized in the program: word attack, comprehension skills, study…

The curriculum guide for teachers of Spanish language arts for native Spanish-speaking primary students in the Chicago public schools' bilingual education program is introduced by a section on preparing instructional material for this group and a section defining the areas to be emphasized in the program: word attack, comprehension skills, study…

A study examining the sociolinguistic context and emerging linguistic structure of English in a Northern Virginia Vietnamese community, based on taped interviews and limited writing samples, is presented. The subjects were 93 refugees categorized by age range (10-13, 15-18, 20-25, 35-55 years), length of residence in the United States (1-3 and 4-7…

Grant writing experience can be a valuable asset for students completing masters-level degree programs across a variety of disciplines. A service learning grant writing project was incorporated in a multidisciplinary program evaluation course as part of a writing requirement. Twelve students served as "ghost writers" and wrote grant…

Principles and guidelines for the use of expert judgment of experiential learning are outlined. The report deals with a number of basic issues that apply to expert judgment, such as the role of the evaluator in defining criteria, and structuring the assessment procedure so that it will be reliable and valid. The importance of establishing…

This document describes a procedure designed to enhance the effectiveness of teaching in intermediate and advanced English as a second language (ESL) classes. The procedure consists of letting students express themselves in writing in their native language (whether French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, or Italian) and having the same students the…

This paper describes the English-Italian bilingual education program of the Tangipahoa Parish School System in Tangipahoa, Louisiana. The program reaches approximately seven hundred students from kindergarten through third grade, and the main objectives of the program are (1) refining the native language for children of non-English speaking…

This collection of readings on the topic of teaching English as a second language (ESL) has a twofold purpose: to enlarge the ESL teacher's awareness of the field and to assist in the professional growth of the new teacher or teacher-trainee. Each of the book's nine sections deal with one area of ESL instruction. Section 1, "Trends and Practices,"…

The prevalence of underprepared students attending colleges, the need to define literacy requirements of courses, the implications of research on literacy in the design of remedial programs, and the need for systematic evaluation of such programs are considered. Literacy is broadly defined as a language competence that is used to achieve both…

This document contains the following manuscripts: "Effects of Alternate Scoring Options on the Classification of Entering Freshmen Writing Competencies," by Edys Quellmalz and Eva Baker; "Implications of Learning Research for Designing Competency Based Assessment," by Edys Quellmalz; "Effects of Alternative Discourse and…

Thirteen authors present twelve articles concerning the development of basic skills programs in secondary schools. These articles focus on the following topic areas: practices and strategies for teaching basic skills in secondary classrooms; language as a factor in basic skills learning; development of skills in oral communication, reading,…

A study was conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to identify the variables affecting the academic success of community college transfer students. The study involved a survey of the 1,343 students who transferred to UCLA from a community college in Fall 1977. The questionnaire asked respondents to provide background…