This study examined the portrayal of eight specific behaviors in prime time television in general, and on those television shows preferred by 1,042 children in preschool through grade 6 who were surveyed to determine their favorite television shows, books, and school subjects. Researchers examined prime time television programs for a period from…

A study examined the particular variables utilized in argumentative spots (political advertisements that attempt to tell the audience where the candidate stands on particular topics) of the 1984 GOP senatorial hopefuls, in an attempt to ascertain if any advantages were manifested in different commercial patterns in content and format of the ads…

This analysis of the British domestic situation comedy (sitcom) as a genre begins by noting that it is considered basically taxonomical, using the categories of character, narrative, and theme to develop understanding of its discursive strategies. Considered to be preliminary and tentative, the results of this analysis suggest that: (1) the sitcom…

This study was conducted to record and evaluate, through a questionnaire and discussion, a young audience's perception of a quiz type television program with school age children as participants. The question under investigation was how the fundamental principle of a quiz show--in which knowledge is bartered for material gain--could be measured…

This guide is intended for use in developing informational materials intended to be read by adults with limited reading skills. Most of the examples used throughout the guidelines relate to food and nutrition; however, the concepts they illustrate are applicable to any topic. The following topics are covering: knowing a written message's intended…

The reading content offered in Hong Kong to advanced learners of English as a second language underestimates their intellectual capabilities. Material presented to second language learners is found to be linguistically correct but containing trivial, dull, and unchallenging cultural and intellectual content. This situation is closely related to…

A content analysis was conducted of 203 editorials from the "Daily Oklahoman" from the first six months of the 1980 presidential campaign. The analysis was based on two assumptions: (1) the tone of the 1980 presidential campaign essentially was set after only six months of official campaigning, and (2) the "Daily Oklahoman"…

A comparison is made between six state-adopted fourth-grade California history textbooks dating from 1940-1965 and seven textbooks adopted since 1980. The author's observations suggest that although overall changes between older and newer texts have been dramatic, the new books vary widely among themselves. Changes between older and newer texts…

An analysis of eight current government publications on citizenship for immigrants to the United States and results of a survey investigating immigration education correspondence courses are provided. In the first part, subjective evaluations of eight textbooks, based on seven designated criteria (copyright, readability, subject matter,…

This study examines item bias on Forms L and M of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) for 132 Anglo-American and Mexican-American children in grades one through four. Analyses of variance were employed to assess item bias as defined by items x ethnicity interactions. Follow-up analyses were performed using a Bonferroni-type…

This is the proceedings of a symposium organized by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for the purpose of focusing on exisiting problems in and future strategies for promoting television programming services to minority audiences. Included are a prologue, "In Search of Diversity," by Howard Myrick; a foreword, "Minorities in Public…

The decisions President Richard Nixon and his closest advisors made in the Watergate coverup were products of what Irving Janis calls "groupthink." Groupthink, a type of decision-making emphasizing unanimity over objective evaluation, develops when the decision makers (1) form a group of marked cohesiveness, (2) insulate themselves from…

Because the general alphabetic arrangement of fiction in libraries is of little use to the ordinary reader, whose criteria for selecting books often relates to book content, a multi-dimensional and inexclusive fiction classification scheme was developed as a model for both book description and search strategy. Based on analysis of 160 actual…

Paskewicz (1984) believes that the language individuals use conveys information about the possibility of change, independent of content. To test this notion, consultant-consultee verbal interactions were analyzed. Advanced doctoral students in school psychology (N=4) served as consultants; consultees were 19 parochial school teachers each of whom…

Sexism in math books for juveniles has created much discussion and controversy. In particular, sexist examples in arithmetic books suggest that math is a "masculine" subject and foster traditional, male-dominated sex roles. Just as with math texts, many adults read the words of counting books, and from these words alone, draw their conclusions as…