This paper discusses the difficulty students often face when many new words are simultaneously introduced in a text. It suggests teachers may address this difficulty in a number of ways, including the following: writing to a publisher to suggest improvements; providing lists of new words to students before reading selections; and focusing on…

The purpose of this presentation was to interpret the results of two large-scale assessments of textbook usage in light of criticism that textbooks are ineffective teaching/learning tools. One assessment occurred as a follow-up to a Schools and Staffing Survey involving 3,994 classroom teachers, who were asked about their classroom practices in…

This paper reports on the analysis of an instructional text on the basis of M. Bakhtin's (1986) notion of speech genres, which is used to theorize the different influences on the writing of an instructional text. Speech genres are used to reveal the multiple voices inherent in any text: the writer's, the reader's, and the text's. The…

This paper considers what has kept textbooks around so long. The paper reviews changes in pedagogy and values manifested in nineteenth century textbooks to better understand the role of textbooks in the classroom. It suggests that textbooks are a highly adaptable literary genre (with always changing writing styles), concluding that as classroom…

This paper discusses both the extent and manner in which the history of science is included in current secondary school physics textbooks. The study investigates what qualifies as history of science in a physics textbook; the focus, extent, and pervasiveness of the history of science content as it actually appears in a textbook; the focus of…

The focus of this report is the Language Arts (LA) component within the Primary Education Improvement Project (PEIP II) in Jamaica that was launched in 1993 and specifically the cataloging and reviewing of LA materials being used in primary schools at the grade 4 to 6 levels. Content suitability, levels of difficulty, layout, print, and…

Beginning communication course textbooks typically discuss language theory and skills--the authors' attempts to help students learn and use language appropriate to the occasion and the audience. These discussions are usually included in public speaking and hybrid textbooks for the basic course. There is a movement in general education requirements…

Considers the applicability of social science techniques to the high school curriculum. (Author/RK)

Studied the similarity of the astronomy portion in five science textbooks at the fourth through sixth grade levels by comparing students' responses to text authors' requirements. Concluded that the texts had more in common across grade levels than within grade levels. (CC)

Paper prepared under contract with the Defense Language Institute, English Language Branch, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and presented to the staff and faculty of the Institute in 1972. (RS)

Author suggests that talented storytellers, artists, and specialists in child development join together with experienced teachers and reading specialists in writing stories for reading texts. (Author)

Author suggests criteria that can be weighted mathematically for computing comparable strengths and weaknesses in textbooks. (MB)