A communication instructor used research findings by African American scholars to expand the communication arts curriculum and the courses he taught. The rhetorical communication theory course at Ohio Dominican College traces the development of rhetoric from the classical period. Two primary assignments in the course are a research paper on a…

This book identifies appropriate reading material for adults who read at levels through grade seven. An introduction lists criteria used for selection and discusses emphases in selection of nonfiction. To make this recommended list of 748 entries most useful to libraries, titles are arranged in a very general Dewey Decimal Classification. Each…

Middle school students need to attain well in the affective dimension in reading. Affective objectives emphasize, among other things, students achieving quality attitudes toward reading. Quality literature might well assist the emerging adolescent to enjoy and grow in reading skills. Learners should have ample opportunities to choose reading…

Observing that educators can have a healthy impact on students by making them aware of the implications of sexist language, its distortions and ambiguity as well as its demeaning and alienating effect on females, this paper presents a number of exercises and activities on sexist and nonsexist language usage both for high school and college English…

Some communities have been successful in removing textbooks containing sexist and racist stereotypes.

The primary pedagogical principle of Reader's Theatre is that it "dramatizes" literature to provide both a visual and an oral stimulus for students who may be unaccustomed to using their imagination to experience literary works like novels, poems, essays, or short stories. Promoting a suggestive, "theatrical mind" approach to…

Readers need to be encouraged to combine prior knowledge with information gained from the text and then try to predict what will happen later in the text. The overhead projector is a valuable tool for enhancing instruction involving prediction. The process of gradually revealing text to a group of students, eliciting their predictions, evaluating…

Classroom teachers of adolescents need to analyze the material they use for instructional purposes, as well as the materials they suggest for independent reading, to be certain that both incorporate text which is informational or technical, since experience suggests that this type of material is generally preferred by readers of this age group.…

Providing young children with a better balance between narrative and expository text makes sense. Initially, children develop fluency through familiar narrative structures and themes. As the children achieve reading fluency, however, they benefit from increased exposure to expository text. Supporting this thrust are varied approaches and…

Reflecting the rapid changes that have occurred in young adult literature, this second edition provides teachers with the history and background needed to stay current with what adolescents are reading and how such literature can be taught. The book is organized much as a literature course is taught: first, an introduction to young adults and…

Books have acculturated and perpetuated group social, political, and economic beliefs as well as individual emotions, attitudes, values, and behaviors. Educators must be wary of literature which perpetuates misconceptions, negative impressions, and insensibilities. A review of books which depict members of cultural groups as strong, positive, and…

The articles in this themed issue focus on the use of real literature in reading instruction. Following a comment from the editor, the titles of the articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Understanding Poetry: Questions to Consider" (Nancy Wiseman Seminoff); (2) "Experiencing a Novel: The Short and Long of It" (David M. Bishop and…

The first textbook censorship challenge reached the courts in 1949, when a group of Jewish parents objected to Jewish stereotypes in literature used in the classrooms. This New York case is a reminder that (1) would-be censors do not always come from the far right; (2) while most censorship cases go to court for the purpose of having controversial…

Secondary school reading teachers are confronted with the goal of enticing adolescents to a lifelong appreciation of books. Unfortunately, teaching the "classics" of literature frequently entails stylistic enrichment and understanding of literary devices, something of a "bottom-up" approach, that turns many students away from…

Noting that traditional measures of textbook difficulty and traditional measures of student reading ability suffer from a lack of correspondence, this booklet deals with the problems of (1) identifying the levels of conceptual difficulty of text materials, (2) identifying students' abilities to understand text materials, (3) matching the…