For the thirty-sixth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

This paper reports a study that compared the writing of non-native speaking students provided with background reading texts for their own academic writing with students who had not been given the texts. Essay quality was compared in terms of length, the number and extent of elaboration of the points presented, and the writer's overall…

This document consists of the two issues of "English Teachers' Journal (Israel)" issued during 1991. Contents include: "Introduction for English Teachers"; "Announcements for Bagrut Teachers and Examiners"; "News from E.T.A.I. (English Teachers' Association of Israel)" (Ephraim Weintroub); "Learning…

This publication shares three "best teaching practices" as identified by the Ohio Literacy Resource Center from responses from Ohio's adult literacy programs. "Identifying Errors in Writing" (Mary Cupilary) is a writing improvement strategy/lesson that involves selecting one sentence from a paragraph written by each student,…

Many parents on a southwestern Manitoba (Canada) Indian reservation are troubled by the small number of high school students who graduate. Much of the failure can be attributed to the generally poor writing skills of aboriginal students. To increase the students' writing ability, a computer-assisted instruction program emphasizing writing and…

This series of 24 magazines offers readings in Spanish on literacy, education problems, psycholinguistics, expository writing, and reading behavior. The magazine's editorial committee includes representatives from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the United States, Uruguay, Mexico, Venezuela, and Spain. Articles concern literacy issues of both…

One of a series of educational packages designed for implementation either in a workshop atmosphere or through individual study, this Hot Topic guide presents a variety of materials to assist educators in designing and implementing classroom projects and activities centering on the topic of the computer as an aid to reading instruction. The Hot…

A Puerto Rican teacher of an eighth grade consisting of 33 students (19 girls and 14 boys) at a racially-mixed public middle school found that teaching students about race and gender is a risky venture. The median age of the students was 13.8. The racial demographics were as follows: 45% African-American, 31% Euro-American, 18% Latino, 3%…

A 12-week practicum testing a method for improving writing skills and self-esteem among secondary school students learning English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) is reported. Thirteen students in a larger class at one school were identified for participation, and placed in small heterogeneous groups by skill level. Groups selected writing…

The Jail to Job program was developed to prepare soon-to-be released inmates of the Erie County Prison to seek employment and/or vocational/educational training. Forty-five inmates were assessed to determine their educational and ability levels, interests, and values. The inmates attended an 8-week (32-hour) course on the following topics:…

Three papers written by graduate students on educational linguistics are included. These papers represent works in progress by students and professors on topics ranging from speech act analysis and classroom discourse to language planning and second language acquisition. The papers are generally based on research carried out for courses offered in…

The guide, intended to accompany a 26-minute videotape recording, gives background information to assist in discussion of effective classroom practices appropriate to linguistically and culturally diverse students in first grade. The first part reviews briefly the basic principles of effective instruction in multicultural/bilingual classrooms. The…

The use of freewriting in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction as a means of promoting communicative competence is examined, particularly as it may improve high-school-level ESL instruction in Japan. First, the educational environment of Japanese high schools is described, and some problems with the teaching of ESL writing are outlined.…

This paper describes the experiences of a teacher and a curriculum helper in designing and implementing a fifth grade language arts curriculum at an inner city, magnet school in Indianapolis (Indiana). The report describes the work in three phases: (1) making explicit the problems with the previous language arts curriculum; (2) formulating a plan…

For the K-3 teacher, this book presents hundreds of ready-to-use individual and group activities for developing reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, all correlated with other curriculum areas and organized into nine monthly sections. The book includes teaching strategies, individual and group games, activity sheets, quizzes, writing…