Storytime Using iPods: Using Technology to Reach all Learners

Many educators would agree that one way to enhance reading fluency is by being read to by fluent readers. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of providing students with audio books via an iPod Shuffle during silent reading time at school. For six weeks, Kindergarten participants spent time either silent reading or listening to a recorded story on an iPod Shuffle during daily dedicated silent reading time. Results show that there was no impact of using the iPod Shuffle on reading fluency; however, students exhibited greater motivation to read, greater engagement in the process, and sustained interest in stories “read.” The benefits to student self-esteem and study skills warrant the use of this strategy for students who may not have opportunities to be read to by a fluent reader on a consistent basis.     

The effects of social status and social dialect on listener responses

The findings of this experimental study indicate that the response to the dialect speech of another is not unidimensional and that dialect is more likely a determinant of speaker ethos for middle social status persons than for high or low social status persons.     

International Communications

Church, Communication, Development (Committee on Society, Development, and Peace; Publications Department; Ecumenical Centre, 150 Route de Ferney, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, $3.50)

Ithiel de Sola Pool, Philip Stone and Alexander Szalai's Communications, Computers and Automation for Development (UNITAR Research Reports No. 6, UNITAR, 801 United Nations Plaza, New York 10017, $2.00)

George Melly's Revolt into Style: the Pop Arts in Britain (Penguin [hardback], $8.95)

T.C. Worsley's Television: The Ephemeral Art (London: Alan Ross, $9.00)

D.G. Bridson's Prospero and Ariel: The Rise and Fall of Radio—A Personal Recollection (London: Gollancz, $10.50)

Raymond Durgnat's A Mirror for England: British Movies from Austerity to Affluence (Praeger, $11.95)

Asa Briggs History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom (Oxford University Press, 1961, 1965)     

Film Biography

Kenneth L. Geist's Pictures will Talk: The Life and Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz (New York: Scribner's, 1978---$12.95)

Two new books, one a revision, deal with another important director, Alfred Hitchcock

Donald Spoto's Stanley Kramer: Filmmaker (New York: Putnam, 1978---$12.95)

James Robert Parish, et al., Hollywood Character Actors (New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House, 1978--- $30.00)

Jesse L. Lasky Jr. with Pat Silver, Love Scene: The Story of Lawrence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (New York: Crowell, 1978---$10.95)

Hollywood actress and actor biographies, a round up of recent titles

Danny Peary, ed. Close-Ups: The Movie Star Book--Intimate Profiles of Movie Stars by their Co-Stars, Directors, Screenwriters and Friends (New York: Workman Press, 1978---$8.95 in paper with a hardback also available)     

Film History

John W. Landon BEYOND THE MIGHTY WURLITZER: THE HISTORY OF THE THEATRE PIPE ORGAN (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,,1983—$29.95).

Susannah Harris Stone THE OAKLAND PARAMOUNT (Berkeley California: Lancaster-Miller Publishers, 1981—$11.95).

John Fell FILM BEFORE GRIFFTTH (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1984—$24.50/$10.95).

Herbert Marshall MASTERS OF THE SOVIET CINEMA: CRIPPLED CREATIVE BIOGRAPHIES (London: Routledge 8 Kegan Paul, 1983—$29.95).

John Kobal and V.A. Wilson FOYER PLEASURE: THE GOLDEN AGE OF CINEMA LOBBY CARDS (New York: Deliliah Books, 1983—$12.95).

Don Graham COWBOYS AND CADILLACS: HOW HOLLYWOOD LOOKS AT TEXAS (Texas Monthly Press, P.O. Box 1569, Austin, Texas 78767—$10.95).     

Boys Don't Cry and female masculinity: reclaiming a life & dismantling the politics of normative heterosexuality

–This analysis argues that Kimberly Peirce's film Boys Don't Cry can be read as a liberatory narrative that queers the centers of heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity by privileging female masculinity and celebrating its differences from heterosexual norms. My critique emphasizes how the narrative strategically challenges heteronormativity and, in turn, “narrative's heteroideology” (Roof, 1996), in four ways: 1) by dismantling the myth of “America's heartland”; 2) by problematizing heteromasculinity; 3) by centering female masculinity; and 4) by blurring the boundaries of female masculinity. I argue that the articulation of each subversive strategy within the narratives of Boys Don't Cry can serve a liberatory function, whereby the privileged subjectivities of heterosexuality and hegemonic masculinity are dismantled and, simultaneously, female masculinity and gender fluidity are privileged and normalized. I conclude that the narrative structure of Boys Don't Cry not only privileges gender diversity, but also exposes the inherent sexual bigotry of heteroideology and the brutal and deadly consequences of society's failure to eradicate such prejudice. I just keep on laughing Hiding the tears in my eyes Because boys don't cry. Boys don't cry. (Smith, Tolhurst, & Dempsey, 1988)     

Some aspects of broadcast news coverage and riot participation

It has often been said that the commercial rating services are “the only game in town.” Thus far, the academic researchers usually have left it up to the operators of the “game” to test and refine their methods. The following article is one of the exceptions: an interesting methodological study of how people respond when queried in different ways about their viewing. Dr. Green‐berg is associate professor of communication at Michigan State University; Miss Dervin and Mr. Dominick are graduate students in the same department.