Reading: What Children need to learn and how teachers can help them

Note A fuller version of this paper, entitled Words and Worlds: Reading in the early years of school is published in booklet form jointly by the National Association of Advisors in English and the National Association for the Teaching of English, and is available from NATE at 50 Broadfield Road, Sheffield S8 OXJ for £3.50 to non members and £2.95 to members.     

Towards a Balanced Approach to Phonics Teaching

Phonics is currently a topic attracting wide interest and concern. While there is general agreement that the teaching of reading needs to include attention to phonics, the form this should take is disputed. Recently synthetic approaches have attracted much publicity. This article examines what synthetic phonics involves, contrasting this with a more balanced approach, in terms of the phonic content taught, the means by which the teaching is transacted and its relation to other aspects of learning to read.     

K-12 Students' Perceptions of Scientists: Finding a valid measurement and exploring whether exposure to scientists makes an impact

This study was launched from a National Science Foundation GK-12 grant in which graduate fellows in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are placed in classrooms to engage K-12 students in STEM activities. The investigation explored whether the STEM Fellows' presence impacted the K-12 students' stereotypical image of a scientist. Since finding a valid instrument is critical, the study involved (1) determining the validity of the commonly administered Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST) against a newly designed six-question survey and (2) using a combination of both instruments to determine what stereotypes are currently held by children. A pretest–posttest design was used on 485 students, grades 3–11, attending 6 different schools in suburban and rural Maine communities. A significant but low positive correlation was found between the DAST and the survey; therefore, it is imperative that the DAST not be used alone, but corroboration with interviews or survey questions should occur. Pretest results revealed that the children held common stereotypes of scientists, but these stereotypes were neither as extensive nor did they increase with the grade level as past research has indicated, suggesting that a shift has occurred with children having a broader concept of who a scientist can be. Finally, the presence of an STEM Fellow corresponded with decreased stereotypes in middle school and high school, but no change in elementary age children. More research is needed to determine whether this reflects resiliency in elementary children's perceptions or limitations in either drawing or in writing out their responses.     

In memoriam

RHETORIC AND CRITICISM. By Marie Hochmuth Nichols. Introduction by Waldo W. Braden. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963; pp. viii+151. $5.00.

THE IDEA OF JUSTICE AND THE PROBLEM OF ARGUMENT. By Ch. Perelman. Translated from the French by John Petrie. New York: Humanities Press, 1963; pp. xi+ 212. $5.50.

LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES: ESSAYS IN EXISTENTIALISM AND PHENOMENOLOGY. By Maurice Natanson. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1962; pp. xii+220. 18 guilders.

BOUNDARIES OF DIONYSUS: ATHENIAN FOUNDATIONS FOR THE THEORY OF TRAGEDY. By Alfred Cary Schlesinger. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1963; pp. x+145. $3.50.

THE MASKS OF TRAGEDY: ESSAYS ON SIX GREEK DRAMAS. By Thomas G. Rosenmeyer. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1963; pp. xiii+248. $5.00.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE LAW. By David Mellinkoff. Boston: Little, Brown, 1963; pp. xiv+526. $12.50.

CONTRARY MUSIC: THE PROSE STYLE OF JOHN DONNE. By Joan Webber. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1963; pp. ix+227. $5.50.

THE LONDON STAGE, 1660–1800: A CALENDAR OF PLAYS, ENTERTAINMENTS &; AFTERPIECES TOGETHER WITH CASTS, BOX‐RECEIPTS AND CONTEMPORARY COMMENT COMPILED FROM THE PLAYBILLS, NEWSPAPERS AND THEATRICAL DIARIES OF THE PERIOD. PART 4: 1747–1776. Edited with a Critical Introduction by George Winchester Stone, Jr. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1962; Volume I, pp. cclxxviii+492; Volume II, pp. Ixvi+493–1266; Volume III, pp. Ixv+1267–1993. $75.00.

AMERICAN DRAMA: CONTEMPORARY ALLEGORY FROM EUGENE O'NEILL TO TENNESSEE WILLIAMS. By Louis Broussard. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962; pp. vii+145. $3.75.

THE THEATRE OF DON JUAN: A COLLECTION OF PLAYS AND VIEWS, 1630–1963. Edited with a Commentary by Oscar Mandel. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963; pp. x+731. $10.00.

JOHN DONNE: PREACHER. By William R. Mueller. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1962; pp. xi+264. $6.00.

A LINGUISTIC INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH. By Morton W. Bloomfield and Leonard Newmark. New York: Knopf, 1963; pp. xvi+375+xx. $6.85.

SYMBOL FORMATION: AN ORGANISMIC‐DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH TO LANGUAGE AND THE EXPRESSION OF THOUGHT. By Heinz Werner and Bernard Kaplan. New York: Wiley, 1963; pp. xiii+ 530. $11.95.

ARISTOTLE AND THE PROBLEM OF VALUE. By Whitney J. Oates. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1963; pp. x+387. $8.50.

ON COPIA OF WORDS AND IDEAS (De utraque Verborum ac Rerum Copia). By Erasmus. Translated with an Introduction by Donald B. King and H. David Rix. Milwaukee, Wis.: Marquette University Press, 1963; pp. viii+112. Paper $3.00.

ELEMENTS OF RHETORIC. By Richard Whately. Edited with a critical Introduction by Douglas Ehninger. Foreword by David Potter. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1963; pp. xxx+15+479. $7.00.

KENNETH BURKE AND THE DRAMA OF HUMAN RELATIONS. By William H. Rueckert. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1963; pp. xvi+253. $6.00.

TECHNIQUES OF PERSUASION: FROM PROPAGANDA TO BRAINWASHING. By James A. C. Brown. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin, 1963; pp. 325. Paper $1.25.

NEBRASKA SYMPOSIUM ON MOTIVATION: 1963. Edited by Marshall R. Jones. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1963; pp. x+202. $5.50; paper $2.50.

FRANCIS BACON: THE TEMPER OF A MAN. By Catherine Drinker Bowen. Boston: Little, Brown, 1963; pp. 245. $6.00.

THOMAS WENTWORTH, FIRST EARL OF STRAFFORD, 1593–1641. By C. V. Wedgwood. New York: Macmillan, 1962; pp. 415. $6.00.

THE LANGUAGE OF POLITICS IN THE AGE OF WILKES AND BURKE. “Studies in Political History.” By James T. Boulton. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963; pp. xiii+282. 16.75.

BURKE, PAINE, AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN: A DIFFERENCE OF POLITICAL OPINION. By R. R. Fennessy. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1963, pp. xiii+274. 37 guilders.

ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE: TECHNIQUES OF A FREE SOCIETY. By James H. McBurney and Glen E. Mills. (Second edition.) New York: Macmillan, 1964; pp. vi+474. $5.50.

REASON IN CONTROVERSY: AN INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL ARGUMENTATION. By Glen E. Mills. With a chapter on reasoning processes by Arthur Hastings. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1964; pp. x+386. $6.50.

A GUIDE TO DEBATE. By Russel R. Windes and Robert M. O'Neil. Portland, Maine: J. Weston Walch, 1964; pp. iii+270. $4.00; paper $3.00.

GROUP DISCUSSION: THEORY AND TECHNIQUE. By R. Victor Harnack and Thorrel B. Fest. New York: Appleton‐Century‐Crofts, 1964; pp. xiv+456. $5.00.

GROUP THINKING AND CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP. By William E. Utterback. (Revised edition.) New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963; pp. ix+244. $4.50.

THE SOUND, SENSE, AND PERFORMANCE OF LITERATURE. By Don Geiger. Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1963; pp. 115. Paper $1.60.

THE ORAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE. By Chloe Armstrong and Paul D. Brandes. New York: McGraw‐Hill, 1963; pp. viii+330. $5.95.

COMMUNICATIVE READING. By Otis J. Aggertt and Elbert R. Bowen. (Second edition.) New York: Macmillan, 1963; pp. xiii+ 482. $6.00.     

Exploitation or opportunity? Student perceptions of internships in enhancing employability skills

Internships are now widely promoted as a valuable means of enhancing graduate employability. However, little is known about student perceptions of internships. Drawing on data from a pre-1992 university, two types of graduate are identified: engagers and disengagers. The engagers valued internship opportunities while the disengagers perceived these roles as exploitative and worthless. Few were able to distinguish paid, structured internship opportunities from unpaid, exploitative roles. We conclude that higher education institutes need to be more proactive in extolling the value of paid internships to all students and not just those most likely to engage with their services.     

Association news

1. Useful and Instructive Poetry. By Lewis Carroll, with an Introduction by Derek Hudson. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1954; pp. 45. $2.50.

2. Light Armour: Playful Poems on Practically Everything. By Richard Armour. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Company, 1954; pp. ix+118. $2.75.

3. Gentlemen's Relish. By Christopher Morley. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1955; pp. 100. $3.00.

4. A Bowl of Bishop: Museum Thoughts and Other Verses. By Morris Bishop. New York: Dial Press, 1954; pp. 106. $3.00.

5. What Cheer. An Anthology of American and British Humorous and Witty Verse. Gathered, sifted and salted, with an Introduction by David McCord. New York: The Modern Library, 1955: pp. xliv+515. $1.45.

6. The Best Humor From Punch. Edited by William Cole, and Illustrated by Sprod. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1953; pp. 350. $3.50.

7. American Literature in Parody. Edited by Robert P. Falk. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1955; pp. 279. $3.75.

8. Guided Tour of Campus Humor. Edited by Max Shulman. New York: Hanover House, 1955; pp. xxxii+456. $2.95.

9. An Encyclopedia of Modern American Humor. Edited by Bennett Cerf. New York: Doubleday &; Company, Inc., 1954; pp. xvi+688. $3.95.

10. The Golden Argosy. Edited by Van H. Cartmell and Charles Grayson. New York: Dial Press, 1955; pp. 656. $6.00.

11. A Treasury of the Familiar and A Second Treasury of the Familiar. Edited by Ralph L. Woods. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1955; pp. x+751 and xi+722. $6.50 and $6.00.

12. The Compact Treasury of Inspiration. Edited by Kenneth S. Giniger. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1955; pp. 313. $3.95.

13. Stories from the Southern Review. Edited by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren. Baton Rouge: The Louisiana State University Press, 1953; pp. xv+435. $6.00.

14. The Antioch Review Anthology. Edited by Paul Bixler. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1953; pp. ix+470. $6.00.

15. The New Partisan Reader: 1945–1953. Edited by William Phillips and Philip Rahv. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1953; pp. viii+621. $6.00.

16. A Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore. Edited by B. A. Botkin. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1955; pp. xx+620. $5.00.

17. The Devil's Pretty Daughter. Edited by Vance Randolph. New York: Columbia University Press, 1955; pp. xvi+239. $3.75.

18. The Ballad Book. Edited by MacEdward Leach. New York: Harper and Brothers, Inc., 1955; pp. xiv+842. $7.50.

19. A Treasury of American Ballads: Gay, Naughty and Classic. Edited by Charles O'Brien Kennedy. New York: The McBride Company, 1954; pp. xxvii+398. $4.75.

20. The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems. Revised, enlarged and brought up to date by Oscar Williams. New York: The New American Library, 1953: pp. 532. $.50.

21. Voices from the Past. Edited by James and Janet Maclean Todd. New York: E. P. Dutton Company, 1955; pp. 550. $6.50.