Douglas K. Hartman

Values of literacy history

The authors assert that history is a marginalized research genre among literacy professionals, consigned to the fringes of inquiry. They share a conversation about why this is so, and why it should not be.

Adapted Use of Social Studies Textbooks in Elementary Classrooms Views of Classroom Teachers

Twenty-two classroom teachers (grades 1 through 7) were interviewed to obtain information about how they use their social studies textbooks, the problems they experience, and their perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the texts. Teachers were also asked to describe the modifications or adaptations they made to help students who might have difficulty understanding the textbook. Results indicated that although teachers liked having the textbook as a resource, they were concerned about content and comprehensibility. Teachers tended to solve the problem of textbook difficulty in three ways: Helping students to cope with the textbook, deemphasizing the textbook, or reinforcing and extending textbook information.

Are "New" Words Really New?.

Abstract The present study investigates the question of whether second and fifth grade children already know the meanings of reading vocabulary presented as “new” vocabulary in their basal readers. Students from two midwestern school districts (N=142) were asked to complete a yes/no test and a multiple‐choice test to assess their knowledge of vocabulary presented in their current grade level basal readers as well as their knowledge of vocabulary presented in basal readers 1 and 2 years beyond their grade level. Overall mean scores for both second and fifth grade cohorts were above 75% for grade level words and over 70% for the “new” words which had not yet been presented. Children were found not to perform much better on those words formally taught in basal reading series than on words they had not yet been taught. It is suggested that educators and publishers need to reevaluate the criteria they use to select vocabulary for instruction in basal readers.