This study investigates some the reading passages in terms of hortatory messages. To this end amethodology based on Critical Discourse Analysis was adopted. The reading texts from ELTtextbooks were examined through a model which drew on Fairclough's approach to CDA,specifically (Fairclough, 2003) in which three characteristic features of hortatory texts areintroduced. The analysis reveals that ...

Activities that require focused attention, such as reading, are declining among American youth, while activities that depend on multitasking, such as instant messaging (IMing), are increasing. We hypothesized that more time spent IMing would relate to greater difficulty in concentrating on less externally stimulating tasks (e.g., academic reading). As hypothesized, the amount of time that young...

This study examined activities used during elementary school math and reading instruction. Teachers reported their use of cooperative, competitive, and individual activities in math and reading, their subjective evaluations of teaching each subject, and their level of focus on promoting students’ interests. Analyses indicated that teachers used more competitive activities in math than reading. ...

This paper discusses how to change English-as-a-Second. Language reading instruction within Japanese senior high schools into communication, or interaction between students and the text. It focuses on the use of top-down skills to increase reading comprehension, noting that Japanese teachers tend to naturally emphasize bottom-up skills and neglect top-down skills. Four chapters look at the foll...