This essay describes some of the primary features of educational criticism, an arts-based approach to qualitative inquiry. We first examine the aims of this approach, focusing on its potential to heighten our perceptions of the classroom. We next discuss four dimensions of educational criticism: descriptive (intended to vividly render the qualities that constitute an educational performance or product); interpretative (represented in the conceptual frameworks that allow critics to account for the attributes and patterns of interaction they have observed); normative (involving a process of articulating those values that inform conceptions of goodness within a given domain); and thematic (concerned with the utility of extracting some type of general understanding, image, principle, or lesson that transcends the particular of an individual case). Finally, we address questions of rigor as they apply to educational criticism and other forms of qualitative research. Specifically, we identify three criteria (consensual validation, structural corroboration, and referential adequacy) appropriate for assessing the credibility of such work. In suggesting criticism as one potential model for educational inquiry, we hope to encourage those researchers who seek to create compelling and richly textured accounts of current classroom practice.

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Yes, education is a national issue, but it is also a danger. When I look all these books about how to teach, I have the impression that children are being used as fodder for testing, that the aim is not to educate them, but to bring them up as if they were frogs or guinea pigs for psychologists. This is dreadful. Poor young people! What they have to go through because of these books! They are trained like performing animals. (Unamuno, 1993, p.42) There are two things I cannot stand: pedagogy and sociology. The former must be replaced by art and the latter by history. (Unamuno, 1993, p. 42)

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Editor’s Note: Selected, annotated bibliographies of research in the teaching of English appear in the May and December issues of RTE. In general, the items selected for inclusion in each bibliography are drawn from the dissertation abstracts in DAI and from articles or books published from July to December preceding the May issue and from January to June preceding the December issue. Annotations of items from DAI are based on the abstracts; annotations of other items are based on the full texts of those items. We ask readers to call our attention to published research we may have overlooked inadvertently or to notify us of newly published books containing research in the areas covered by the bibliography for possible inclusion in the review. Please direct questions or comments to Richard L. Larson, 30 Greenridge Ave., 5-H, White Plains, NY 10605-1237.

Flinders and Eisner begin their article by justifying the use of educational criticism on the basis of two analogies: the researcher-as-critic and teaching-as-art. While not disputing that such comparisons can be useful and illuminating, I argue that they are neither sufficient nor necessary as an underlying basis for their approach. Hinders and Eisner present a clear discussion of the dimensions of educational criticism that demonstrates the potential value of this approach. They also identify and address some of the challenges to such qualitative methods that come from a field that still depends on a quantitative mindset. I recognize that there are many who are not ready to accord educational criticism the value of a science on this basis, but that does not mean that it needs to be associated with in order to be useful. In the end, it is on the basis of the descriptions and practices of educational criticism that such an approach will have to be judged. Flinders and Eisner, along with their colleagues, have gone a long way in moving this process, and its practice, forward. Having said that a discussion of art is not necessary to justify their approach, some further thinking about the links between art - both the traditional and the more controversial views of it - and teaching may be illuminating. Additional analyses help us to recognize that, on the one hand, we can elevate teaching to the status of an - to be looked at and admired by connoisseurs. But, on the other hand, it also suggests that the representation, discussion, and interpretation of education can be experiences - like television, performance art, and movies - in which anyone can participate.

The task of responding to five serious and thoughtful papers is not an easy one. Although there is some overlap among them, each paper makes its own distinctive points. What we have decided to do is to identify the major concerns expressed by each author and then to respond to those concerns as best we can. The level of specificity that is possible in the identification of concerns is virtually infinite. The concerns that we have identified we regard as either important in their own right or common across the five papers that were invited. Following each point is our response.

This study investigated the relationships among self-confidence about writing, expected outcomes, writing apprehension, general self-confidence, and writing performance in 30 undergraduate preservice teachers over one semester. Results supported social cognitive theory and prior findings reporting a relationship between confidence in one’s writing abilities and subsequentw riting performance. A regression model consisting of the variables noted above and a pre-performance measure accounted for 68% of the variance in writing performance. Students’ beliefs about their own composition skills and the pre-performance measure were the only significant predictors. Writing apprehension was negatively correlated with writing self-confidence but was not predictive of writing performance. General self-confidence was correlated with writing self-confidence, expected outcomes, apprehension, and performance but was not predictive of writing performance in the regression model. Results and implications are discussed, especially as they relate to the need for context-specific assessments of confidence in one’s own capabilities and to pedagogical obligations.

This study sought to determine the value of a tiered model of staff development for five districts using Teacher Consultants (TCs) drawn from a parent district with a long writing project history. In these outreach projects, these TCs actualized the National Writing Project (NWP) principle of regarding teachers as expert consultants to their colleagues. Stake’s Contingency and Congruence Evaluation Model was used to establish 1) the relationships among the preconditions necessary for successful implementation of the staff development program, 2) the processes by which the program was to be implemented, and 3) the outcomes which were intended. Data across five replication sites consisted of evaluations from 366 participants; self-reports of changes in skill levels by 191 participants; self-reports of classroom practices implemented by 216 participant and control teachers; and pretest and posttest scores on essays written by 3,927 students of participant and control teachers. It was determined that most required preconditions were observed; that all intended processes of the programs in the replication sites were successfully accomplished; and that the expected outcomes in replication sites were, in fact, achieved. In terms of outcome data, most of the analyses reflect significant differences in writing achievement between treatment and control subjects, favoring students of trained teachers. A survey of classroom practices indicated that trained teachers at all levels implemented more varied composition activities than did non-trained teachers. The results are viewed in light of the literature on effective staff development and, in particular, on the NWP

This article describes the patterns of literacy development in children froms table home environments who were prenatally exposed to crack or cocaine. The article includes a brief overview of observations from the first year of study followed by a focus on patterns of development observed during Year Two. During the second year, the children continued to develop in what is considered to be an age appropriate manner, with onlys even children receiving special education support. A few children experienced setbacks in their learning, but there seemed to be reasonable causes for these setbacks. During this secondy ear, the importance of classroom context, as established by the teacher, became an important aspect in the literacy developmeont this group of children. The article concludes with one case study highlighting the importance of classroom context in a child’s literacy development.

This study analyzes two literature discussion groups in a sixth-grade classroom. The analyses investigate the purpose for discussion as constructed by the members of each group and the kind of discussions that took place. The students were placed in these groups on the basis of reading ability. Collected over the course of a school year, data include audiotapes and transcripts of group meetings, field notes describing observations of meetings and other classroom interactions, and interviews with students and the teacher. Although the teacher wanted both groups to engage in informal discussion, only the group composed of more able readers constructed a conversation in which students participated eagerly and valued each others’ contributions. In contrast, the group composed of less able readers constructed a more teacher-dominated activity in which students seemed reluctant to participate voluntarily, display their knowledge, or construct meaning collaboratively. This study suggests several possible reasons why the less able readers did not respond to the teacher’s invitation to participate in informal discussions of literature

The goal of this study was to expand our understanding of mentoring situated within electronic exchanges. Focusing on three graduate and five undergraduate mentors’ responses via telecommunications, we explored the strategies mentors used to make their reading and understanding of the texts explicit to their students, the responses mentors provided to demonstrate how students might revise, and mentors’ perceptions toward mentoring. Mentors responded to eight drafts from 24 ninth-grade students over an eight-week period, generating an average of 20 comments per student draft. Data collected included response grids of each mentor’s comments to students, interviews with mentors midway and at the end of the study, and journals kept by the mentors. Results showed that mentor pre-project expectations about responses they might make to students did not correspond to their actual responses, and that as the project progressed, mentor responses formed patterns corresponding to the draft of the students’ writing assignment. Additional differences were found based on mentors’ previous teaching experience, gender, and requests for feedback. Mentors expressed as their greatest difficulty not knowing which comments were perceived by students as most helpful

Editor’s Note: Selected, annotated bibliographies of research in the teaching of English appear in the May and December issues of RTE. In general, the items selected for inclusion in each bibliography are drawn from the dissertation abstracts in DAI and from articles or books published from July to December preceding the May issue and from January to June preceding the December issue. Annotations of items from DAI are based on the abstracts; annotations of other items are based on the full texts of those items. We ask readers to call our attention to published research we may have overlooked inadvertently and to notify us of newly published books containing research in the areas coveredb y the bibliographyf or possible inclusion in the review.P lease direct questions or comments to Richard L. Larson, 30 Greenridge Ave., 5-H, White Plains, NY 10605-1237.

This study provideas framework for analyzing t e multiplea spects of reader perspective in a teacher’s approacth to writing instruction. This framework is based on an examination of one teacher’s written comments on her students’ paper as well as on observations of her classroom. Analysis showed that the teacher’s perspectivaes a reader, as reflected by her written commenotsn students’ papers, differed (a) across students, especially for the two students at either end of the ability rangea; and (b) a cross writing assignmentrs, evealing differences in their difficulty but in ways not predicted by the theory underlying the assignment sequence. Groundeind the social processes of writing and reading in the context of the classroom, the framework gives researchers and teacher as way to explore reader perspective in teacher response to student writing and its influence on writing and learning to write.

Modeling of exemplary samples of prose has been a commonly used method of teaching composition skills. But little research has been done on the effectiveness of using prose modeling in the composition classroom, and even instructors who use prose modeling in their instruction often question its value. This study examines the differences in response between expert and novice writers who were asked to write essays in an unfamiliar prose form after having been given different sets of instructions, some of which included a model of the unfamiliar prose form. The results of the study indicate that novice writers who are given a model of an unfamiliar prose form to imitate respond in a manner which is more introspective and evaluative and far more similar to the responses of expert writers than do novice writers who are not given a model.

The present study investigates the experiences of 17 children—all designated by school evaluators as “remedial” readers—as they interpreted and performed text through classroom theatre. Through participant observation, audio and video recording, artifacts, and interviews, the patterns of children’s text interpretation were analyzed to show how these children learned to take on the roles of actor, character, and critic in planning, performing, and evaluating their performances. As actors, the children were provided with opportunities to shoulder the “mantle of expertise,” experiencing the creative and critical features of a dramatic curriculum. As critics, the children learned to emphasize the roles of rules, resources, and the bases for common knowledge in their dramatic interpretations. As characters, they shifted perspective from self to other through voice, physical action, and connection to other characters. This year-long study details how these children moved from a perception of drama as uninhibited expression much influenced by media experiences to a perception of the bounded and negotiated nature of theatrical production influenced by careful text interpretation.

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This study investigated Piagetian measures of concrete operations in relation to specific school-type tasks in an attempt to link cognitive development and school learning. We predicted that the ability to sequence (seriation) would make a unique contributiont o gradef ive childrens’ comprehensiono f a narrativec ompositiont hey read and to the organization of a narrative they wrote. We also predicted that the ability to classify would make a unique contribution to childrens’ comprehension of a comparative exposition and to the organization of their own written comparisons. Two group sessions were conducted to collect narrative and comparative compositions from 65 children. Results indicated that seriation ability was especially relevant to the organization of temporal and causal relationships in their reading and writing of narratives and that classification ability was especially relevant to the organization of similarities and differences in their reading and writing of comparisons. However, analysis also suggested that development of the theoretically relevant cognitive abilities is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for high levels of performance in reading and writing. Moreover, relatively low correlations between reading and writing within the two genres studied suggested support for the view that reading and writing represent somewhat different sets of skills and that there are still other important skills specific to reading or writing.

This study reports the results of a three-year longitudinal evaluation of a National Writing Project site and illustrates the value of using multiple sources of data to evaluate aspects of National Writing Project sites. We examined the immediate effects of the Summer Institute by looking at teachers’ reactions to writing process Instruction both before and after the Summer Institute. We also examined longrange effects by looking at how teachers implemented the writing process in their classrooms over an extended period following Institute participation. Results indicate that during the Summer Institute teachers moved from self-oriented concerns about the writing process to concerns about how this approach would influence students and fellow teachers. Results also indicate how attendance at the Summer Institute affected classroom practice. We conclude with implications and questions for further study.

Persuasive/argumentativew riting is an importanta nd difficult mode of discourse for student writers. It is particularly problematic for non-native speakers, who often bring both linguistic and rhetorical deficits to the task of persuasion in English. This study analyzed 60 persuasive texts by university freshman composition students, half of whom were native speakers and half of whom were non-native speakers of English for 33 quantitative, topical structure, and rhetorical variables. The results showed clear differences between the essays of native and non-native speakers. These results and their implications for second language composition instruction are discussed.

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This investigation sought to determine how the active meaning-making process of 10 sixth-grade students with above average reading and writing ability was reflected in their written responses to four books of realistic fiction. Students kept literature response journals to record their ongoing thoughts and reflections during the reading process. The nine-point categorization scheme that emerged from the content of students’ responses was used to analyze the journals of 4 of these students in order to determine individual response styles. Further analysis revealed the sequence of response for these 4 students during each quarter of their reading and writing. The study suggests how complex and unique response to literature is for even upper elementary and middle school students

Editor’s Note: Selected, annotated bibliographies of research in the teaching of English appear in the May and December issues of RTE. In general the items selected for inclusion in each bibliography are drawn from the dissertation abstracts in DAI and from articles or books published from July to December preceding the May issue and from January to June preceding the December issue. Annotations of items drawn from DAI are based on the abstracts; annotations of other items are based on the full texts of those items. We ask readers to call our attention to published research we may have overlooked inadvertently or to notify us of newly published books containing research in the areas coveredb y the bibliographyf or possible inclusion in the review. Please send questions or comments to Richard L. Larson, 30 Greenridge Ave., 5-H, White Plains, NY 10605-1237.

This five-month study examined the writing behavior of 8 fifth-grade students as they composed original mathematics story problems. An analysis of observations indicated that students developed three strategies for writing story problems. First, students usually engaged in question-directed behavior during problem writing. After they identified the general problem topic, students generated the culminating question that they then used to guide composition of the problem text. At other times, students used a free association strategy: They generated their information by making associations with the general topic, wrote the problem text, and then identified the culminating question. Finally, all students developed techniques to make their problems more difficult. Overall, the analysis of students, problem writing behavior contributes to an understanding of the story-problem writing process. The study further suggests that students may be able to collaborate effectively with teachers in writing the mathematics curriculum.

Most studies dealing with feedback and revision focus on teachers and students in composition courses. However, there is insufficient evidence for assuming that these studies are applicable to writing situations in non-composition courses. To investigate the writing processes of non-composition students, this study describes patterns of feedback and revision in four writing across the curriculum (WAC) courses. The first and final drafts of 20 WAC students were analyzed by a team of readers to determine the following: 1) the apparent aims and criteria underlying the feedback they received on first drafts; 2) the extent to which the students utilized this feedback while revising; 3) the criteria most affected by the revisions; and 4) the extent of the revisions. Several patterns that emerged in this study resemble those found in research involving composition classrooms, although there are some differences as well. The study also highlights several issues for future research, including the source of a writer’s or reader’s criteria for effective writing and the comparative value of global and non-global revisions.

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Now let me remind you that the conference on which this book is based was organized to consider educational research, but this discourse, like our current discussions of values, is stranded in abstraction. Only in Popkewitz's chapter do we hear anything anything that has to do with schools, with children, with curriculum, with learning, with teaching. What ever happened to show-and-tell? I want to pass around my things, my pens, my frequent flier coupons. I want to empty my purse on the podium and let lipsticks, old change, keys, and stale pieces of Carefree gum and fuzzy aspirins contaminate the academic altar. I want to be obscene. What that means is that I want to show what goes on behind this scene, (p. 334)

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