The Active Reader: Strategies for Academic Reading and Writing, Third Edition
Designed to provide students with a practical, integrated approach to reading and writing, The Active Reader is divided into three parts. Part I: Academic Reading introduces students to the conventions of academic discourse and to critical thinking. Part II: Academic Writing begins with an overview of college/university essays and then discusses reports, critical analyses, summaries, and research essays. Part III: The Active Reader features thirty-nine diverse and cross-disciplinary readings that are organized into five thematic sections.
A critical look at the Communicative Approach (Michael Swan)
This article examines some of the more theoretical ideas underlying the Communicative Approach. These include the belief that we should teach use as well as meaning, and some attitudes regarding the teaching of skills and strategies. A second article will deal with more pedagogical aspects of the approach, especially the idea of a semantic syllabus and the question of authenticity in materials and methodology.
The Nation is America’s oldest weekly magazine and is independently published. The Nation speaks to an engaged audience as a champion of civil liberties, human rights, and economic justice. The Nation breaks down critical issues with lively editorials, in-depth investigative reporting and analysis, as well as award-winning arts coverage.
Critical thinking skills remain at the forefront of educational discussions. School systems demand that critical thinking be incorporated into curricula, and standardized testing increasingly assesses it. However, there remains the question of how English language teachers include the development and practice of these important skills in their lessons. To this end, this article presents a sequence of seven critical thinking tasks, a flexible framework that acts as a practical tool for planning and developing level-appropriate classroom materials that encourage and advance critical thinking.
New Media: A Critical Introduction is a comprehensive introduction to the culture, history, technologies and theories of new media. Written especially for students, the book considers the ways in which 'new media' really are new, assesses the claims that a media and technological revolution has taken place and formulates new ways for media studies to respond to new technologies.
