Cultural Influences on ELT in Finland and Japan
This study offers a framework for studying how teaching 
English as a foreign language (TEFL) is planned and executed 
in relation to the educational culture present in specific 
learning environments. The study examined language planning 
and textbook design, testing, learner and teacher attitudes, 
transcribed classroom discourse and lesson segmentation data 
gathered in the two countries over a five-year period. 
Mike Garant 
University of Helsinki, PL 94, 54101 Kouvola, Finland. 
It has been published in Finland.  
http://www.jyu.fi/library/julkaisu/mgarant.htm#abs
Author seeks an international publisher. 
(899)

A Theoretical Approach to Creative Expression for School 
Counseling  This exploratory manual for school 
counselors traces  creative modalities in some of the 
performance arts, language arts and visual arts, from a 
theoretical perspective. Other populations served are college 
students and counselor educators who work indirectly with the 
vast majority of  regular high school students in guiding 
their developmental growth. Some attention is also paid to 
elementary and middle school children. School counseling must 
undergo systemic change for students to take advantage of 
their many personal and social counseling needs. School 
counselors deal primarily with academics and career counseling, 
relying almost exclusively on verbal interventions. Children 
would benefit greatly from authentic counseling. For those 
occasional incidents, counselors simply talk to students. Many 
children do not benefit from the traditional "talk therapies" 
for several reasons. Moreover, the targeted population of regular 
students has been neglected in the schools and the research 
because their problems do not place them in an at risk or special 
needs category. Yet many of them have maturational issues and 
serious problems which need to be addressed. Creative expression 
substantially improves their mental health. It increases their 
self-esteem as they become more focused, self-aware and attuned 
to their feelings. Allowing for originality and expressiveness 
positively impact teenagers' struggles with identity, peer pressure 
and communication skills. Right brain cognitive functions are 
stimulated and social skills are enhanced. Techniques described 
allow freedom of expression, empowering students in decision
-making, appropriate behavior and self-awareness. The manual begins 
with a background of experiential learning theories and practices. 
Successive chapters discuss theories and implications for adapta=
tion to a school environment in the following: an overview of 
expressive arts for mental health, neuro-linguistic programming, 
psychosynthesis, gestalt, action methods, including drama therapy 
and psychodrama, synergy, and an original eclectic design, combin=
ing elements from the others.  Ronne Mickey
12501 SW 110 S. Canal St., Mia., Fl.  33186
(899)

Faculty instructional development and oral communication 
in freshman seminars at the college of William and Mary
This study was an exploratory effort to describe the process
and outcomes of a faculty instructional development program
designed to promote pedagogical techniques focused on the
improvement of oral communication skills in first-semester
college students enrolled in a variable-content freshman 
seminar curriculum. The approach was to examine the participants'
responses to the training, identify any instructional strategies
adopted by faculty as a result of the training, and to explore
the impacts of these strategies on classroom dynamics and on
perceptions of student oral communication skill development.  
To this end, multiple data sources were utilized, including
historical information, descriptive observations, assessment
tools, surveys, interviews, and recordings of actual classroom
communication.  Two groups of freshman seminar instructors and
their students were examined:  a treatment group in which the
instructors took part in the instructional development training,
and a parallel comparative group in which the instructors did not
participate in the training.  Both faculty and student responses
to the freshman seminar curriculum were positive.  Instructional
development participants observed that their students overcame
communication apprehension and developed identity, critical
thinking skills, and classroom community as a result of
interactive teaching techniques.  They also recognized the
difficulties associated with interactive pedagogy and made a case
for more peer and institutional support in this type of
instructional development.  Students in the treatment group
reported higher perceptions of involvement and overall course
value than those in the comparative group, despite the fact that
actual classroom recordings did not indicate any significant
difference in student involvement.
Contact Info After August 1st: Tamara L. Burk, Ph.D. 
Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
University at Albany, SUNY
University Library B34
Albany, NY 12222
(799)

Meritocratic Ideals, Educational Credentialism, and 
Education Mothers:Contemporary Motherhood in Japan and Korea.
The purpose of this thesis is to discover the origins 
of the current role of the Japanese woman and Korean 
woman as "education mothers," and comment on this present 
state of motherhood and, ultimately, womanhood. The paper
traces the evolution of credentialism by focusing on the 
historical changes in the two nations, highlights the 
changes in education during these periods, and discusses 
the transformation and meaning of motherhood with an
emphasis on contemporary motherhood.   Jonathan Zeljo
19 Payson Avenue,  Easthampton, MA 01027 USA
(799)

The Effect of Teacher-made CD ROMs on Students of Various 
Learning Styles and Intelligences. This research has been 
designed to evaluate the effects of teacher-made CD-ROM 
multimedia-based curriculum on students of various 
intelligences and learning styles. Two consecutive classes 
were evaluated  to determine if there was a measurable 
difference in knowledge retention following a year of study. 
The control  group received the traditional classroom and 
competency-based course of study, while the experimental 
group received the same instruction enriched with teacher
made CD-ROM multimedia. Both groups completed lab assignments 
and were assessed with identical end of chapter exams at the 
conclusion of the year.  Graduate Thesis, Workforce and 
Development Education The Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA 16802 Randy Bish  1866 Ferguson Rd.
Allison Park, PA  15101
(799)

Latin and Romance in legal documents from the 2nd half of 
the 11th-century  The dissertation examines a corpus of 
Latin-Portuguese documents from the 2nd half of the 
11th-century, and contains a study of several linguistic 
variables to find patterns of change in correlation to the 
Gregorian Reform of 1080. My aim is to observe whether the 
post-Reform texts present significant differences vis-a-vis 
earlier texts, i.e. whether the language was still 
"Latin-Romance" and not "Medieval Reformed Latin". I conclude 
that the results do not reflect a clearcut break between older 
and later texts: the observed data do not confirm Menéndez 
Pidal's "restoration of latinity" immediately after the Reform. 
António H. A. Emiliano Departament of Linguistics, Universidade 
Nova de Lisboa,Avenida de Berna 26-C, 1050 LISBOA PORTUGAL
(799)

Taming the Lightning: American Telegraphy as a Revolutionary 
Technology, 1832-1860 This dissertation examines antebellum 
telegraphy as a revolutionary technology in two senses:  as a 
revolution in technological practice and as a transformative 
technology with revolutionary social effects. I make two 
arguments. First, the telegraph was a technological revolution, 
a radical break from existing technical practices and 
communities, because it had strong links to recent scientific 
discovery and it was one of the first technologies organized as 
a system.  Second, the telegraph did not usher in a communi-
cations revolution by 1860. Instead, its impact upon American 
life was much more subtle and gradual than contemporaries and 
historians have allowed. David Hochfelder IEEE History Center, 
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ  08901 USA
(799)