Project Report (M.Pub.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Project Report (Master of Publishing Program) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

This research is a content analysis of six recently published basal reader series, each of which begins with a readiness/priming sequence that starts with letters, words, connected strings of words, and a few pages of activities which might be considered general readiness. While this concept of readiness for reading reflects a word recognition view of reading, marketing promotions include eclectic statements regarding philosophy, materials, and methods which reflect an early childhood view of child development and meaning construction. Publishers imply that reading is a process of constructing meaning, but they supply materials for both students and teachers which neither encourage nor allow for meaningfulness. While descriptions of the series studied promise special and unique approaches to readiness, they are very similar to one another in every aspect of readiness. Each provides an overwhelming proportion of activities and workbook pages with the major instructional focus on letters and words. There are minor differences in connected text among the various series, but those differences are primarily in regard to the specific type of vowel control used. Considerations about the syntactic and semantic language systems follow the same formulae throughout the industry. Publishers of basal readers hire professional educators to quote research and lend credibility to their "scientifically" designed programs, but the published materials often contradict statements made by these professionals. While there is some indication in the manuals and promotional materials that suggest knowledge on the part of editors and authors concerning research in the areas of emergent literacy and psycholinguistic theory, there is little within the materials and methods that reflects this knowledge.

According to Stangl (1994), Jalongo (2002), Richards and Miller (2005) and a host of other authors regarding publishing in educational journals, understanding the audience for an article is of utmost importance. Huff (1999) notes that an author must understand the audience for whom s/he writes. While much of this understanding of audience comes down to suitable topics (Silverman, 1982), articles must also fit the style of the journal to which it is being presented (Olsen, 1997). With this in mind, the purpose of this study is to characterize the writing style of academic writing in education. This research will involve exploring and analyzing various education and research journals, and through an analysis of individual education articles, delineating the writing style for academic writing in education. By looking at the various components of writing style, a writing style or various writing styles found in scholarly writing in education was determined. It was found that there is a definite style in academic writing in education with two other distinct subsets--journals associated with specific associations and journals with a purely quantitative focus. It is suggested that specific curriculum and instruction in writing style be added to the current study of research.

This thesis examines law and policy in the book publishing industry in Ghana, with an evaluation of the success of government-sponsored institutions that have been established for the purpose of publishing development in the country. Issues concerning publishing development in Ghana and other countries in Africa have attracted considerable debate and coverage in the literature. The focus of the debate has been mainly centred on challenges confronting publishing development in the continent and the promotion of sustainable schoolbooks provision. Whilst there is a body of existing literature on the historical development of book publishing and its challenges, the role of law and policy, and the contributions of government-sponsored institutions to publishing development has not been explored. This thesis therefore provides the first analysis of law and policy, and an evaluation of government-sponsored institutions. In an attempt to fill this gap, this research identifies law and policy, examines the rationale for policy formulation, the policy-making process itself, the experiences of various stakeholders in the formulation of these policies and issues relating to the implementation of policy. It also evaluates the success of government-sponsored institutions by examining how their work has influenced book development and publishing in the country. The data for this research comprise legislation, policy documents and recorded interviews. These were analysed using the framework that was developed for book policy analysis. The use of the framework has been particularly useful in the analysis because it is compatible with the critical realist approach. Over two empirical chapters, the use of content analysis provides a thorough insight of the social, economic and political context, within the context of Ghana, for which institutions dedicated to publishing development were established as well as the formulation of book policies. Although government-sponsored institutions have provided considerable support to publishing development, the findings suggest that their operations are hindered due to a lack of funds and logistics. The findings again suggest that both national and international legislation have not been adequately beneficial to publishing development. A third empirical chapter, which focuses on the interview data for policy development offers an in-depth analysis into the policy-making process and the challenges that are associated with the implementation of policy. The findings suggest existing policy is limited in terms of scope of book publishing, and even with this limitation, there is a lack of transparency in the procurement process. A major challenge of the book publishing industry in Ghana is the lack of resources to enforce legislation and implement policies. Public policy analysis is not a new concept, however this research developed a framework for book policy analysis, a framework that combines concepts from general public policy analysis and in the specific area of information science as well as guidelines from UNESCO s guide to formulating book policies in a way that allowed the content of book policies to be analysed. The research also recommends that institutions should be strengthened through review and restructuring, and to review the textbook policy towards the development of a national book policy that will recognise book publishing as a strategic national industry.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul / This research is about schoolbooks, the ones published after the law 10.639/2003 and that brings the Afro-Brazilian right as main theme, and the teacher s adjustment, to promote the Education for all considering the Human Rights. The main idea of this study is around the question: what are the Afro-Brazilian representations from nominations, adjectives, actions, tensions, conflicts and negotiations that are present on the book s narratives? This study is relevant in recognition of the status of right of the Afro-Brazilians and the public politics need s for that. Therefore, considering this, one of the themes related here is the prejudice and the racism. The focus is on the dialogue about democratic and inclusive actions related to Education and the Afro-Brazilian culture as a part of the Brazilian culture, based on the symbolic level of the editorial and mediatic representations. The methodology is based on the bibliographic search and the uses of the narratology to analyses the selected products for the corpus. In addition to this, there are interviews with teachers to let us know more about their adjustment with the law 10.639/2003 and its schoolbooks. These teachers are from São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. / A proposta desta pesquisa tem como tema as produções editoriais didáticas embasadas na lei 10.639/2003 que trabalhem o direito à afro-brasilidade e a apropriação dos professores, afim da promoção da Educação inclusiva baseada nos Direitos Humanos. A questão central proposta para problematizar o tema está definida na pergunta: quais são as representações do afro-brasileiro a partir das nomeações, adjetivações, ações atribuídas, tensões, conflitos e negociações apresentados nestas narrativas? A justificativa de sua execução é a questão de reconhecimento de cidadania afro-brasileira e a necessidade de políticas públicas para tal, perpassando por questões ainda latentes na sociedade como o racismo. O objetivo geral deste estudo é promover o diálogo acerca de medidas democráticas e inclusivas relacionadas à Educação e à cultura afro-brasileira como parte também integrante da cultura brasileira, considerando para tal o nível simbólico das representações midiáticas editoriais. A metodologia é feita por base na pesquisa bibliográfica e no uso da narratologia para a análise das cartilhas selecionadas para o corpus. Além disso, é feito o uso de entrevistas fechadas para conhecermos as apropriações de professores de São Paulo e do Rio Grande do Sul acerca de produções editoriais didáticas voltadas à afro-brasilidade.