This study investigates the extent to which the Florida B.E.S.T (Benchmark for Excellent Student Thinking) English Language Arts (ELA) standards demand that students participate in dialogic interactions within the 10th grade ELA classroom. Dialogic demands, characterized by active discourse and collaborative sense-making, are the opportunities students interact with one another or with a text. The dialogic elements of classroom pedagogy are an increasingly recognized critical component of effective literacy instruction in contrast with the monologic classroom where teachers are the primary source of information. A Critical Discourse Analysis through the lens of Fairclough is used as this research aims to identify specific instances where students are required to engage in meaningful dialogue with one another or with a text. The analysis examines the standards' language, the distribution of the standards, and the underlying ideological stance of the standards that students interact with. By assessing the presence or absence of dialogic demands within the standards, this study seeks to provide insights into the alignment between the Florida B.E.S.T ELA standards and the principles of dialogic pedagogy. Findings from this research can inform curriculum development, instructional practices, and educational policies aimed at promoting more robust and participatory approaches to literacy education in Florida schools.

There is a great tendency in using literature as a medium of language teaching because literature plays an essential role in developing the students’ language skills. It also helps them in acquiring cultural experiences and to attain a better understanding of the literary texts. The Swedish National Agency for Education supports the inclusion of literature in English language classes in each of primary, secondary and even upper secondary schools. This research aims to examine the underlying reasons behind incorporating literature in teaching English, specifically in Swedish secondary schools grades 7-9, and it sheds light on how teachers manage to employ literature effectively in the classroom. Moreover, it explains the criteria behind selecting appropriate literary texts that suit students’ needs. The study also states some problems that may encounter teachers in adopting literature as a way of teaching. All these issues are discussed through conducting qualitative interviews with three English teachers. This study points out that literature has been used as a paramount tool for teaching English. By reading literary books, students’ knowledge about social and cultural issues is developed and their language skills also become better. Furthermore, teachers mention that there are several central criteria to note when using literature during the process of teaching literature, such as selecting literary materials with topics that students can find interesting to work with. Different kinds of tasks have been assigned to students to get the opportunity to describe, analyse and reflect upon what they worked with.  Some of the challenges identified by the teachers are lack of time and the students’ different skill levels. More studies are required regarding the efficacy of using literature as a helping educational tool in English language learning from students’ views, in particular considering individual and linguistic improvement.

教育部明訂，九年一貫能力指標應作為教科書編輯者編撰課本、習作之依據。透過教科書，學生可期望習得能力指標所標示的能力。台灣國中英語教學現場中，習作常作為學生的回家作業，所以能力指標如何呈現在習作上可影響學生能力習得的結果；然而，目前相關研究仍顯不足，因此，本研究採用九年一貫國中英語讀寫能力指標，分析目前最為廣用的一套國中英語習作。另外，本研究也針對第一線國中英語教師進行團體訪談，以了解教師對習作和能力指標的看法。 本研究的結果總結如下: 1. 14條指標中，只有3項在習作中有超過10%的練習題目(推論字義文意;了 解文章主旨大意；合併、改寫及造句)；然而卻有8項指標在習作中的練 習題少於1.5%。 2. 針對被強調的3項指標，訪談教師同意這些能力的確需要被強調，只不過習 作的練習題仍顯不足。 3. 針對被忽略的8項指標，教師認為有些能力(例:查字典)對學生來說並非最 重要，因此習作缺乏此類練習是可以接受的；不過，某些能力(例:看懂圖 表標示)因為和學生的日常生活息息相關，理應出現在習作裡；而部分難度 較高的指標(例:寫一個段落)可編為自由選擇(optional)的習題，讓程度 較高的學生有更多練習的機會。 根據研究結果，研究者對教育決策者、教科書編輯、及英語教師提出數點 建議。 / The competence indicators (CI) listed in the Grades 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines are regulated as the principles for private publishers to compile teaching materials—textbooks and student workbooks. Through these teaching materials, it is expected that students can acquire the competences stipulated in the curriculum guidelines. Student workbooks, especially in Taiwan’s junior high school English classrooms, are used as a main source for students’ homework. Therefore, how the CIs are incorporated into the workbooks can affect students’ acquirement of the competences. Nonetheless, little research has been done on analysis of English workbooks based on competence indicators. This study, therefore, aimed to analyze a most popular set of junior high school English workbooks based on the Grades 7-9 reading and writing competence indicators. To gain more in-depth insights, a focus group interview with in-service teachers was later conducted to explore teachers’ views on the workbooks and competence indicators. The results of the present study are summarized as follows. 1.Of the 14 CIs, only three were emphasized (to guess meanings of words and reading passages; to understand main ideas; and to combine, change, and make sentences), each taking up more than 10% of the workbook exercises. However, there were up to eight CIs that were neglected, each taking up less than 1.5% of the workbook exercises. 2.As for the three emphasized CIs, the teacher interviewees agreed that the emphasis was necessary, but the practice in the workbooks were still insufficient for their students. 3.As for the eight neglected CIs, the teachers considered that: (1) lack of practice on some CIs, such as to use a dictionary, was acceptable, for these skills were impractical for their students; (2) some practices, such as to fill out forms, should have be included into the workbooks because they were related to students’ daily lives; (3) certain practices, such as to write a simple paragraph, could be designed as optional workbook exercises for high achieving students to master more advanced skills. Finally, some suggestions are provided on the basis of the findings in this study.