Macmillan English Research Articles

EFFECT OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING ON PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS’ READING ACHIEVEMENT IN AWKA METROPOLIS

This study investigated the effect of cooperative learning on reading achievement of primary school pupils in Awka Metropolis in Awka South Local Government Area. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design specifically the pre-test, post-test control group design. The population comprised of 3,419 primary five pupils in Awka metropolis and 65 pupils selected from schools that use Macmillan English who participated in the study formed the sample for the study. Reading Achievement Test (RAT) with a reliability coefficient of 0.89 determined using Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 was used to collect data for the study. Pupils in the experimental group were taught reading using reciprocal peer tutoring, a type of cooperative learning considered in the study while those in the control group were taught reading using conventional method. Data collected were analyzed using mean scores for research questions and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) for testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Major findings revealed that pupils taught reading with Reciprocal Peer Tutoring (RPT) performed significantly better than those taught with conventional method did. There was no significant difference in the performance of male and female pupils taught reading with RPT. Based on the findings, it was recommended that teachers training colleges and universities should incorporate reciprocal peer tutoring in their curriculum so that prospective teachers will be acquainted with the basic skills for designing RPT instructional materials for use in their respective classrooms. Teachers should be well equipped and integrated with RPT for an effective teaching, mastery and its application in the teaching and learning processes.

Laurel Brake. Print in Transition, 1850–1910; Studies in Media and Book History. New York: Palgrave. 2001. Pp. xv, 341. $69.95. ISBN 0-333-77047-1.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: MEDIA HISTORY: THE SERIAL AND THE BOOK 'Trepidation of the Spheres': Serials and Books in the Nineteenth Century Star Turn? Magazine, Part-issue, and Book Serialisation Macmillan's English Men of Letters Series and the New Biography 'Doing the Biz': Book-trade and News-trade Periodicals in the 1890s PART II: JOURNALS AND GENDER 'Silly Novels'? Gender and the Westminster Review at Mid Century 'Gay Space': The Artist and the Journal of Home Culture Gender and the New Journalism: The Yellow Book Marketing Notoriety: Advertising the Savoy PART III: PRINT AND GENDER: THE PUBLISHING CAREER OF WALTER PATER, 1866-1895 Studies and the Magazines The Politics of Illustration: Ruskin, Pater, and the Victorian Art Press After Studies : The Cancelled Book Appreciations : Aesthetics in the Affray The Profession of Letters: Pater's Greek Studies and the Market(s) Pater, Symons, and the Culture of the Fin de Siecle Endnotes Bibliography Index

THEACADEMYAS VIEWED BY FRANCIS BACON

Modern Academies, and implicitly, contemporary ones are the result of the ideas of the Renaissance but equally of the views of such great thinkers such as Francis Bacon (1561‐1629) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646‐1716). For this reason, in discussing the missions and activities of present day Academies, it is interesting to go to the roots and to recall Bacon's views on an ideal Academy, named by him the College of Six Days’ Work, the Solomon's House, or the Noblest Foundation. This text, related to the description of the activities of the Solomon's House, is derived from a Twentieth Century edition published within Macmillan's English Classics Collection, Macmillan and Co., Limited, St. Martin's Street, London (Printed in the United Kingdom by Robert Maclehose and Co., Ltd., the University Press, Glasgow), existing in the Library of the Romanian Academy (1‐236472).