Review by Choice Review
This book is probably worth reading. It investigates a subject that undoubtedly interests everyone who teaches, but most specifically teachers of composition: what to do about students who will not participate in class discussion. At the end of the book, Reda (English, College of Staten Island, CUNY) offers eight "teaching practices," with statements such as "dialogue can happen in many ways" and "listening is participating too" that will help to alleviate the problem (though she does not want silence defined as a problem). However, they seem more focused on changing the teacher than changing the students. Aside from the fact that Reda never actually arrives at a solution to the silence problem, the only difficulty with the book is that it is so thoroughly written in the argot of the critical theorists that it is extremely hard to read. On the positive side, the bibliography is excellent, and the organization is rational. The book is recommended only for graduate students in rhetoric, rhetoricians who self-identify as critical pedagogues, and the libraries that serve them. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate and research collections. J. Vandergriff University of Arizona
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
