Establishing a communication-rich classroom can be difficult. This article describes the process and findings of a practitioner action research study addressing the question of how teachers can interact with their students while they are working in groups to encourage and enhance student-to-student communication. Recommended research-based teacher…

Three teachers describe classroom experiences with students who are deaf or hard of hearing. These narratives demonstrate the importance of the process of conversational classroom transactions in the development of basic writing, reading, and teaching skills. (DB)

Uses a Transactional Analysis (TA) model to analyze destructive classroom interaction patterns between teacher and student. Suggests ways that teachers can prevent manipulative interpersonal games from allowing the learning situation to deteriorate. (GC)

Investigates teacher classroom management communication using Scheflen's context analysis as a descriptive framework. Focuses on the movements or positions that teachers use in managing classroom interaction in an alternative high school class. Suggests hypotheses for future research. (PD)

Five teachers using a conversational approach to language teaching with hearing-impaired students were studied. Teachers tended to exert a high level of conversational control, though conversational control decreased over time. The children (ages 4-10) exhibited language growth in their imitations and responses but not in spontaneous utterances.…

The project studied a critical aspect of school performance, how children know how to display interactional competence during classroom lessons. Using videotapes of classroom lessons and interviews with participants, the study analyzed the language used by teachers and students as well as their physical behaviors to infer the knowledge needed for…

Examined student behaviors during laboratory activities and the amount of time involved in each behavior. Approximately 89 percent of the student time was spent interacting with others. The amount of time spent on various activities appeared to be dependent on the nature of the activity and on the make up of the laboratory group. (YP)

Differences in interaction patterns between teachers and high/low achieving and high/low expectation students were examined in four grade 3 and six grade 6 classes, involving 237 students. Teachers interacted most frequently with high achieving/expectancy students, but spent more time waiting for and interacting with low achieving/expectancy…

Describes the distribution of teacher interactions with male and female students in secondary geography classrooms. Reports that, in 70 percent of the classes, attention was unequally divided with the surplus in favor of males in 57 percent. Notes that the majority of geography students are female, whereas 80 percent of the teachers are male. (DK)