A teacher's reactions to students' mathematical contributions have critical implications for shaping both teaching and learning. We present a framework for describing reacting moves that resulted from a comparative analysis between two existing frameworks; one developed by secondary teachers for parsing instructional practice and the other…

Presents analysis of argumentative discourse by students, revealing that it involves both dialogical and argumentative operations. Reports that dialogical and argumentative operations are functionally linked. Concludes that the percentage of markers of utterance involvement, axiological forms, and modalizations is much higher in argumentative…

Conversational samples of 10 dyads of 4-year-old children during play were analyzed. All dyads evidenced some lengthy topics (13-91 utterances), characterized by 3 text-level functions: enacting scenarios, describing, and problem solving. Three-fourths of all dialogues were considered relatively short. (Author/JDD)

Patterns of use of the French particles "bon, (eh) ben, and enfin" were analyzed in a corpus of spontaneous multispeaker conversation. Results show that each particle marks a particular type of discontinuity in the discourse. Turn-initial and turn-medial patterns are described for each. (17 references) (Author/MSE)

An analysis is presented of the speech act sequence of indirect complaint/commiseration in conversational interactions between Japanese learners of English as a Second Language and their English-speaking peers. Consequences of nonsubstantive, noncommiserative responses are explored in light of missed opportunities for interaction. (46 references)…

For better comprehension and more communicative production among francophones, students of French should be taught the use and function of detached phrases as they are used in popular spoken French. A specific approach distinguishing between appropriate spoken and written usage is outlined. (20 references) (MSE)

A structured discourse strategy, employing child echoic imitations and adult expansion, was used to teach five autistic preschool children two-term semantic relations. The strategy increased the children's initial spontaneous imitations of two-term relations. Following the imitation increase, spontaneous productions of the two-term relations…

Proposes a technique of developing conversational, expressive competence based on a discourse model. Exercises to develop an understanding of commercial negotiation illustrate the technique. (MSE)

A theory of literary interpretation that treats the reader's interaction with text as a form of conversation is discussed, and related teaching techniques are described. The approach uses four steps: (1) articulating initial responses; (2) pursuing deeper understanding of the text; (3) interaction with the text; and (4) identifying possibilities…

This study analyzed complimenting behavior in French between French native speakers and American advanced French learners in seven dinner party conversations. Data are found to provide a rich source of lessons in politeness for both sociolinguistic and pedagogic descriptions of French speech acts. (Author/MSE)

A study examined the adjustments made in an individual's speech according to the age and native language of the person being addressed, and compared the results to previous findings on characteristics of "foreigner talk" and "mother talk". An adult native English-speaker addressed four people in turn--an adult native English-speaker, an adult…

Taking a Vygotskian perspective, this monograph focuses on the quality of interaction between children and staff in Australian child care and education programs. Aspects of quality interaction are presented through examples of interaction and through personal stories of staff analyzing their interactional patterns through video and audiotapes.…

Classroom communication in the second-language class is examined from an ethnographic perspective, highlighting the role of students in helping each other learn. Turn-taking, patterns of addressing teacher and peers, and different kinds of interaction that promote learning: cooperative; didactic; competitive; theatrical; personalized. (MSE)

A set of recorded teacher-child interactions in a successful kindergarten classroom was analyzed using the Mehan interactional model for analyzing the sequential organization of speech acts within classroom lessons. The study identified aspects of teacher-student interaction during formal instruction time at micro-interactional levels. The class…

A study investigated how non-native speakers of English used linguistic and non-linguistic skills to manage interaction in an interview-style verbal test of English proficiency. Subjects were eight international teaching assistants, four native speakers of Spanish and four native speakers of Chinese, who took a standardized oral interview…