This study examined the effects of collaborative dialogue in learning the speech act of request. Seventy-four second-grade girls' junior high students were divided into three groups. The "collaborative group" (n = 25) received explicit metapragmatic information on request (request head act and modifications) followed by a dialogue…

In classrooms tests, students are regularly required to demonstrate their understanding of mathematical concepts. When children encounter problems in demonstrating such understanding, it is often not clear whether this is because of the language of the teachers' questions and instructions or a genuine non-understanding of the concept itself. This…