Study examined the content and form of elementary students' discussions in cooperative groups. Researchers recorded group discussions during whole language literacy instruction. Across classrooms, much verbal interaction was oriented toward academic and procedural talk, although the cognitive level of the discussions was low. Some grade level and…

Study explored differences in conversational power by comparing discourse in whole language and traditional basal second-grade classrooms. Researchers compared the contextual setting and discourse of rug-time during reading instruction in the classrooms. Results suggested two contrasts between teachers' rug-time discourse: imposed versus generated…