The hierarchical system of speech acts developed by Sinclair and Coulthard ("Towards an analysis of discourse: The English used by teachers and pupils." Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975) to describe interaction in traditional classrooms and later applied to face-to-face communication by Stenstrom ("An introduction to spoken interaction"…

Using transcripts of children's talk, this paper examines the validity of claims that children provided with opportunities to work cooperatively and collaboratively in small groups will use talk to help them make meaning and enhance their cognitive understanding. The claims are substantiated. (Contains 32 references.) (Author/LB)

Presents an analysis of the speech practices of preschool children engaged in daily play and interactions, by adopting a perspective that recognizes young children organizing social membership through talk and activity. A reading based on traditional early childhood practices is contrasted with an alternative reading showing children constructing…

Identifies the features of effective educational talk, using contextual differences between educational and social settings as starting points for the examination of students' seminar discourse, videotaped during a study of small-group classroom discussions in the United Kingdom. Findings reveal that these features include an appreciation of the…

Explores perspectives and methodologies that sociolinguistics brings to ethnographic research in schools. The article identifies the methodological contributions arising from linguistics that interactional sociolinguistics and microethnograpy share, such as the use of naturally occurring language data, the consultation of native intuition, and…

Classroom discourse is evaluated for the contribution it can make to students' learning in groups. Data recorded from primary age children working at computers are categorized as exploratory, cumulative, and disputational talk. The teacher's role in making explicit strategies that optimize exploratory talk is discussed. (Contains 31 references.)…

Analyzes examples of parent-teacher talk and printed materials sent to parents of students attending various secondary schools in and around a large city. The article focuses on extracts in which responsibility for student surveillance is negotiated. Findings indicate that parents, teachers, and students regulate themselves and each other through…