Research has established that classroom verbal interaction typically involves turn taking cycles described as "teacher solicits,""pupil responds," and "teacher reacts." A study examined the question/answer cycles occurring within 36 videotaped language arts lessons conducted by six elementary school teachers and made inferences regarding what…

A sociolinguistic study of pupil interpretations of the functions of teacher praise in lessons involved 165 pupils in six classes in a single multiethnic, lower socioeconomic status, elementary school. Procedures involved videotaping six language arts lessons in each classroom. After playbacks of videotapes, pupils were asked individually, "What…

Examines elementary-school students' perceptions of teacher praise in relation to their classroom's social and academic status, participation in class discussions, and ethnicity. (MP)

The study reported in this monograph represents two years of data collection designed to explore the social meaning of language in naturalistic classroom settings. The first part of the book presents the framework within which the study was carried out. The first chapter explicates the framework provided by prior research on classroom language,…

Data on one aspect of a year-long sociolinguistic study of participant perspectives of classroom discourse are presented in this final report. Second-, third-, and fourth-grade pupils in a lower socioeconomic, mutiethnic elementary school viewed videotapes of language arts lessons given earlier in the day. Each videotape was presented in three…

Part of a year-long sociolinguistic study of teacher and pupil perceptions of classroom discourse, this study presents data on pupil perceptions of discourse in play settings. Subjects were 165 pupils from six second, third, and fourth grade classrooms in a lower socioeconomic, multiethnic elementary school. In each of the six classrooms six…

Data gathered during a year-long sociolinguistic study of participant perspectives of classroom discourse are presented in this final report. Elementary school students gave their perceptions of (1) the formal rules or expectations governing discourse at school, in play groups, and at home; (2) appropriate forms to get attention or influence…

Part of a year-long sociolinguistic study of teacher and pupil perceptions of classroom discourse, this study focused on the following methodological question: how might the approach selected for analysis of language as a linguistic system affect what is learned about language in a given social situation? Subjects were 165 children and their…

This report presents a summary of findings from a year-long sociolinguistic study of pupil and teacher perceptions of classroom discourse. Subjects were 164 pupils, and their teachers, in six second, third, and fourth grade classrooms in a lower socioeconomic, multiethnic elementary school. Six teacher-planned language arts lessons were videotaped…