Describes some of the primary features of educational criticism, an arts-based approach to qualitative inquiry. Examines the aims of this approach and discusses four dimensions of educational criticism: descriptive, interpretative, normative, and thematic. Addresses questions of rigor and identifies three criteria (consensual validation,…

Explores a range of ways that threat can exist and be transcended in a critical inquiry classroom by examining vignettes taken from one intensive inquiry project conducted in an urban high school English classroom. Concludes that educators need to acknowledge the ways stakeholders may feel threatened and to provide means for interrogating those…

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal about educational criticism as a form of qualitative inquiry. Argues that research in education has become a dead end. Agrees in the main with the article, but finds its view of criticism somewhat limited. Discusses the classroom itself as hypertext. (SR)

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal about educational criticism as a form of qualitative inquiry. Argues that a "critical" approach to education should not be justified on an ambiguous relationship to art but that educational criticism is needed because meaningful descriptions are needed of what happens when teaching…

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal about educational criticism as a form of qualitative inquiry. Invites the authors to address questions regarding the differences in purpose and commitments between art and science and the definition of educational criticism as a form of qualitative research. (SR)

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal about educational criticism as a form of qualitative inquiry. Asks whether such criticism should count as research if it is not accompanied by a full demonstration of its consensual validation, structural corroboration, and by exploration of reasons why the critic gives a particular…

Responds to an article in the same issue of this journal about educational criticism as a form of qualitative inquiry. Argues that research and criticism should be viewed as different forms of inquiry leading to different kinds of understanding. Suggests adding another item, "validation of learning," to the list of criteria for…

Responds to points raised in five articles which responded to an article by these authors (Flinders and Eisner) in the same issue of this journal about educational criticism as a form of qualitative inquiry. (SR)

Investigates, in a longitudinal study, the spelling development of young deaf children in the context of an integrated process writing classroom. Identifies/categorizes the spelling strategies employed by deaf writers as print-based, speech-based, and sign-based. Provides insights into the nature of cognitive processes in the deaf child. (PA)

Explores responses of 10 fifth graders to the dialog of a play. Creates 12 speech act interruption points and asks children to write predictions for the character's line. Examines these for conversational cooperativity. Finds children's oral explanations for their predictions revealed two major interpretive stances--an interactive focus and a…

Argues that interactants define and stabilize identity by producing identity artifacts with multimodal means, by constructing configurations of those artifacts, and by using those artifacts to project social space. Develops the argument through the close analysis of an episode of interaction from a high school English classroom in which one…

Studies the moral dimension of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching to adults. Analyzes examples of classroom interaction to reveal the moral substrate of the teacher's words and actions. Finds that various features of classroom routines and impromptu exchanges have profound moral significance. Suggests that the moral meanings present in…

Examines how conceptions of what it means to read and discuss literature shaped peer-led discussions in the classroom. Explores the relationship between social and interpretive expectations in the classroom and the positions students took during literature discussions. Shows that students worked to create solidarity. Complicates the role that…

Documents and examines the changes in five teachers' classrooms during a transition from basal reading programs to literature-based reading instruction. Reports problems with such a transition as well as benefits observed throughout the study. (HB)

Addresses problems and possibilities in development of practitioner research stemming from a semester-long master's level research course. Presents course context; outlines the four classroom studies that examined journal writing; explores commonalities among studies; shares conversations among researchers on issues of systematic inquiry,…