Most of the research on argumentation in science education has documented the myriad flaws in students' argumentation, and the difficulties teachers have organising productive arguments in the classroom. We apply a sociocultural framework to argue that productive argumentation emerges from a classroom culture in which its practice meaningfully…

The ability to interact with others has gained recognition as part of the L2 speaking construct in the assessment literature and in high- and low-stakes speaking assessments. This paper first presents a review of the literature on interactional competence (IC) in L2 learning and assessment. It then discusses a particular feature--"producing…

The close study of classroom talk has been an active field of research since the 1970s, when John Furlong made his significant contribution. Focusing particularly on research into teacher-student interactions, we will review the development of this field from the 1970s until the present, considering what has been learned and the educational…

With dual language learners falling behind their same-age peers at the beginning of kindergarten, understanding how school experiences can enhance language learning is critical. This study demonstrates how play among preschool-aged children can foster English language learning. Using an ethnographic approach, one classroom composed of two teachers…

We use the theory of communities of practice and the concept of accountable disciplinary knowledge to describe how a learning community develops in the context of an upper-division physics laboratory course. The change in accountable disciplinary knowledge motivates students' enculturation into a community of practice. The enculturation process is…

This paper describes use of social network analysis to examine student interaction patterns in a Grade 5/6 Knowledge Building class. The analysis included face-to-face interactions and interactions in the Knowledge Forum[R] Knowledge Building environment. It is argued that sociogram data are useful to reveal group processes; in sociological terms,…

The aim of this qualitative case study is to investigate how learning in "democratic participation" is constituted by the social interaction and conversation pattern in school democratic meetings in a Swedish primary school. According to the findings, a pupil control discourse and the Initiation-Response-Evaluation pattern dominates the…

Discusses how the terms, "discourse,""education," and "identity," are interwoven in the collection of papers in this issue as well as how, as theoretical constructs, they are differently inflected within individual papers. The article points out that all the papers engage with both the micro- and macro-levels of analysis. (8 references) (Author/CK)

Demonstrates that there are different types of interaction in English-as-a-second-language classroom discourse, including "negotiating" and "non-negotiating" interaction which is similar to that in social exchanges in which meaning is negotiated between the interlocuters. (Author/CB)

Some learning scientists are beginning to investigate social and cultural aspects of learning by examining the interactions between a learner and the environment as well as with other people in the learning environment. This article proposes conversational analysis (CA) as a tool to analyze interactions between learners and instructors in…

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…

Experimental and supplementary observational studies of how children help one another learn are reported. In the experiment, developmental patterns in children's discourse in two common peer-learning situations were investigated. Sixty-four pairs of children, drawn equally from kindergarten and second grade, participated in the study. Dyads,…

Discusses the merit in having every English-as-a-Second-Language learner speak during every session to practice English as opposed to the value of allowing a period of silence until the student is ready to speak. It is crucial to provide a stimulus for meaningful interaction and to follow up with opportunities for each learner to use an individual…

The question of whether the English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) classroom is an environment that promotes input, feedback, and the production of output that is necessary for successful second language learning is addressed. Such questions have arisen within the context of a growing emphasis on communicative activities and student-to-student…

The patterns of moves in one type of teaching setting is very fixed: the teacher sets the stage for the learning, then sets tasks or asks questions for others to respond to and then comments on the performances. The problem with this pattern in language classrooms is that language is used differently in non-teaching settings. If students are…