Drawing on observations and audio-recordings of classroom language use in two postcolonial societies, the Republic of Botswana in Africa and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam in south-east Asia, this study seeks to explore how teachers and pupils face the challenge of accomplishing teaching and learning using a language which is not their own. In…

Differences in teaching at primary and intermediate grade levels were investigated. Specific attention was given to differences in teacher behaviors, teacher communications, grouping, teacher control, and types of materials. Six primary classrooms and five intermediate classrooms were each observed for four 45-minute observation periods, yielding…

To gain more information about the language awareness of young children, a study examined the relationship between 14 middle class kindergarten children's oral language and their reading achievement in third, fourth, and fifth grades. Individual children's ranks on 61 oral language features derived from a previous microethnography were compared to…

This paper reports research on differences between teaching in the primary and intermediate grades. Hypotheses concerning differences in teacher behaviors, teacher communications, grouping, teacher control, and types of materials were developed. Six 1st- and 2nd-grade classes and five 4th- and 5th-grade classes were observed for four 45-minute…

This study investigated the cross-cultural differences in American and Finnish elementary teachers' evaluations of their classroom teaching behaviors. The self-evaluation instrument developed for the study was administered to 167 American elementary teachers from Indiana and Texas and to 172 Finnish teachers (also elementary) from two different…

Motivational strategies and attitudes toward learning were examined among students in three fifth-grade classrooms. Teacher statements used to frame lessons, maintain the session and keep students on task, and handle responsibility for learning were extracted from transcripts of classroom observations. Lesson framing and management/maintenance…

Analyzes discourse in a school classroom setting by comparing teacher reactions, particularly involving interruptions, with girls versus boys. Findings from a fifth-grade class show teachers interrupted girls more often than boys and also had differing conversational styles when dealing with girls versus boys. Additionally, boys were offered…

"Questioning the Author" is a particular style of classroom discussion that tries to get young students (fourth and fifth graders) to actively grapple with the ideas they read about in class. It may be distinguished from other reading strategies by the following approaches: (1) it addresses a text as the product of a fallible author; (2)…

Examines the instructional communication behavior and perspectives of two elementary school teachers in the gifted classroom. Describes and analyzes communication patterns and compares the two cases. (NKA)

Examines the potential of small-group interaction to provide significant linguistic opportunities that whole-class teaching is less well placed to deliver. Compares data from two groups of children from the same classroom engaged in the same group activity. Draws on the work of Bakhtin to identify monologic and dialogic features in the children's…

Four classroom activities useful for language immersion instruction are described and specific applications and extensions are noted. All are best used to teach content and language at the same time. The first, entitled "Think-Pair-Share," is a cooperative learning technique that increases student participation in classroom experiences and…

Music therapy and music education majors' perceptions of teacher approval/disapproval given to elementary students were assessed. There were significant differences between the two groups regarding the perceived use of teacher time, with music education students estimating a significantly greater amount of time devoted to approval. (Author/RM)

A classroom observation technique that describes classroom events at the level of activity and analyzes the communicative features of verbal exchanges between students and teachers within each activity is described. Activity characteristics indentified include type, participant organization, content, student modality or skills used, and materials;…

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…

Using a comparative and historical approach, this paper examines linguistic perspectives on minority education, specifically language-based explanations for the reading problems of working class minority group students. The paper first discusses the ways in which competence and performance theories of language treat the relation between language…