Studies on classroom interaction have typically focused on relationships between turn-taking patterns and some larger unit of analysis of varying length and nature. However, two questions still left unanswered are how teachers talk differently from students in general and how linguistic variation between two participants might relate to…

A METHODOLOGY WAS DEVELOPED TO DESCRIBE THE LANGUAGE OF THE CLASSROOM BY CONSIDERING--(1) PEDAGOGICAL MOVES OF STRUCTURING, SOLICITING, RESPONDING, AND REACTING, (2) SUBSTANTIVE MEANINGS, (3) SUBSTANTIVE-LOGICAL MEANINGS, (4) INSTRUCTIONAL MEANINGS, AND (5) INSTRUCTIONAL-LOGICAL MEANINGS. A PROCEDURE WAS ALSO DEVELOPED FOR CHARACTERIZING THE…

It is shown that, although native English speakers routinely use subject-verb-object questions for specific functions and in informal discourse, this question form rarely appears in textbooks or presentations used in English-as-a-Second-Language classrooms. Thus, language presented in these classes may not expose students to the complete range of…

This article considers arguments for and against the use of coding systems in classroom-based language research and touches on some relevant considerations from ethnographic and conversational analysis approaches. The four authors each explain and elaborate on their practical decision to code or not to code events or utterances at a specific point…

Explores specific classroom language used by students for whom English is a second language. (HOD)

A study investigated whether learners of English as a Second Language can learn implicatures through explicit teaching. Data were drawn from an earlier experiment and analyzed for this purpose. Subjects were foreign university students with advanced English proficiency. Six types of implicature were taught. Students were encouraged to analyze the…

A pilot study was conducted as part of a larger sociological investigation of small group interaction. Specifically, the study dealt with communication in three first-grade advanced reading groups, each composed of 15 children, and focused on two types of requests: those for action and those for information. Student interactions were audio- and…

Data from a larger ethnolinguistic study are presented to demonstrate patterns of pupil-teachers exchanges between bilingual children and monolingual teachers in an urban nursery school in England. Children were aged 3-4 years. Naturally-occurring discourse data were audiotaped and substantial contextual data was gathered. Analysis of patterns in…

This study tested the utility of an approach to analyzing second language learners' listening skills in the context of a classroom discussion ("two-way listening skills"). The approach used was the Communicative Outcome system, which shifts the focus in discourse analysis from counting of tokens of negotiation to evaluation of what participants…

A study examined the development of pragmatic competence in second language learners, focusing on the requests produced by adult non-native speakers (NNSs) of English across three settings (a university public administrative office, the private office of a university program officer, and an English as a Second Language classroom) and nine levels…

A study investigating difficulties encountered by Chinese graduate students in asking questions in the American classroom, and suggested solutions, are presented. An introductory section describes features of the Chinese educational system, focusing on attitudes toward questioning. The first chapter offers sociolinguistic and pragmatic…

This study investigated the differences in language patterns in classroom conversations between university students of English for academic purposes and two native speakers: the teacher and a native English-speaking student selected to provide English speech practice. Transcripts of role-play interactions in two groups (one assisted by the…

The handbook, arising from a research project on adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching, presents ESL teachers with ways to use authentic English as a teaching tool in the classroom. The purpose of this book is to: examine the connections between current theories of spoken discourse analysis and classroom practice; encourage language…

Reviews early research on innovative use of networked computers in language learning, focusing on a study of computer-mediated discussion that examined student/student and student/teacher interactions in a college French course. Due to rapid nature of computer-mediated exchanges, the "conversation" is a hybrid somewhere between writing and…

The use of poetry in the second language class is explored as a means of gentle, non-threatening communication. Techniques for using poetry to teach intonation, using adjectives, verbs, pronunciation, and syntax, as well as for offering the student another means of expressing feelings, are explored. Sample poems and lessons are discussed, and…